The Sixers have been winning and winning big lately, but tonight's game against the Knicks was understandably not their best showing; The team was on the tail end of a back-to-back-to-back stretch, a result of the league's compressed season, and Center Spencer Hawes was out with Tony Battie starting in his place...
...yeah, Tony Battie is the Sixers backup Center, a notable problem in itself for a team that hopes to contend with the likes of the Knicks and Celtics for a division title, but I digress.
The Knicks built up a 13-point lead after a quarter, but these Sixers never quit. They might not have won, but they showed their heart tonight. There were multiple opportunities for the Knicks to pull away in this game, but they couldn’t; most notably in the fourth when they went up 17 points with 9 minutes to go. The Sixers could have conceded the game, but they didn’t, scoring 12 of the next 14 points. They got within four and seemingly were going to get the ball back with 30 seconds to go but the refs allowed Carmelo Anthony to call a timeout as he fell out of bounds, a pretty questionable call in my opinion, but what can you do? Thad missed a potentially huge shot with 16 seconds left that would have brought them within two points, but I’m not going to complain here; he’s a key reason they came back from down 17 in the first place.
There are three key reasons the Sixers lost this game:
1. Knicks were fresh, the Sixers weren’t.
2. Lou Williams was held in check by the Knicks Defense, scoring only two points.
3. No Spencer Hawes
Some have been calling the Sixers great start a fluke because of their schedule thus far… I disagree. Winning these games is one thing, but blowing these teams out of the water is another. During their six-game win streak, they outscored opponents by over 21 points/game. This season, their point differential is +13.8. Their three losses are by a combined 13 points. If they’re not winning, they’re staying competitive. This loss against the Knicks didn’t show anything… the Sixers are not worse after it and the Knicks are not better. It was not a great showing by either team… at the end of the day it’s the tenth game of the season for both teams. The Sixers lost tonight, but they didn’t show anything that made me say “oh yeah, this team is a fluke”. In fact, they showed me the opposite. If they had lost by 20+, I’d be significantly more upset, but the fight they showed all game is why I love this Sixers team. They’re no Heat or Bulls, but I’m ok with that. They’re the anti-super team that many NBA teams are trying to achieve nowadays and Elton Brand put it perfectly after yesterday’s victory over the Kings: “Sometimes Spencer, sometimes ‘Dre, sometimes Thad… all the time us. “
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