After handling them fairly easily on the road a couple days ago the Sixers welcomed the Indiana Pacers to the Wachovia center tonight with thoughts of knocking them off for the 2nd time in as many games. Unfortunately, the defense that carried them through that game wasn't there tonight. In short the Sixers just couldn't stop Indiana when they needed to and that was the difference tonight. Indiana shot over 51% from the field and a solid 36% from beyond the arc with 8 threes, the kind of numbers that are usually good enough to win you most games. The Sixers didn't make it easy for Indiana though. As late as the final 2 minutes of the game the Sixers were within striking distance of the Pacers.
Then Dahntay Jones, known more for being a defensive stopper, heated up from the field, hitting a bunch of crucial shots down the stretch to extend the Pacer's lead and put away the Sixers. By the end he had 18 points, and the Pacers had won easily 109-98. Ultimatelly it was once again Sixer's defense that proved to be the deciding factor for them tonight, but for all the wrong reasons. The Sixer's scoring didn't help them all that much tonight either with Andre Iguodala's 22 leading just 4 Sixers in double figures. AI had 20, Elton Brand chipped in with 12, and Lou Williams poured in 16 off the bench but that was it as Thad Young and Mo Speights both dropped off a bit, combing for just 12 and 5 rebounds.
If the Sixers had won tonight it would have been their 3rd win in a row, and only about the 5th time this season that they won 3 in a row. Moreover, they have yet to win more than 3 in a row at any point thus far this season, not exactly a formula for a playoff team. At just 16-29 overall now, the playoffs seem a long way away for the Sixers at this point anyway, but you never know.
2 comments:
As you said the playoffs seem too far off to be reached so now I am going to start cheering for the Sixers to get a solid draft pick as opposed to making into the playoffs, losing 1st round, and then getting an O.K. draft pick.
-to ph1llysports
yeah that could be a possibility at this point, but they would really have to stink it up the rest of the way and start purposely losing games. I would hate to see them just stop trying.
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