Inside the Sixers: Lineup shuffle pays off in victory

NEWARK, N.J. - After the Sixers starters went 13 for 45 from the field on the way to an uninspiring 88-82 loss to Orlando on Saturday, coach Doug Collins promised that there would likely be changes to the starting lineup if something good didn't happen in Boston. It didn't, as the Sixers extended a three- game losing streak to four and fell, 103-79, on Sunday.

So for Tuesday night's streak-breaking 107-88 win over the New Jersey Nets, Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes were benched and Jodie Meeks and Nik Vucevic took their places.

Vucevic, who made his ninth start of the season Tuesday night, scored four points and had eight rebounds. With Hawes struggling to regain the form that he showed before missing 29 games, the decision to go with Vucevic is probably good. It will allow Hawes, who had his minutes watched earlier after he returned from injury, a chance to, as Collins said Tuesday, relax.

Hawes took it to heart and turned in a nice effort off the bench, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. Both he and Turner, who finished with just two points, said all of the right things after the game.

"He told me before the shootaround and obviously I wasn't happy, you know. I think anybody that plays the game when you get news like that you are not going to be happy. But there are two ways to go," Hawes said. "You can either sit there and sulk about it or be mad, swallow it, and try to make the most out of it."

Said Turner: "It's better for the team. We just won a game. We're trying to get off the schneid and we just won a game. We're trying to put some wins together. It's always been about the Sixers and that's pretty much it."

The Meeks move is more puzzling. Meeks didn't distinguish himself against Boston, missing all seven of his field goal attempts and finishing with four points. And his 9-for-30 in the previous five games (he had five points on 2-for-8 shooting Tuesday) certainly isn't going to make anyone forget about Andrew Toney.

In the 18 games he has started this season, Turner averaged 11.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in almost 33 minutes a game. His demotion is surprising because, shortly after Evans became a starter, Collins said that it was his job to determine how well Turner, Andre Iguodala, and Jrue Holiday played together as they among the most important members of this team's still young core.

Sixers president Rod Thorn has been quiet for the most part since owner Josh Harris hired him to energize this franchise, and the glare will come off Collins this summer - especially if the Sixers fail to reach the playoffs - and the clamoring will be for Thorn to invigorate this team via free-agency and the draft.

As for Tuesday's roster shuffle, Thorn gave his support to Collins.

"That is up to Coach," Thorn said. "Coach's feeling is that we need to shake things up. Our first unit in quarters one and three have not played that well, particularly in the last six or seven games and he wanted to shake it up a little bit and see if we can get something going, so I'm all with him and hopefully it will work."

He spoke of the Sixers' 20-9 start, but he also pointed to an accommodating early schedule that probably helped them. And he was clearly disappointed that the Sixers had lost 18 of their last 27. heading into Tuesday.

"So who are the real Sixers?" Thorn wondered. "We've got 10 games to go and we need to play more like we've played earlier in the season if we want to get where we'd like to be. We're still in the running. We want to try and do everything we can to do as well as we can."

For one night, at least, the lineup shuffle provided the right answer.