1/22/13
The 76ers served us an unthinkable come from behind win
against the lowly Toronto Raptors last Friday night by overcoming a 17 point
deficit. Could they do the same thing again against one of the top teams in the
Western Conference in the Spurs? The Spurs have one of the best coaches in the
NBA in Gregg Popovich. He is one of the best coaches because he makes his
players play towards their strengths and not their weaknesses. Popovich is also
a very strategic coach that tries to make a basketball game be played as a
chess match to see if he can outsmart the coach on the other team. Tony Parker
and Tim Duncan are Popovich’s superstars on the Spurs, and they have
accomplished a lot in their careers. The one star the Spurs were missing was
Manu Ginobili. He has been sidelined with a strained hamstring for the past
week and will miss at least one more week. The 76ers were playing without Jason
Richardson. He has left knee synovitis.
The first half was very boring. The 76ers couldn’t make a
shot, and the Spurs couldn’t make shots outside of the painted area. The Spurs
took advantage of a porous 76ers defense that couldn’t defend the paint. The
Spurs got most of their points in layups and getting fouled at the basket. The
76ers offense was stagnant. They kept missing jump shots and not attacking the
basket. At one point the 76ers were double teaming Duncan and Parker. The Spurs
were getting wide open looks at three’s, but the 76ers were lucky that their
shots weren’t falling from three. At halftime the Spurs led 49-35. Their
largest lead in this half was at 17 points and now we wonder if the 76ers will
pull another rabbit out of their hat and make a comeback. Duncan led the Spurs with 12 points. Jrue
Holiday led the 76ers with eight points.
The second half was more exciting than the first half. The
76ers kept clawing at that 17 point deficit. They kept clawing until they took
the lead in the fourth quarter and held a seven point lead for most of the
quarter. However, the 76ers blew it in the end because they scored one point in
a four minute span in which they had possession of the ball 13 times. The
difference in this half was that the 76ers played more of an uptempo offense
against the Spurs since their team isn’t as athletic compared to the 76ers. The
uptempo style made the 76ers score more of their points and rally from a 17
point deficit. This is why Doug Collins calls his team inconsistent because you
never know what you’re going to get with his team. They can look so good for
one stretch and can look terrible for most of the game. The way the 76ers were
shooting in the first half carried over to the Spurs as their shooting was
terrible in this half. The last few minutes of the game defined why Parker and
Duncan are superstar players. They brought their team back in this game when it
could have gone worse and led their team to victory. The Spurs won this game by
a final score of 90-85. Duncan
finished the game with a double-double. He scored 24 points and snatched 17
rebounds. Parker collected 20 points and eight assists. Kawhi Leonard finished
with 16 points and seven rebounds. Tiago Splitter ended the game with a
double-double. He scored 10 points and collected 12 rebounds. For the 76ers,
Evan Turner got himself a double-double. He finished with 18 points, 12
rebounds, and seven assists. Holiday had a
poor second half, but finished with 15 points and eight assists. Spencer Hawes
collected 16 points. Nick Young finished with 12 points. Both Hawes and Nick
Young came off the bench. Thaddeus Young ended with 14 points.
Overall, the 76ers have made better in-game adjustments.
They weren’t attacking the basket much in the first half, so what did they do?
They attacked the basket more often in the next half. Holiday has a lot of
learning to do to become a superstar. If he wanted to learn how to play that
superstar role, he should watch closely how Duncan and Parker played last
night.
Is this a good sign
that the 76ers can overcome adversity? Sound off and stay tuned when the 76ers
travel to Milwaukee to play the Bucks tonight.
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