With a tough schedule ahead including the likes of the Bulls, Mavericks, Spurs, Rockets and others, last night against the Magic (1-4) may have been the Sixers (0-5) best chance at getting their first win of the season. Coming into the game, they had played close with their opponents for three quarters, but fail to keep any momentum heading into the fourth.
This game was different, with the Sixers trailing by two with 6.3 seconds remaining. Out of a timeout, the ball went to Henry Sims, who hit a jumper from just beyond the free-throw line to tie things at 89-89. The Magic responded though, calling a double-screen play from the baseline, giving Tobias Harris just enough time to gain separation from the defense. Harris knocked down the fadeaway jumper as time expired, lifting the Magic to a 91-89 win.
Neither team gained a significant advantage, with the Magic leading by as many as five late in the second quarter, just to allow the Sixers to score five straight to make things even headed into the locker room. You could tell Nerlens Noel was having some problems guarding Nik Vucevic, as the Sixers rookie was not able to record a single rebound through the first half. He turned the ball over three times as well. With 8:13 left in the third, Vucevic was driving into the paint and committed an offensive foul. Nerlens came up favoring his ankle on the play and didn't return. After the game, Noel wasn't too concerned about it and he will see how it feels in practice.
“I just came down and twisted it to the left,” Noel said after the 91-89 loss. “It isn’t that bad and I left under my own power so it wasn’t that bad.”
“I’ll come into practice tomorrow and see how it feels — get with the training staff early and get some rehab going,” Noel said. [CSNPhilly.com]
Noel finished the game with just four points on 2-for-4 shooting. He tallied two rebounds, three assists and a block.
With Henry Sims out of the starting lineup for the second straight game, Brandon Davies entered the starting lineup again and exceled in his 29+ minutes of play. The second year forward out of BYU posted a career-high 20 points on 9-11 shooting and also had four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
"It's definitely hard. We were right there," said Sixers power forward Brandon Davies, who finished with 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting. "There are a lot of positives we can take from that game. We didn't give up. We haven't given up in any games."
"Every game we are getting better," Davies said. "Every game we are a couple of plays from getting things done and getting wins." [Philly.com Sports]
The biggest issue this time for the Sixers wasn't their free-throw shooting, it was their lapses on defense. For a coach who preaches defense, Brett Brown noticed plenty of bad plays in transition, allowing the Magic to score easily on the other side of the floor. The loss wasn't an easy one to swallow for Brown, saying the young team will learn from the experience and fix things moving forward.
"They made a heck of a shot," coach Brett Brown said. "We were there, we contested the shot. I think what it does, more than anything for our young guys, is highlights just how there is no margin for error throughout the whole game for the group that we have. So you can talk to K.J. about a missed defensive assignment, a defensive rebound off a missed free throw. You can talk about three to five possessions of poor transition in the first half. For me, just to be able to take this experience and be able to teach out of it, you have to go back to defensive mistakes that cost us the game." [Philly.com Sports]
Tony Wroten and KJ McDaniels were positives in the game against Orlando as well. Wroten, who has been filling in for the injured Michael Carter-Williams, scored 27 points on 9-for-16 shooting and also hit four of six from beyond the arc. Wroten dished out eight assists, stole five and grabbed three rebounds. The Sixers starting point guard also turned it over nine times. KJ McDaniels had an explosive game on the offensive and defensive side at times. He had three blocks and completed a stunning alley-oop courtesy of Tony Wroten. See for yourself.
McDaniels, who finished with 12 points, is proving to be a great asset to the Sixers in the early stages of the season off the bench. Selected 32nd in the recent draft, KJ is third amoung rookies with 9.6 points per game and ranks second in the class in both field-goal percentage at 51.4% and three-point field-goal percedntage at 53.8%.
"I have always been able to shoot.," McDaniels said before the Sixers' 91-89 loss to Orlando. "I shoot with a lot of confidence, and I get in a lot of reps. I shoot after practice and before so I feel more comfortable with it.
"K.J. is coming around learning the league," Sixers head coach Brett Brown said. "He is learning how to take his skills and parlay them into an NBA setting. How many athletes do you see who can shoot threes and guard? That is a good start. If there is such a thing as a humble swagger, he doesn't seem fazed." [CSNPhilly.com]
With the loss to the Magic in the books, the Sixers play five more games against teams with a combined 15-4 record before playing the Celtics on November 19th. It will be a tall task to get a win before Boston, but if the Sixers can put together a full four quarters, they could play spoiler in the coming games against an NBA powerhouse.
Brandon Apter is a writer for Sixerdelphia.com
