No Defense For Sixers Performance Against Pacers

Doug Collins brought the 76ers into the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine for a film session on Wednesday of the 111-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers the night before.

Make all the cracks about it being a horror film because from a Sixers' perspective it was pretty gruesome.

Collins pointed out an interesting fact - that Indiana took a 57-49 halftime lead without shooting one single free throw.

"To me that tells me that we weren't aggressive," Collins said. The Pacers had lost six of their previous seven games, so they didn't exactly enter the Wells Fargo Center on a roll.

"Early in the game we were flat and we didn't have a great effort," Collins said. "That wasn't our trademark."

Collins admitted that had Andres Nocioni been healthy, that he might not have played Andre Iguodala.

Nocioni played just 2 minutes and 48 seconds and wasn't able to do much due to a fractured and dislocated middle finger.

Iguodala played 33 minutes, shot 0 for 7 and had just one point in his first game back after missing seven due to right Achilles tendinitis. His only basketball related activity since his last game on Dec. 26 was Monday's practice and Tuesday's shoot-around.

"I know hindsight is 20-20 but had Noch been healthy maybe we'd have Dre get a few practices under his belt before he played," Collins said.

So there were mistakes made all around. It happens in the NBA, but if the Sixers want to fight for a playoff spot, they can't have games where they are flat.

The lack of aggressiveness that Collins talked about was a lack of hustle.

Indiana had gone nine consecutive games scoring 95 or fewer points. All of a sudden they turned into the Lakers.

The Sixers played in spurts, but they aren't talented enough to do that. The team prides itself on an unending work ethic. When that effort is missing, the results are both predictable and a little difficult to watch either live or on tape.