IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
The 76ers can't win when:
They allow at least 100 points. Thedy're 1-8 in that category, and have given up that many points in four of the last five games.
They let the opponents shoot at least 50 percent from the floor. The Hawks shot 51.4 to turn back the Sixers 100-86 tonight. The Sixers are 0-6 in that category.
They get badly beaten on the glass. The Hawks outrebounded them 42-32, including an 11-3 fourth quarter. This was the fourth time the Sixers have been outrebounded by at least 10; that happened just four times all of last season.
They attempt only 11 free throws.
That's too many negatives on top of playiong without Elton Brand (strained hamstring), Lou Williams (broken jaw bone) and Marreese Speights (sprained medial collateral ligament, left knee).
''We just left so many plays out there unfinished in the open floor and at the rim,'' Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said as the losing streak reached five games. They've also dropped nine of their last 11.
Jamal Crawford led the 12-4 Hawks with 24 points, while Mike Bibby added 21; the two guards combined to hit eight of 13 three-point attempts.
Thaddeus Young had 22 points for the Sixers, who leave Saturday on a four-game trip that begins Sunday night in San Antonio.
Phil Jasner joined the staff of the Daily News in 1972. He has covered the 76ers and the NBA on a full-time basis since 1981. He won the 2004 Curt Gowdy Media Award, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the sport during his career; he was a finalist for the award in 2001, when he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Professional Basketball Writers Association during the NBA Finals. He is a past president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Philadelphia College Basketball Writers Association. Along the way, he has covered high school sports, the Big 5, the Eagles and the NFL, the World Football League, the North American Soccer League and what was then the Major Indoor Soccer League. He is a proud graduate of Temple University, and spent his early professional days at the Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, Montgomery Newspapers (Fort Washington, Pa.), the Norristown (Pa.) Times-Herald and the Trentonian.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for almost 20 years, working in the sports department the past 12 years. This is his first season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he has been the La Salle beat writer for the past six seasons.
