SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers continued their road trip in Utah tonight with a matchup against the Jazz. After a close loss to the Wizards to begin this trip and with AI still missing in action the Sixers didn't bring much confidence into this one and it showed. They got off to a good start in the 1st quarter and actually held the lead for most of the period, but once Utah pushed ahead with 1:33 remaining in the period that was literally all she wrote. The Sixer's never led again. They rallied back a couple times at the end of the 2nd quarter and in the 3rd quarter, but still trailed by 8 heading into the 4th quarter. In the 4th the Sixers just went cold as the Jazz turrned it on defensively, outscoring the Sixers 25-12 en route to a runaway 97-76 victory. For the night the Sixers only shot 33% from the field with Mo Speights going 0 for 8 and failing to score a single point. They rely on him to score off the bench so much, that when Mo plays this poorly the Sixers really have no chance to win. With Mo struggling Thad Young led the way offensively with 20, while Andre Iguodala had a nice night with 16 and 8 rebounds, and Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday each chipped in 10 off the bench. The Sixer's defense was simply awful on the night as they allowed Utah to shoot over 50% from the field and from beyond the arc. They were also outrebounded 49-39, which considering their bad shooting on the night didn't help things either. Ultimately, this was just a pathetic effort by the Sixers, really the first one they had put forth in some time, and I don't like it. I hope this doesn't mean they are throwing away the season now in hopes of a high draft pick because it is still a little early for that.