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| Image courtesy of AP |
The Magic may have been slumping, but a visit to
Philadelphia, whose 76ers were without their starting Center Spencer Hawes, could have
been just what they needed. With the opportunity for Dwight Howard to break
out, it was the perfect time for the Magic to turn the switch back on. I mean,
after all, this is the Sixers. No one expects them to do anything against those
“top tier” teams.
Oh, wait... the Sixers won the game 74-69. That final
score might make it seem like a close game, but it was far from it. If it weren’t
for the final 3:32, they would have lost by 19. The Magic were held to just
33.3% shooting, actually inflated from their final run—they were shooting less
than 28% before that. The Sixers weren’t much better, shooting 37.5%, but their
defense more than made up for the lack of offense.
Dwight Howard had a double-double, but he played badly
tonight. He shot 6-of-17 and got blocked twice. He was 5-of-13 from the line;
the Sixers were playing Hack-a-Shaq 2.0: Hack-a-Dwight and they won. Ryan
Anderson grabbed a ridiculous 20 rebounds, also recording a double-double, but it
was far from enough to give Orlando their first win in four games.
Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 14 points, 11 rebounds
and 6 assists. He was just 3-of-line from the line, however, which needs to
change. He needs to realize that it’s no longer ok to go 0-of-2 or 1-of-2 consistently.
It’s rare to see a Small Forward shoot 67% from the stripe. Tonight was worse
than his average and it would be nice to see him improve his foul shot. But
this far into his career, it’s doubtful that he’ll improve it much.
Elton Brand and Tony Battie did a great job containing
Dwight; Brand had four blocks, two on Dwight, and Battie’s defense helped to
make sure Howard didn’t go off on a hot streak in the middle of the game.
Nikola Vucevic and Spencer Hawes both didn’t play again tonight, and some,
including me, thought that Dwight would have a great game because of their
absence. Turns out I was wrong. I thought it would be a close game throughout
and the Sixers would have to grind out a win for the first time this year. I
was wrong. I thought, watching SportsCenter tonight, I would see the Sixers
finally get some love nationally. I was wrong. They talked about the Magic’s
woes and the Sixers were nothing but a footnote.
One thing I wasn’t wrong about, however, was these
Sixers. At 15-6, they are where they are because they deserve to be there. Even
in a game where they struggled offensively, there was no point in the second
half where anyone really doubted Philly would get the W. It’s something I’m not
used to and it’s something most Sixer fans aren’t used to either. But I’m
definitely enjoying the ride and the rest of this week has a chance to end
badly, but right now I’m having so much fun watching this team play. It may be
a longshot, but hopefully free agent-to-be Dwight Howard enjoyed watching them too…
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