Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks 11/4/12 Afterthoughts

Image courtesy of AP

The 76ers biggest move of the offseason is not helping two games into the season and it won’t be for at least a third either.

Star Center Andrew Bynum has not played a game yet for Philadelphia and Shooting Guard Jason Richardson left today’s game in the first quarter with a left-ankle sprain. X-Rays were negative, but he’ll be out for tomorrow’s game against New York.

All things considered, Philadelphia still put on a pretty horrid performance in all aspects of the game, losing to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden 100-84 in the first game of a home-and-home.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting and New York made 11 3-pointers a game after hitting 16. They kept Philadelphia at arm’s length the entire game before pulling away in the 4^th quarter.

Jrue Holiday seemed to be the Sixers lone source of offense, also scoring 27 points, but he turned the ball over six times; the four Sixers who scored in double digits turned the ball over a combined 15 times for Philly. Evan Turner may have finished with a double-double, 11 points and 11 rebounds, but his play today was not worthy of that accomplishment. He shot 2-of-9 from the floor. Nick Young shot 2-of-10, posting a +/- of -29. Who was the next worse? Undrafted rookie Maalik Wayns, who was 0-of-5 from the field with a -13.

It was a sloppy game on all accounts and it was clear this team was missing Richardson. Spencer Hawes, who had the team’s best performance in the opener against Denver, only played 15 minutes as he got into foul trouble early. The team was not outmatched, but they were clearly outplayed today.  

It’s only the second game of the season and this Sixers team is still good without Bynum and Richardson, they just need to make better decisions passing and shooting the ball. They took too many ill-advised shots today, shooting contested jumpers early in the shot clock, and they got too aggressive passing the ball leading to careless turnovers. Their defense was nothing to write home about either, giving up too many open looks from the perimeter against a team that proved on Friday that their perimeter game is a strength.

Tomorrow is a new day and the Sixers head home to face New York again. It’s tough for any team to win both games of a home-and-home, and the Sixers hope to keep that trend going. They need a serviceable stopgap while Richardson is out the next week or so, and so far Nick Young hasn’t shown he can be that guy. He’s looked horrible these first two games, shooting the ball whenever he can get his hands on it, and Maalik Wayns is still unproven, although he did not look good today either. Holiday needs to cut down on the turnovers and the team as a whole needs to play smarter.

I’m not going to judge their entire season on this afternoon’s performance, but even without Bynum and Richardson, this isn’t the type of performance fans should expect. They’re better than this, but they have to prove it. If they come back with a vengeance tomorrow, it’ll be a positive sign. If not? Well, there’s still a lot of basketball to play.