SIXERS NEWS

Just one night after a heartbreaking loss, the Sixers came out angry tonight at home against the Indiana Pacers, who beat them 2 games ago, and used it as fuel to finally play a complete game defensively. The increased defensive intensity paid off handsomely for the Sixers, in the form of their first win of this young season. The Sixer's defense had been good in spurts thus far this season, but never for any sort of sustained period of time. Tonight they came out strong defensively, and never dialed it down. They held the Pacers to just 31% shooting from the field, and completely took away Roy Hibbert and Danny Granger who combined for just 16 points. For the first time all season they actually managed to not get outrebounded, instead outrebounded the Pacers 54-46, with 2 guys, Elton Brand with 12, and Mo Speights with 11, rebounding in double figures. Finally they also threw in 8 blocks and 9 steals just for good measure. The defense was so good that even much maligned center Spencer Hawes got into the act with 4 rebounds and 2 blocks.

On the same night the Sixers produced their best defensive performance of the season, they also produced arguably their best offensive performance as well. For the first time this season, 6 Sixers got into double figures. It's not hard to see why either as they finally go to free throw line consistently and didn't kill themselves when they got there, hitting 21 of their 25 free throw attempts. Leading rebounder Brand, was also the Sixers leading scorer with 25. Andre Iguodala, and Jrue Holiday each had 11, to round out the scoring for the Sixer's starters, while Thad Young, Lou Williams, and Evan Turner came off the bench for 16, 11, and 12 respectively. Finally in addition to scoring more, the Sixers also took much better care of the ball, with just 10 turnovers, their lowest total of the season thus far. The offense was so good that even much maligned center Spencer Hawes got into the act with 9 points, including his first trey as a Sixer.

The Sixers really came out firing in this one, taking a 15 point lead into the 2nd quarter. This time there was not 2nd quarter let down as the Sixers actually extended their lead to 24 at halftime. Once again they did fall off slightly in the 3rd quarter, but enough for Indiana to really get back in the game, as the Sixers retained an 18 point lead heading into the 4th quarter. As they have all season they took over again in the 4th quarter, outscoring Indiana 23-17, extending their lead en route to an easy 101-75 win, a complete reversal of the first meeting between these two teams. That at least is a sign this team might be different from last year's after all. Only time will tell.