Much like the Spurs on Thursday night, the 76ers were staring down a schedule loss tonight. They were playing their 4th game in 5 nights, after losing in OKC last night, and their 8th straight road game. They’ve actually been on the road since before Christmas. That’s just ridiculous. After tonight’s game, they head home. All credit to the team, they played hard. But it was going to take a miracle for them to beat the Spurs tonight, and that miracle did not come. You could see the resignation in the team early, as even their coach, Doug Collins, who is usually very animated and “aggressive” (for a coach) in a game, barely made a peep.
The Spurs played sufficiently and got the win.
More notes from tonight’s game:
–Also filed under ‘turnabout is fair play’: it seems like neither team could really convert on turnovers. The Spurs would turn it over, and the 76ers would immediately just throw it away. Or the Spurs would get the turn, and then stumble on the fast break. It was kind of a sloppy (and often times amusing) game both ways.
–Watching Nick Young and Gary Neal guard each other is kind of like seeing different sides of the same coin; sort of a Best Case/Worst Case scenario play out in real life. Both are gunners, earning their paycheck primarily for their ability to shoot efficiently and score the ball. However, Neal still plays team ball, is a willing (and often good) passer, a willing defender, and knows when and where to take his shot. And he shoots a high percentage. Young is a ball stopper, often immature on defense, and–at least tonight–not a very efficient scorer. It’s interesting to think how each player’s career might be altered in different situations. Neal probably never makes it into the league anywhere else, but if he did, would probably be a black whole on a team with less accountability and no defined system. And perhaps Young, under stronger guidance, and with more security (rather than bouncing from team to team), might turn into a valuable scorer off the bench.
–Manu watch: he dunked tonight! That’s the best sign yet that he’s getting his legs back. I honestly thought we might never see a Manu stuff again. He played an all-around brilliant game, just controlling every aspect of the game when in the way only he can.
–Sartorial alert: Man, I love these grey jerseys. As the man says, “grey’s my favorite color”. And while I don’t see much symbolism, I do love these jerseys.
Monday night the team plays in New Orleans. The Hornets are one of those teams where you just throw out the records–they always play us close and tough. It’ll be interesting to see them with Eric Gordon back in the line-up.
