Philadelphia (The Phanatic Magazine) - Wins have been tough to come by for Doug Collins in his inaugural season as the Sixers' coach.
Collins' 76ers came into tonight's contest with New Jersey at an Eastern Conference-worst 3-13. Although you could compile a laundry list of things wrong with the team, poor interior defense and the inability to finish games have been the main culprits in the team's dreadful start.
Young teams often have to "learn" how to win and you have to believe some of those late game collapses will disappear as Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner continue to garner experience. That said, it's hard to see this group of Sixers improving much on the interior without significant personnel changes.
Philadelphia knew it was giving up some defense and rebounding when it sent Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento for Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni but the club expected far more out of Hawes, who is averaging just 5.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in just over 17 minutes a game.
Elton Brand has had a bit of a renaissance at the offensive end, scoring a team-best 15.9 ppg, along with 7.7 rpg but the lift, explosion and lateral quickness are gone, making the veteran nothing more than a turnstile for the opposition's daily layup drill.
Thaddeus Young has always been a solid offensive player that is bit of a tweener on the defensive end -- too big and slow to handle opposing threes and too small to check legitimate fours. Young is also a poor rebounder which limits his minutes.
The Sixers' two bigs that theoretically haven't reached their upsides are Marreese Speights and rookie Craig Brackins. But, we have all seen enough of Speights by know by now any contribution he will make is at the offensive end. The Florida product just doesn't play with the type of energy, nastiness and toughness to excel on defense.
Meanwhile, Brackins, who has been active for just one game this season, is cut from the same cloth, skilled but unwilling to do the heavy lifting Collins is requiring to get on the floor.
The only real interior defender on the roster comes from veteran center Tony Battie. However, Battie's balky knees limit the amount of minutes Collins can call on him for especially in back-to-backs and he has never been the best rebounder.
With Brook Lopez in town tonight, the Sixers' interior problems figured to be magnified and that came to fruition early. The former Stanford star carried the Nets in the first quarter, tallying 13 points thanks in large part to 10 trips to the free throw line as he drew two fouls from both Hawes and Speights. The Sixers did not go to the charity stripe in the first quarter.
By intermission Lopez had 17 points and he finished with a game-high 25 in a 102-86 Sixers win, just their fourth of the season.
Collins made things much tougher for Lopez in the second half by double teaming him early and then going with Battie, who did not play in the first half, for the final 15:45. In short bursts, Battie remains effective and even helped on the offensive end tonight, finishing 4-of-4 from the field for nine points and six rebounds.
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