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76ers' problem finishing bites them again

Doug Collins tries to get his team in formation during the final moments against the Charlotte Bobcats in an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday, April 3, 2013. The Bobcats won 88-83. (Bob Leverone/AP)

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John N. Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Friday, April 5, 2013, 2:27 AM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Spencer Hawes summed it up best.

"It's tough. He's the head of our snake," Hawes said of Jrue Holiday following the 76ers' 88-83 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday. "He's what propels us with not only scoring but making plays as well. When he is having a tough night it has a ripple effect."

Holiday was 2 for 24 and scored just five points against the Bobcats. And with three games left on this road trip, against Atlanta on Friday, Miami on Saturday, and Brooklyn on Tuesday, the 30-44 Sixers are looking at returning home as a lottery team.

After their loss to Minnesota on Wednesday, the magic number for the Milwaukee Bucks to clinch the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs is two games.

"We had a chance at winning [Wednesday's] game at the end," Hawes said of the Charlotte loss. "But you have to close teams out. You have to take advantage of them when they are down. If you check, we haven't done a very good job of that all year."

After blowing a 16-point second-quarter lead and trailing the Bobcats by seven points early in the fourth, Holiday, who attempted 12 of his 24 shots in the fourth quarter, helped the Sixers draw even at 82 on a layup with one minute remaining in the game.

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They had a chance to go up by four points, but Damien Wilkins, who led the Sixers with 20 points, converted just 1 of 2 free throws and set the stage for Episcopal Academy's Gerald Henderson's late-game heroics.

On the Bobcats' next possession, Henderson ran off a few screens and found himself wide open for a 15-footer, which he sank.

After a 20-second Sixers timeout, Henderson needed to exert little effort to steal an inbounds pass by Evan Turner and race in for an uncontested dunk that sealed the victory.

"You've got to use a little fakery. You can't just put the ball up over your head. You have to fake a guy out," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "These are all situations that we've got to learn to do a better job with. That's why I'm constantly teaching this group about finishing these games off.

"Even though it looks like we are not going to make the playoffs, whether you are playing Charlotte or Chicago in Game 6 of the playoffs, you have to finish games."

Contact John N. Mitchell at jmitchell@philly.com. Follow on Twitter @JmitchInquirer.

John N. Mitchell Inquirer Staff Writer

Previous Story: The Sixers guard who couldn't shoot straight

Next Story: Sixers Notes: Sixers' Andrew Bynum has not ruled out signing an extension

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Comments (12)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:41 AM, 04/05/2013

collins better keep his job. can you remember him sinking those free throws against the ussr? the man's a national treasure and one of the best players this city has ever witnessed. i remember doug collins. there's no one on his current roster that can ball better than he could. try coaching that.

— goofyfooterwill

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:23 AM, 04/05/2013

Just because a guy was a great player doesn't mean that he would be a great coach. Collins is following his coaching history to the letter, some improvement early followed by the team imploding and getting sick of him, begging for him to get fired (see Michael Jordan, Grant Hill).

— mjc1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:06 AM, 04/05/2013

Problem finishing games?...Not enough fakery?...Problems getting to the line?...Sounds like DC is suffering from a little "Louitis", as it was he who let Lou go in a different direction...allowing others into roles that bring along growing pains, magnified even further from a lack of depth and a supporting cast. Not enough FTs, not enough easy baskets from transition..When a team scores in the 80's so often, the team will lose plenty of games. Simple.

— bearsfriend

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:47 AM, 04/05/2013

While DC has made many perplexing and questionable in game moves, or lack of moves the basic problem is in talent or lack of it. The pieces just don't fit together. Personnel decisions were made that haven't and won't work out. I've turned 180 degrees and now believe letting Lou Williams go was a huge mistake, along with all the others last summer. Still don't understand the lack of playing time for Moultrie at this point in the season. Where do we go from here?

