Sixers powwow to avoid steep decline

THE 76ERS have lost four of 14 games so far this season, and suffered only their first home defeat in Wednesday's overtime game against Denver.

Still, the "slide" needs to stop here, players said yesterday after a nearly hourlong team meeting at the Sixers' practice facility, where they were preparing for tonight's visit from the Atlanta Hawks.

"We had a meeting of the minds," said guard Lou Williams, "a little powwow just to make sure everybody's on the same page and to avoid slippage . . . When you lose a game, I think it's important for everybody to sit down and say, 'OK, are we all right?' . . . That was basically it. We had a players-only meeting just to make sure everybody was happy. Make sure we continue to push forward."

A powwow? After only the fourth loss in 14 games? Isn't that kind of drastic?

"This is the most success we've had in a long time, and we're not planning on letting that go," Williams said. "We can't afford to lose three or four in a row, based on guys not being able to talk out small little things. We lost one, we consider that a losing streak in our building, so we just had to talk it out.

"We just have to continue to communicate. We had a stretch [Wednesday] where we cut it to two and they hit four three-pointers in a row, and that was just based on guys not talking and communicating and getting to where they're supposed to be."

Coach Doug Collins said, "We have powwows all the time." After film sessions and team meetings, he said, the coaches leave the room.

"That's protocol," he said. "That's the way we always do things. I believe, as a coach, you talk to the guys and then you give them time to spend some time with each other and talk about some things. That's the way we've always done things here."

Also in talking with reporters yesterday, Collins was asked about go-to options at the end of games. On Wednesday, with the Sixers down by one point, Andre Iguodala drove the lane and was fouled with 4 seconds remaining. He made one of two free throws to send the game into overtime. Collins pooh-poohed the idea that Iguodala is the main choice at the end of games.

"Night to night, it could be Lou Williams, it could be Jrue [Holiday], it could be Dre," Collins said. "[Wednesday], Evan Turner had a great game. We don't have that one guy who we pencil in every night and say this is the guy that we're necessarily going to run that shot for.

"Maybe it's on the matchups. I don't know who we want to do that for. Obviously, the teams that have that one guy who can get that shot or get to the free throw line, that's a special thing to have. It's like having Mariano Rivera to come in and close those games off for you. Right now, we're growing to do that. That's why it's good to be in these close games to try to make those kinds of plays. Dre drove to the basket, he got to the line, he got his two free throws. We thought we were in an attack position there. I trust my guys enough late in games to make the right decisions and not let the other coach dictate what we're going to do."

Center Spencer Hawes missed Wednesday's game with a strained Achilles' tendon. Doug Collins said he didn't see any improvement yesterday, making it seem that Hawes will be out for tonight's game and perhaps tomorrow's in Miami. Hawes also missed the loss to the Knicks a week earlier with a strained back.

"The back feels great. Unfortunately, when it rains, it pours," Hawes said. "As soon as the back got feeling better, I strained the Achilles'. But it feels better. It's just frustrating having to sit over there and watch from the sidelines. But in this kind of unique season, I feel like - in talking with the coaching staff and the medical staff - if we don't get it taken care of now, it could be something that can get on top of you and kind of snowball. We'll try to get it as best we can right now and then just like the back, put it behind us."