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| Image courtesy of NBAE Deron Williams leads the Nets to victory |
The Sixers welcomed the New Jersey Nets to the Wells
Fargo Center tonight, loaded with confidence coming off their dominating
victory against the Wizards on Monday night. The Nets would prove to be a
tougher matchup, however, and four quarters wasn’t enough to decide a winner,
as Deron Williams led New Jersey to a 97-90 overtime victory.
It was the Sixers second home loss of the year. Their
first came a week ago against Denver, and that matchup also went into overtime.
Williams had 34 points and 11 assists for the Nets and he
scored the game-tying bucket in regulation as well as the tying jumper and go-ahead
three with 26.8 seconds to go in overtime. Philadelphia had no answer for the
Nets’ star. Power Forward Kris Humphries also played extremely well, scoring 13
points and grabbing 19 boards, well above his season averages. The Sixers have prided
themselves on their defense this whole year, and both Williams and Humphries upended
the team with their best games of the season.
Lou Williams led the Sixers with 17 points, while Elton
Brand scored 16 and Jrue Holiday added 14 points and 7 assists.
The Nets came out in the first quarter and showed they
weren’t playing around. They led by four at the end of the quarter, and went up
29-20 in the second. The Sixers followed with an 11-0 run and went into
halftime with a two-point lead. New
Jersey wouldn’t let up, though, taking that lead back in the third quarter,
while the fourth was much of a dogfight.
Critics of this Sixer team recognize their victories thus
far have all been blowouts and they wanted to see the Sixers pull out some close
wins. This is something that the team needs to show. They’re good, but what
viewers have seen thus far are either blowout wins or, for the most part, close
losses. Fans of this team want to see those close losses as close victories.
They want to see this team grind out victories, fighting for all 48 minutes on
the floor, or even more if necessary.
Tonight, they went up 90-88 in overtime and gave up two
crushing baskets to Deron Williams. They had 27 seconds to play, down three and
the team looked like a collective group of deer in headlights. Lou Williams
ended up missing the three-point attempt and that was it.
Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevic were both out again
tonight, which could account for the team being out-rebounded… and who knows?
It could’ve been the difference between the loss and the win. Everyone knows
the Sixers depth up front isn’t much. They’re working out Dan Gadzuric this
week… that should tell any fan all they need to know about how good their
frontcourt is.
But who played and who didn’t tonight does not matter.
The Sixers had an opportunity to win this game. The door was open, but Deron
Williams made sure the door closed on that opportunity not once, not twice, but
three times.
They’re still in first place in the Atlantic Division,
but if the Sixers big-man problems don’t get solved soon, more specifically by
next Monday, they could be headed on a downward spiral. After the start they’ve
had and the excitement their fans have shown, a lengthy losing streak in a
season that is still pretty young could have adverse effects. Especially if it
gives those “they haven’t played any good teams yet” critics more ammunition,
as losses in the next couple weeks will do nothing more than prove them right.
For the team’s sake and the fans’, let’s hope it doesn’t
come to that.
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