— Dave47

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:57 AM, 04/05/2013

@bearsfriend - Got to add too that DC's offense is predicated on low risk which results in low TO's, shooting long jumpshots and not forcing anything within the paint. These all result in low FTs. Bynum or not, being the lowest scoring team and one of the lowest in attempting FTs are an embarrassment unto itself. Also DC uses a bunch of his players out of position and wants them to play his system even if it is a weakness in their game.

— Manok

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:35 AM, 04/05/2013

His offense is not as nauseating when there's that XYZ ball movement,although talent on roster not is not suited for "cutters". Better ball movement gets better looks, but waves of overdribbling takes away the rhythm...Problem for the Sixers is they're limited to just that (outside a good matchup for ET to back down a smaller defender, or when Jrue simply finishes, often against a smaller defender or no contestation) as they have limited creators off the dribble, and yes, a way too safe transition game that does not feature "Home Run" passes (an under the rim team,yawn)...To me, getting tho the line is from one of two things...having a big who commands the double teams down low (granted,a healthy AB would have helped there)...but more importantly...SPEED AND QUICKNESS...A John Wall/Russell Westbrook/Ty Lawson simply FLY by opponents en route to the goal, and get the call..>Lou's first step got him into the lane at WILL, and his shot fakes would bring multiple opps as well...Only D Wright (and my god, he abuses it every game)relies on constant shot fakes..Sixers are a slow,bland product..and yes, there's only one place to look. Word on the street is DC is somewhat confused as to whether he wants to stay here or not...Wish ownership would grow a pair and make that decision easier...Legacies,ugh.

— bearsfriend

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:51 AM, 04/05/2013

Doug Collins is not good for a young team. I hope he resigns and goes back to TV, and bring back Moe Cheeks. He was unjustly fired (for Eddie Jordan) by that last idiot Ed Stefanski.

— MrBigDizzle

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:58 AM, 04/05/2013

Maybe they have trouble closing because DC insists on going to isolation plays in the last 3-4 minutes of games. He would have Iggy do it, sometimes LowWill, now he has Jrue do it all the time.
The Sixers have not had an offense player talented enough to carry that load. They have had to rely on ball movement and the fast break. Yet Doug insists on doing it his way.

— blah

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:52 AM, 04/05/2013

The worst thing that can happen to this train wreck of a team is for Collins to return next season. His personnel decisions are awful, his rotations are questionable, and his offensive schemes are inadequate. In addition, he and his media minions put far too much pressure on a young Jrue Holiday to be the MAN, the All-Star point guard who has the fourth quarter burden of single-handedly carrying the team on his shoulders by firing away at will. I don't begrudge volume shooters having an off night who continue to shoot, but at some point on the way to a record setting 2-24, Holiday needed to be reined in against the Bobcats either by sitting him down for a spell in the fourth quarter or strongly suggesting he keep the ball moving and perhaps Collins could have helped him as well by running several plays designed to get him easy looks. I echo what MJC1 said: great players often do NOT make great coaches or managers.

— chuckw

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:50 PM, 04/05/2013

i guess he had nothing to do with them overachieving last season or he forgot how to coach since then, right? the buckwheat trade didn't work out. don't overreact. dc isn't the gm

— goofyfooterwill

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:15 PM, 04/05/2013

Did you think Billy King was the actual GM when Larry Brown was coach too?

— blah

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:40 PM, 04/05/2013

Do you really believe, after ending only 4 games over .500, limping to the finish line, that they would have won more than one game against the Bulls in the playoffs if Rose and Noah were playing? Any NBA team could have won that series. Who do you think put together this team in the off-season, including Kwame Stiff, Nick Young, Royal Ivey, Dorell Wright, extended Lavoy Allen. let Lou Williams walk and has since then gone through Wayns, Pargo, Jenkins, and now Justin Holiday? Collins record with the Sixers is 106-116 regular season and 8-10 playoffs, not exactly glorious numbers.

— chuckw