1/19/13
The 76ers suffered a devastating loss on Tuesday against the
New Orleans Hornets. Would the losing woes continue against the Raptors? The
Raptors are a worse team compared to the 76ers. They are a defense-oriented
team, or at least try to be. The Raptors were playing without one of their top
players in Andrea Bargnani, and were playing without rookie center Jonas Valanciunas.
Bargnani has torn ligaments in his right elbow and Valanciunas has a broken
finger and both of them will be out indefinitely. The 76ers were without Kwame
Brown due to a sinus infection.
The first half was one of the worst halves displayed by the
76ers this year. They let the Raptors do whatever they wanted to do on offense.
The Raptors had wide open dunks and the 76ers left shooters on the Raptors wide
open for three and they made their shots. It didn’t help that the 76ers created
very little offense for themselves and played very careless. To a smattering of
boos from the home crowd, the 76ers were down at halftime 60-43. The Raptors
scoring 60 points in a half is surprising itself because they are not an
offensive-minded team. However, when a team shoots close to 60% in a half,
scoring 60 points is not surprising with that good of a shooting display.
Rookie shooting guard Terrence Ross led the Raptors with 12 points scored
coming off the bench. Jrue Holiday led the 76ers with 11 points in the half.
I don’t know what Doug Collins said to his 76ers in the
locker room at halftime, but something woke up the 76ers in the second half.
They played like a team that was possessed. The 76ers on defense hustled for
every loose ball on the floor, played intense defense, and forced turnovers. On
offense they made their shots and ran plays that attacked the basket. They were
down by as many as 19 points and tied the game with one second to go in
regulation. Holiday drove to the basket with
five seconds left to go and he sunk a layup. This all got created when the
Raptors turned the ball over with five seconds left in the game trying to
inbound the ball. The score was tied at 96 and we were going to overtime. Alan
Anderson led the Raptors with 10 points coming off the bench in the second
half. Thaddeus Young had a miraculous second half that led the 76ers scoring 19
points.
The 76ers took over this game in overtime when Holiday scored all of the 76ers 12 points in the period.
The Raptors lost the shooting touch they had in the first half and only scored
five points. The 76ers won this game overcoming a 19 point
deficit with the final score being 108-101. Holiday
had a double-double tonight. He tied his career high in points scored in a
season with 33 points and dished 14 assists. Thaddeus Young also finished with
a double-double. He scored 27 points and snatched 14 rebounds. Lavoy Allen and
Spencer Hawes, two players who I was very critical of in my previous entry,
both ended with 12 points each and had a combined 11 rebounds. For the Raptors,
Ed Davis, Anderson, and Ross all finished with 18 points. Only Davis finished with a
double-double as he collected 10 rebounds to go along with his 18 points. Jose
Calderon scored 13 points in the game. Kyle Lowry ended with 11 points
including a circus shot he made at the end of the shot clock buzzer in the
second half.
Overall, the 76ers needed a win in their inconsistent
season. Just like Doug Collins said about his 76ers, you never know what you
are going to get. They can win 1 game and then lose a handful of games. Holiday stepped up big time in this game when his team
was having a disastrous first half. Hopefully the coaches look at this game
among other performances from him and vote him as an all-star reserve.
How far can Jrue
Holiday carry the 76ers? Sound off and stay tuned on Monday when the 76ers host
the San Antonio Spurs.
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