Would've been really nice for the Philadelphia 76ers to get a W last night. Friday night game on national TV, against a reeling opponent who still owes us a first-rounder and who the Sixers would have done well to completely demoralize -- you never wanna overuse the phrase "early Christmas gift," but yeah. Wasn't gonna happen in this one, though -- the Lakers surged out to an early 11-point lead that they never again relinquished, playing the Sixers about even the rest of the way and ultimately stealing this one 100-89.
It wasn't like the Sixers were particularly outplayed by the Lakers in this one: Assist and rebound numbers were about the same between the two teams, and though Philly turned the ball over a grimace-worthy 17 times, that's actually still three fewer than L.A. did in this one. Really, this game came down to one thing, as commentator Jeff Van Gundy pegged about halfway through: The Lakers made shots, and the Sixers didn't -- going 6-31 from three, with the 4-7 Jahlil Okafor the team's only player making even half his shots on the night.
Are we gonna blame this on Okafor and Embiid starting together? Probably, especially since JoJo still looks a little out sorts -- he broke double digits in this one at least, scoring 15, but it took 14 shots and he went an uncharacteristic 3-8 from the free-throw line. More concerning might be how Joel only grabbed four boards -- playing out of position on defense is probably robbing him of some opportunities, and he's also just not fighting for early position the way he'll have to to become the elite rebounder he probably should be.
Nonetheless, Joel's frontcourt malaise doesn't really explain why Robert Covington and Ersan Ilyasova's touch deserted them last night, as the two forwards combined to shoot 1-14 from deep, misses that crippled any chance of Philly mounting a comeback. And it doesn't explain why Nerlens Noel played only eight minutes, despite grabbing five boards and showing good activity (if extremely poor touch) on offense in his limited playing time. (Needless to say, the man formerly known as The Eraser was not pleased.)
Nets up next in an early Sunday night game. Should be winnable, but this team is kind of a mess now, and the surfeit of now-healthy-ish centers threatens to ruin just about everything. Save us, Vlade Divac.
