Overtime win over Raptors energizes Sixers

AT THE END of practice Sunday at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, coach Doug Collins made his way over to his 76ers players on the floor doing their post-practice stretching. Collins bumped fists with them one by one, and gave each an encouraging word.

As much as Friday's come-from- 19-points-behind victory over the Toronto Raptors was needed as the team had won just one of its previous six games, anything to boost the morale of the team was also a top priority.

When you are a team that isn't among the upper echelon as far as talent, a proper mindset is as important as the collected talent. Friday went a long way toward lifting the black cloud that has lingered over the team, and the hope among players and Collins is that the improbable win infuses good play - and good spirits - for a time to come.

"The last game kind of helped us with that [attitude] and built our confidence," said guard Jrue Holiday, who scored 33 points, including the final 14 of the game and all 12 in overtime, in the Sixers' 108-101 win Friday. "Going into next game [Monday against San Antonio] we know what we have to do to put ourselves in the best position to win. Obviously it's not ideal getting down by 19 points. Well, actually it might be.

"It means a lot, coming back from that just because if we would have come out and just started from the beginning or jumped on top of them, I think when you're hitting offensively you tend to back down defensively. I think when we were down, our backs were against the wall and we knew we had to do something. Getting that pressure from us kind of made us put pressure on them to step up and do what we had to do defensively. We've come together as a team.

"Obviously some games you can't do that because it's just too much to fight back. We've obviously come together. Like coach says, we've circled the wagons and brought ourselves together as a team and will fight together instead of individually."

And they are going to need more team play if they are going to start playing better basketball, especially with a schedule that includes the Spurs Monday, at Milwaukee on Tuesday and then visits from the likes of the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, Indiana Pacers and Clippers, among others. Friday, Holiday and Thaddeus Young combined for 60 points, including 41 of the team's 65 points after halftime. No matter how the victory happened, it was much needed for a variety of reasons.

"When guys are in a good spot like that, I think it creates energy," said Collins. "I told our guys the other day that not only the way we battled back but the way we managed the clock at the end of the game, being behind we had timeouts and being able to score [was key]. We looked for stops and I thought worked the clock and got good execution and got lucky to force a key turnover [near the end of regulation]. That's all good.

"The fact that Jrue and Thad played such high-level basketball was exciting. I thought we had a lot of guys come in and do a lot of good things for our team. The good thing about feeling good mentally, regardless of what happens [Monday] you have to say we had a really good win and we have to find a way to keep building on it because our schedule is going to be very difficult. The key is playing good basketball. If you play good basketball you'll give yourself a chance to win.

"The biggest thing for me was that it had nothing to do with any adjustments or X's-and-O's or anything like that. Our guys showed that if they want to get into guys physically and they want to get after people that we can defend the pick-and-roll, we can do other things we need to do and then our defense creates an opportunity for us to get and play at a faster tempo."

It was a markedly different defense. After allowing Toronto to score 28 points on 12-for-17 shooting in the first quarter, the Sixers limited the Raptors to 41 points in the second half and overtime on just 16-for-47 (34 percent) shooting.

"They know they can do it well, it's just the inconsistency," said Collins. "November 30 the last time we tasted consecutive wins; we just haven't been able to put it together. The guys know they can do it.

"We've shown that we can do it. We've beaten some very good teams and we've been competitive against some of the better teams in the league. We've just got to do it every night. [Monday] is the midway point of the season. This first half has flown by and if we're going to be a playoff team at some time we're going to have to string some wins together."