By: JakeSo its been awhile since we've last posted anything on here (I know thats an understatement) so I thought what better way to spend the waning hours of the night than writing about the Philadelphia 76ers? Since nothing came to mind right away, a 76ers article was about to be made. So here it is:
Watching the Sixers tonight brought back a lot of emotional memories, so it was a really fun experience, until the Heat broke out to a game high 26 point lead. A lot went into that so I'll get to that later. As the game began you could hear the fans really getting into the game. Loud boos came from the stands whenever #6 on the Heat touched the ball. In case you've been living under a rock for the last few months, #6 would be none other than the Lebron James. So on top of the boos for Lebron, I heard a smattering of boos for Bosh too. In front of a sellout crowd for the first time in awhile, the Sixers kept it close the entire first half thanks to the recurring theme of many Heat turnovers. The deficit for the Sixers at half was only 8 despite being greatly overwhelmed by the talent on the Heat. Brand and surprising rookie Evan Turner, who had struggled mightily during the preseason ended up leading the team in rebounds and played major roles in keeping the game closer than it should be given the talent disparity. The Sixers had actually gained the lead before someone turned on 100% 3-Point shooting for James Jones of the Heat, as he drained 3 from downtown and completely changed the way the game was trending. Jones finished the game a devastating 6-9 from long distance and was a real momentum killer.
The Heat stretched their lead to 26 in the 3rd Quarter and seemingly went into Cruise Control, and the Sixers took advantage, cutting the lead to 8 with under a minute to go in the game. After a steal, an offensive foul all but doomed the Sixers, and they ended the game losing by 10. However, from this loss there were a few notable developments in the play of certain players. Most notably, the #2 overall pick in the draft, Evan Turner came off the bench to lead the Sixers with 16 points and he collected 6 rebounds which was good enough for 2nd on the team this night. Turner looked very comfortable on the court and showed a lot of what the Sixers saw in him at Ohio State, where he won National player of the Year. Turner was thrown into the fire defensively as well, having to guard the likes of Lebron and Dwayne Wade in his first ever professional game, and he responded very well in that category as well. Another interesting note was the ineffectiveness of Jrue Holiday. Holiday was projected by many to have a breakout year this year, but tonight's game wont be one of his signature performances, lets just put it that way. Jrue turned the ball over 5 times and only shot 22% from the field scoring 6 points on 2 late game 3 pointers. Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams turned in great performances off the bench, both with 15+ pts. This was a very noticeable trend as the bench outscored the starters 57-30.
Given the circumstances, all in all there were a lot of positives to take from this game. Turner and the bench looked really good in their time on the court, and the newly dubbed Wells Fargo Center was sold out for the first time in a while. The Sixers take on the Atlanta Hawks at the WF Center on Friday and we'll see how this team responds against another high quality opponent, as well as see if new Head Coach Doug Collins feels the need to make any lineup adjustments.
