Sixers lose season-opener in Portland
A slow start to the game cost the Sixers, despite a strong finish.
Sixers lose season-opener in Portland
Bob Cooney
All the talk and belief that this 76ers team would benefit from returning the top 12 players from last season and not having to tinker with added personnel might turn out to be true. But in the team’s season-opener against the Trail Blazers last night it looked about as cohesive as a group of high-paid free agents thrown together before the start of the season.
And Philly fans know how hard that can be at times.
Sloppy play, in particular 20 turnovers, did in the Sixers as they dropped a 107-103 decision to Portland in the first of five-straight road games to open the season.
“Turnovers,” said coach Doug Collins. “Turnovers and offensive rebounding. Up until about two minutes to go in the game they had taken 21 more than us.
“They scored 28 points off of turnovers, and I told our guys that we can’t win that way. Our competitive will kept us in that game. That Portland team is good. They’re really good. They’ve got size, they’ve got versatility. Aldridge hurt us early, but we forced him to take 25 shots to score 25 points. It was just rebounding and turnovers.”
But early is really where Portland won the game. They took that 11 point lead in the first quarter and seemed to be able to do just enough all game to never relinquish it.
As Collins said before the game, though, the Rose Garden brings with it a chaotic, playoff-like atmosphere. There are probably few other places on the road that would be harder to open a season, especially if you add into the equation the 2,900 mile trip.
“I thought we came out a little bit slow,” said Jrue Holiday, who scored 13 points but committed six turnovers and dealt just two assists. “I know personally I came out a little bit slow. I didn’t come out the way I wanted to. We had the second group come in and kind of pick us up. Dre (Iguodala) kept us in there with the first group. Opening game jitters. We’ll get the jitters out and feel more comfortable.
“I can get carried away. I had six turnovers myself. Those are possessions we need and at the same time they scored off of them. They paid way more attention to the basketball than we did. Every turnover is vital.”
As evident by the 28 points the Trail Blazers scored off the Sixers’ 20 giveaways.
Lou Williams led the Sixers with 25 points off the bench, while Iguodala added 22. Spencer Hawes turned in his best game as a Sixer, collecting 10 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists.
Backing Aldridge for Portland was Gerald Wallace, who had 21 points and nine rebounds. Wesley Matthews scored 16 and ageless Marcus Camby had 13 rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes.
Many of the Sixers talked after the game of getting over the opening night jitters. They won’t have to wait long to make sure they did, as they’ll play at the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. The road trip continues with games Friday in Utah, Saturday at Golden State and next Wednesday in New Orleans.
Spencer played well tonight. Is he in a contract year?:) Lou Williams has to step up his maturity and leadership. The sixers have a long way to go. Maybe the new owners can offer "buy one get two free" tickets.— reveugene- Step up his maturity and leadership? Did you watch the game? He took over in the fourth quarter, the only reason the Sixers were in the game was because of him. — JayOfDaJungle
Comment removed.- @langx...the one who has been playing looking over his shoulder is Lou WIlliams...And yes Felton, despite eating probably 3000 cheeseburgers this offseason, got into the lane at will. Your assertion that roles may have to be amended as the season goes on concerning Meeks is on point, as he is absolutely of no use if he's not hitting threes...His offensive handle is subpar...Jrue couldn't play worse, although his catch and shoot game looks good. Hawes' play is worth some encouragement,especially the rebounding part...Iggy actually picked up his game after two dreadful preseason games,but I still feel that last shot was ill fated, a force job...Coach may say he'd do it again, but I'm sure we'll see a timeout next time, especially if (as he said in post game) that he wanted them to take a quick and easy two and then foul....As poorly as the Sixers played with 20 clumsy turnovers, they still showed the resiliency late in that game to prove they're worth watching....@reveugene- I don't know what else Lou Williams has to do concerning maturity and leadership...Did you want him to tackle Iguodala to get the ball away from him?...DC is the coach, he needs Williams on the floor more ( he got a whopping bonus last night and received 27), and he needs to trust more bench guys eventually.— bearsfriend
- Comment removed.
