Wishful thinking by Sixers' Noel?

NEW YORK - For another day, the mystery remains a mystery.

4-4-14.

Those four digits had the basketball fans in Philadelphia and around the NBA all worked up after 76ers rookie center Nerlens Noel tweeted them out Sunday afternoon. Was that the target date everyone had pegged for him to make his debut with the team after sitting out the season recovering from ACL surgery? Or was it just the wishful thinking of a 19-year-old who is more eager to get on to the basketball court than anyone can even imagine?

It appears to be a good guess to assume the latter. For a reason known only to them, the Sixers have pleaded ignorance to Tweetgate, providing a statement yesterday that basically said Noel is continuing his rehab and he has goals that need to be met there. Once those goals are reached, all parties will sit down and talk about a return for the player who was injured in February 2013 during his one season at Kentucky.

Here's an educated guess of how things may have gone down the past couple of days:

Itching to play in his first NBA game, Noel circled the date because it is when the Sixers play at Boston, his hometown. He tweeted his desire, unknown to the team. Hell broke loose and the team is choosing to ignore the issue. Noel is not permitted by the team to talk to reporters until he is playing five-on-five in practice.

"I've only heard about it and I haven't sat down and grilled him on that," coach Brett Brown insisted before last night's 123-110 loss to the New York Knicks. "I don't know the mystery and I think it's been blown out of proportion. At some point, yes [he'll talk to Noel]. We've been moving around pretty quickly here in New York and I haven't dug in maybe like I should have, but at some point, yes."

To simplify, the team will not bring Noel back unless it is 100 percent positive he is in complete game shape and his left knee is totally sound. The Sixers also might not want to bring him back if his game is rusty, for fear of him and fans losing confidence. The bet here, as much as Noel might want to play, is that he won't this season.

"I see him feeling like he's moving in a direction that is positive," Brown said. "He's looking to bang a little bit more. He's looking to shoot a little bit more. It's still really early. I don't want to mislead anybody, but I can see that he is getting a little bit more aggressive in his nature and a little bit more engaging with the things that we do, albeit brief, in practice."

For most of three quarters, the 76ers appeared to have a real chance of ending their losing streak as they were making smart decisions on the defensive end and getting solid play from just about everyone on the offensive side.

But once again, when subs have to take some of the heavy minutes from the starters, the Knicks' lead widened and ultimately led to the Sixers' 17th loss in a row, 123-110.

Trailing by 91-85 at the end of the third quarter, Brett Brown had just one starter to begin the fourth (James Anderson); as has been the case much of the season, disaster followed. The Knicks began the fourth quarter with a 13-2 blitz and squashed any hopes of Brown's club getting that elusive victory.

"That is our group," Brown said. "What you saw tonight, in many ways, reflects our group because I thought for the large majority we played competitive basketball.

"You're trying to ask our core guys, our five or six guys, to come with a level of energy and pace and then you start subbing . . . [The Knicks] have so much firepower and they showed it. Timmy Hardaway is a player. He's far more than just a shooter. They really have an awful lot of offensive firepower."

Four players scored more than 20 points for the Knicks, who won their fourth in a row to improve to 25-40. Hardaway led the way with 28, while Amar'e Stoudemire chipped in 23 and and Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith had 22 apiece.

Michael Carter-Williams collected his second career triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Tony Wroten, coming off a career-best 30 points on Saturday, also scored 23. Thaddeus Young added 18, Anderson 17 and Henry Sims 10 for the Sixers, who lost by double digits for the ninth consecutive game and fell to 15-48.

The Knicks were without Tyson Chandler, who missed the game due to personal reasons . . . When asked about the rumor of Phil Jackson possibly being named president of the Knicks, coach Mike Woodson said he is only thinking about his team and quickly ended the pregame press conference . . . Carmelo Anthony was named the Eastern Conference player of the week after averaging 29 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and more than two steals in leading New York to three straight wins.

Blog: ph.ly/Sixerville