1/31/13
What a game that was last night. The 76ers make you want to
pull your hair out, but in the end, a win is all that matters. The 76ers were
coming off a tough loss against the Memphis Grizzlies and they had an easier
matchup against the Wizards. The Wizards are not as good as the Grizzlies are,
but the Wizards have some talented big men in Nene and Emeka Okafor, plus a
healthy John Wall. Wall made his season debut on January 12 and the Wizards
have gone 6-4 since Wall returned to the starting lineup. It seemed like a
tough challenge for the 76ers because they are an undersized team. I expected
this to be a low scoring scrappy kind of game because both teams are terrible
on offense. The Wizards have a top 10 defense and the 76ers do not even though
Doug Collins preaches defense to his team. Bradley Beal did not play for the
Wizards due to a sore right wrist. Garrett Temple replaced Beal in the starting
lineup. Jason Richardson did not play for the fifth straight game with left
knee synovitis and Damien Wilkins was unavailable for the 76ers due to personal
reasons.
The first half was interesting. The Wizards displayed in the
first quarter how great they have played since the return of Wall. The 76ers
were good too on offense, but couldn’t get any defensive stops. In the second
quarter a switch went off for the 76ers. They forced the Wizards to turn the
ball over six times. That’s a big number for turnovers in a quarter. Another
bad stat in that quarter was two fast break points by the 76ers on six Wizards
turnovers. At halftime the 76ers led 48-39. The 76ers held the Wizards to 11
second quarter points after they allowed the Wizards to score 28 in the first
quarter. Nick Young led the 76ers with 11 points at the half while Okafor led
the Wizards with eight.
The second half was all 76ers. They didn’t look back after
losing the first quarter to the Wizards. The 76ers had their largest lead at 16
points in this half and almost coughed it up. It has been difficult lately for
the 76ers to close games out. This one they closed out, but that’s only because
the Wizards kept turning the ball over and Wall played out of control. Wall
used his blazing speed to get to the basket, but has always had trouble making
layups because he throws the ball up trying to draw the contact and draw fouls
on the 76ers. The 76ers won this game by a final score of 92-84. Jrue Holiday
led the 76ers with 21 points, six assists, and four steals. Nick Young finished
with 18 points. Thaddeus Young and Lavoy Allen both ended with 14 points.
Thaddeus Young collected eight rebounds while Allen grabbed six. Spencer Hawes
had a double-double. He scored 12 points, snatched 11 rebounds, and he blocked
four shots. For the Wizards, Okafor had a double-double. He scored 15 points
and collected 17 rebounds. Martell Webster also had 15 points. Nene finished
with 16 points and eight rebounds. Trevor Ariza ended with 12 points.
Overall, the 76ers played good enough to win. They left a lot of points off the scoreboard when they kept missing fast break layups and point blank shots in general. This style of play is exactly how the 76ers need to play in order to win in this league, especially without their prized big man Andrew Bynum. The 76ers need to start rolling to the basket when they run the pick and roll offense. Too many times I saw the 76ers players set their picks and run just inside the three point line. They need to draw contact too when they drive to the basket instead of kicking the ball out to the open man to hit a deep two pointer. The Wizards’ 18 turnovers was the reason the 76ers won this game. If those turnovers were cut down in half, I don’t see the 76ers winning that game.
No comments:
Post a Comment