Young helps Sixers beat Pistons, halt losing streak

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Last night's game against the Detroit Pistons must have been in that clump of games forward Thaddeus Young calls "must wins." It wasn't so much because the 76ers needed to find the win column again after losing five straight. It's more because, quite frankly, it was against an inferior opponent.

Young doesn't look at the crazy schedule this season as homestands and long road trips; rather, he breaks it down in other ways. Lesser opponents are under the "must win" category.

The Sixers obliged Young, and he had a lot to do with it, as the losing streak was snapped with a 97-68 win in which the offense looked more alive than at any time over the past 2 weeks and legs seemed very much rejuvenated. No one's more so than Young's, who came off the bench for 20 points and eight rebounds in helping the first-place Sixers improve to 21-14 and get their first win since Feb. 13.

The only one who didn't seem to be fresher was coach Doug Collins, who left the bench after the third quarter with what he called dehydration. He didn't miss much in the fourth quarter, as the game was already way past decided.

"I think I got dehydrated," said Collins, who made it to his usual postgame media session. "I got a little lightheaded over there, I felt I was getting sort of like that flu feeling, a little cold and clammy, a little dizzy. I just wanted the doc to check me out. It's all good, I feel good. I drank a couple bottles of water. I took a long walk today and I haven't really slept much over the last 4 or 5 days."

No wonder, with his team entering the All-Star break on that losing skid, you just knew it wouldn't be a restful time for the ultra-competitive coach.

"The season has taken its toll on all of us," Young said. "You do look at the stretches that we have and you break it down into the games that there are a bunch of games that we better win; then there's a bunch of games that we must win; and there are a bunch of games that people are not expecting us to win, but we have a chance to go in there and win. That's pretty much been the key to us all season. We have stretches where there are games that we know that we should win."

It was the third time this season the Sixers have plastered Detroit, but none has come at a more critical time. Some of the major questions that were surrounding this team for the past 5 days seemed to get answered, at least for a night, as everything that they had done so well at the beginning of the season was on display.

It all starts with the defense, and the Sixers held the listless Pistons to only 31.6 percent shooting (25-for-79) and forced 23 turnovers, 17 of which were steals. Five players joined Young in double figures, including Lou Williams, who had 13. Jodie Meeks and Andre Iguodala scored 12 each, while Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday both scored 10.

"It felt good. We needed the win," said Brand, who made five of nine shots in his first game back since missing two with a sprained thumb. "We played great defense. It helps us getting out and getting layups. We got a day to practice [Monday], so that helped. Some new sets, we got some good scores, some good open shots for the shooters. It was flow. We almost scored 100 points without Spencer."

Brand was referring to Spencer Hawes, who has been out most of the season with an Achilles' strain. The team has not hit the century mark since Jan. 23 - 18 games ago. But it didn't matter last night as the offense was certainly efficient, making half of its 84 shots, dealing 26 assists on 42 made shots, dominating Detroit in fastbreak points (30-10) and points off turnovers (24-12).

This one was so easy, there was dancing in the Sixers' huddle during a timeout in the middle of the fourth quarter. Not sure that would have happened had Collins still been on the bench. Or maybe he would have joined in. It has been a long time since a win, after all.

"When we play like that [defensively], that gets us out into the open court," Collins said. "I thought the first 4 minutes of the game, I thought we were getting back into playing again. Our guys really locked in. The only thing is, I thought we were a little sloppy with the ball.

"It was a good win for our guys. I know who we are. I thought our guys showed a lot tonight. When we started out the game, I thought we were getting our sea legs back. They had 10 early points in the paint. I was concerned about that. But we were productive in our defense creating our offense."

Things get much tougher for the Sixers tonight when they host the strong Oklahoma City Thunder (27-7), which will be playing its first game since the break.

That one probably falls under the "people don't think we have a chance" category for Young. But as he stipulates, "we have a chance to go in there and win." Only if his team does much of the same things it did against the Pistons.

"Just what we want, a rested OK City," Collins said. "[Kevin] Durant probably has his [All-Star] MVP trophy by his bed right there watching our game tonight. That team is an amazing team. [Coach] Scotty Brooks has done an amazing job. And to see the growth of Kevin Durant and [Russell] Westbrook and James Harden, who I worked with at Arizona State and I'm so proud of the player he's become. They are really, really good. They have a chance to come out of the West.

"Once again, we're going to see the best of the West in February. It's leap year, so maybe we can leap into March with something good."

Read his blog at www.philly.com/Sixerville.