Sixers' Collins at a loss after loss to Suns
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Sixers' Collins at a loss after loss to Suns
Bob Cooney
The look was one of total befuddlement and the reaction was dispersed more than once from 76ers coach Doug Collins’ mouth. “I don’t know, I just don’t know,” is what he said repeatedly when asked about his team’s performance following Wednesday’s sloppy, lethargic and sometimes stupid play against the Phoenix Suns that left them at 15-18.
The team was coming off a very nice effort against the Los Angeles Lakers the previous night, a game in which they did a terrific job defensively of allowing cold shooters to take bad shots, did a nice job of defending Dwight Howard on the inside and forced Kobe Bryant to take 29 shots to accumulate his 36 points.
The next night in Phoenix, that was all out the window. The defensive rotations were slow and Luis Scola, who appeared to be wide open most of the night, torched them for 21 points. The Suns beat the Sixers to loose balls and when they needed key rebounds, they simply decided to go and get them.
The Sixers hurt themselves with 17 turnovers, many coming in head-scratching ways. Despite posting the second triple-double of his career with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, Jrue Holiday also turned the ball over 6 times and missed 10 of his 16 shots. There was a stretch during the third quarter when Holiday gave the ball away on three of four possessions, lending to Phoenix winning the quarter by 27-17. There were outlet passes quizzically intended for centers, many forays into the lane that ended with in more turnovers than any type of success.
Though Holiday’s numbers were mostly impressive, there seems to be bit of a recurring problem to his game. At times, he simply tries to do too much – whether it’s a pass in the lane among four defenders or trying to dribble penetrate when nothing is there. But the problem isn’t Holiday, really. The problem is that he is trying to do so much because no one else is consistently doing much of anything, save undersized Thaddeus Young, who scored 13 against the Suns, his 23rd consecutive double-figure game.
“I thought he (Holiday) came back (in the second quarter) and he was really trying to force some things and it was like he was just trying to force some passes and I told him to just read what’s there,” said Collins. “I thought once the third quarter started they got a little bit of a lead and I though they got control of the game. We had a chance, but we never came up with a big rebound. It was disappointing.”
The loss means the Sixers still haven’t won back-to-back games since November 27 and 30, when they improved their record to 10-6. Since then, they’ve gone 5-12 and it could be getting worse very quickly as they play at Oklahoma City (24-7) and at San Antonio (26-8 going into tonight's game against Knicks) on Friday and Saturday to close out their 8-game road trip. The loss also came to a Phoenix team that had lost six in a row before beating the Sixers.
“I know Alvin (Gentry, Phoenix coach) and those guys needed the game, they had lost 6 in a row, it’s just disappointing for us to be out on the road and we didn’t have a chance to maybe get a game like that and they were a little bit more physical with us. It was disappointing.
“We’re a team that sort of depends on everybody and we ride Jrue so much. If he gets a little bit off it’s tough because we count on him to do so much for us. We had some moments but it was not fun to watch.
“We have to let that game go and we have two very, very tough games coming up in Oklahoma City and San Antonio,” said Young. “We have to try to take what we’re not doing right and capitalize and play the next game. It was definitely a game that we saw we could steal a win. It’s always good to have momentum trying to go into good team’s places and trying to beat them. But we don’t have that momentum now. We’ll just have to try it as we go.”
Time to officially declare ET a bust?— TongueWagger- It's actually not. ET is the same player as the past 2 years, he is just playing more minutes. Truthfully, he would be worse than the last 2 seasons but his 3pt shooting has kept him afloat.
His 3pt shooting is the biggest jump in the history of the NBA from 1 year to the next. You'd have to be a special kind of person to think he can keep that up.
— Steve Toll - I don't mind that Jrue has these types of games, he's still just 22 and taking the reins for the first season. Even with the turnovers I'd rather see this year's version of Jrue averaging 19 and 9 over last year's version who was more cautious with the ball but averaged only 13 and 4. It's like Malik said during the game last night it's easy to groan in hindsight when a gifted athlete like him makes what looks to be a careless decision resulting in a turnover. But that same athleticism can also create so much because he's so confident in his abilities. And then late in the game Jrue has that alley-oop from beyond halfcourt (to Dorell?) that traveled over a few defenders and made it something like a 2-point game. The 2011 reined-in Jrue doesn't make that pass, although he probably also doesn't turn the ball over three times out of four trips down the court at one stage. Point being, the turnovers will go down as he matures, and we'll still see plenty of those dazzling plays
- Go Dougie!— BIGEGLFAN
- Definition of insanity is - doing the same thing over and over and expect improvement. When a player is having a bad night - or is unable to score, defend or add value - take that player out and put someone else in. Our big guy are horrible - why keep playing them? Why is Moultrie in the D-League, he can't be worse than we have. Why not lose with he and Wayns getting time? What can Ivey learn at this point in his career?— jlsoh
- It's obvious that this Sixers team is undersized to a point where they can't match up with most teams. They don't have a prayer to grab rebounds with the lineup they put out there. It's almost comical when Turner, Richardson, Hawes, Allen are trying to out jump bigger opponents in every key situation. It's irresponsible that management let it come to this. It's easy to blame the Bynum situation, but they should have had a backup plan given that big bay's history. The Sixers will steal a game here and there but it's physically impossible for them to compete on a nightly bais with the more physical teams that are the rule in the BBA.— gentian
- Richardson shouldn't be starting. Move ET there and have Dorrell start at SF! Doug is very stubborn with his rotations.— Sixersorever
- Nick young and dorell should play 30 min, because they are the only two players that can give you 30 points in a game.— cosmic
- Sixersorever and cosmic - I agree 100%— 7mel11
- “I don’t know, I just don’t know,”
That's the point! DC really doesn't know!
Is ownership listening?
— wordsword - I still don't like DC as a head coach. As fans we are still talking about his crazy rotations. His unwillingness to play young players. His continually inability to find size in the front court. Hawes/Allen/Thad are terrible at best rebounding the ball. And they make up the bulk of all front court minutes.— phillyinNJ
- @words and inNJ -- Re: Collins as coach -- you have to give him credit for the job he did last year and (if you believe it is DC making the personnel decisions) for having the courage to act on the realization that the team wasn't set up to win a Championship. You also have to give him credit for Jrue's arrival as a STAR and ET's arrival as, at the very least, a serviceable player. On the other hand, the Big Knucklehead trade might turn out to be a disaster -- if I am wrong and he is not as healthy as he was last year and is not just waiting for the opportune time to come back and get his big, fat contract. Vuc's rapid development in ORL is also a knock on DC. He seems to bring down the young players and it appears he strips them of their confidence. Maybe it is a part of some Jedi master plan ... maybe not. In the end, I like DC and appreciate the job he is doing and how hard it is in the absence of the cornerstone player that was supposed to be dominating the other Cs in the East.
— Copper34
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