- What's your point? Jimmy Chitwood hit the game winning shot on a neutral court. Are you implying that home court doesn't mean anything in the NBA? 2800 miles away?...In the movie "Hoosiers" I remember Gene Hackman's bunch getting run out of opposing gyms by rabid fans and crooked refs..Even pros I'm sure feel the wrath of a home town call, a sharp tongued heckler, and groupies galore. — bearsfriend
- The Return Of Brick Man............— DelawareRiverRat
- Iggy should not be the one taking the last shot of the game, should have been Williams. Meeks wont be starting for long, Turner will take over the spot as the season goes on. Hawes looked good, an assist from a triple-double. Too many TOs, they cut that down by 4-5 and they win the game.— ESFjellin
- Absolutely right, Turner looks like a different player, oozes confidence. Lou Williams was on fire, they should have set him up. Iggy thinks he's the franchise player and had to take the shot, had a good game besides that though, — JayOfDaJungle
- If they'd limited early turnovers and taken a few better shots down the stretch (what was up with Hawes' three-point attempt in the 4th?), they might have stolen this one. The Blazers, Grizz, and Sixers will be right there with the other younger teams like Thunder and Bulls and Clips. Lou gets the last shot. He's earned it time and time again. Iggy played great last night -- he looks svelte and seems like he bent the game to his will last night when things got rough -- but there was no chance of him hitting that last three. Lou, Turner, Brand, Hawes looked really good. Thad looked a little off. Jrue was way off, but we all know he'll recover -- he was trying to do too much out there sometimes. Meeks looked out of this element -- we know he'll get it together too. Since last year against the Heat they've shot in Philly and in Washington. That's it. Last night was the first time with a racuous enemy crowd as the backdrop to the standard 10-foot rim. Good effort at the end, ultimately. They'll fight every game and win a ton.
Meeks starts because he spreads the floor for Elton and Hawes inside, something that isn't needed as much when they go small with Lou, Thad, ET.— Leegles - Also, about Meeks starting over Turner: who finished the game? Jrue and Turner fouled out, but it was a rotation of Lou, Thad, Hawes, Iggy, and a little Brand before Jrue and Turner left the game. It's not who starts -- it's who finishes.— Leegles
- It's nice to see that Iggy worked on his jump shot in the off season? Taking a three at the end of the game? Trade this stiff for whatever you can get for him.— Short Circuit 3
- Very disappointing effort last night, Meeks needs to not be playing at all and Brand was bad (sixers were -20 with him on the court) and truth be told I'm more disappointed in Collin's work than anything.
If Doug wants a shooter in the starting lineup let Lou Will be the starting 2, he is a perfectly capable shooter that can open the court and a better option than Jodie, who is really not a good player. If you take the 14 minutes Jodie played and distribute them between Lou and Evan I bet they win that game.
Encouraging game by Hawes but Brand looked bad to me and was really a non-factor, for them to allow 17 offensive rebounds and for Brand to only have 8 boards for the game you know something is missing there. Tough game for Thad but the Blazers matchup perfectly with him having Wallace and Aldridge.
And why was the bench so short, get Hawes and Vucevic out there together have some real height.— mdb20 - Agree on Lou Williams...he can give more to the Sixers than the Ben Gordon,Jason Terry,Jamal Crawford offensive shot off the bench...If he was over 30 like all of those players I'd understand, but he's 25..He handles the ball well, and he can beat his man with dribble penetration, allowing Jrue to catch and shoot, where he has vastly improved...It also would allow two strong ballhandlers, as Meeks just is wanting in that area. Instead, he plays that instant offense role, which he does well, but his minutes are limited, even when he does get to finish games...Other point is Collins' lack of confidence in others on the bench, as the 8 guys who saw time totally wharfed anything in any other boxscore to start the season...Considering articles the past few days on Sixer's depth, I found that fact somewhat puzzling. — bearsfriend
- Lou Williams hits 10 shoots in a row at the end of the 4th period, his last 2 shots being three pointers and who do the Sixers go to with the clock ticking down and the game within their grasp? - Iggy of course for the losing shot. How many times did we see Iggy lose games for us down the stretch last season with outside shots? I can appreciate Iggy's overall game, he's just not the guy to take the winning shot. Looks like the same old, same old Sixers.— HJN
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.
