76ers having trouble getting it started

CLEVELAND - For the 76ers, getting started is still a problem.

About an hour before the Sixers' futile effort to extend their three-game winning streak against the wounded and bad Cleveland Cavaliers - they were without leading scorer Kyrie Irving and still won, 92-83, Wednesday night - Sixers coach Doug Collins backed off his promise to shuffle the starting lineup in an effort to get the team off to better starts.

"I just thought about it, and I decided that I was going to leave it the same, just give it another game and see how it goes," Collins said before the Cavaliers ended a six-game losing streak. "Obviously I'm not happy with how slow we have started, and I let our guys know that today. I said, 'We can't come out and be looking at a 10-point deficit after five or six minutes.' So I think it's fair to give everybody another shot to get out there and let's see what we can do."

The Sixers were playing their second game in 24 hours, and players such as Jrue Holiday had been logging particularly long minutes - he had played no fewer than 37 minutes in the previous three games and 40 the night before in the 106-98, come-from-behind victory against Toronto. But Collins had hoped that by giving Holiday, Jason Richardson, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, and Kwame Brown another shot together they would come out with some fire.

Instead, the Sixers (7-5) opened the game shooting just 3 for 18 from the field (16.7 percent) and found themselves behind by 13 points at the end of the first quarter and 19 midway through the second.

"We know that we have to get off to better starts," said Young, forced once again to play center as the Sixers tried to get back into the game with their small lineup. "But you have to give Cleveland their credit. They got out on us and at the end they were making shots like NBA 2K [a video game]. Give them credit because they were making shots."

The biggest disappointment for the Sixers was that second-year Cleveland point guard Jeremy Pargo stepped in and scorched them for a career-high 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting. A relative unknown - Pargo was acquired over the summer from Memphis in a trade for D.J. Kennedy - Pargo almost doubled his old career high (15 points).

Collins gave the Sixers off on Thanksgiving Day to spend time with their families. They will resume practice Friday in preparation for Saturday's home game against defending Western Conference champion Oklahoma City.

Whether Collins makes an adjustment to the starting lineup for the game is anyone's guess. It will, however, be something he continues to consider if the Sixers don't show more energy earlier in games.