MCW practices, closer to return

'IT'S A GOOD day." That is what 76ers coach Brett Brown said in anticipation of his reigning rookie of the year and point guard, Michael Carter-Williams, participating in his first practice of the season yesterday following shoulder surgery.

The plan is for him to return to game action in about a week, but making definitive statements about a Sixers player returning from injury is nearly impossible.

Carter-Williams, who has bulked his upper body by about 15 pounds, is more than ready to get back into the fray and try to help his team put an end to a losing streak that has already reached five games.

"I was a little winded out there, but I feel great," he said. "It's good to be back out there with the guys, just moving the ball, just playing in general. It's just really timing, whether it's dribble timing or finishing at the rim. As soon as I get my timing back I think I'll be more effective.

"We're trying to get over that hump, trying to get that first win. We're right there. We're playing hard, we're playing good. We're itching to get our first win, and of course I wish I was out there playing, but they're playing great. Maybe if you look at our record it doesn't look like it, but we're playing hard and working hard in practice. Our first win will come soon."

Whether it does or doesn't, and the schedule certainly doesn't suggest it will come any time soon, Brown at least has another weapon at his disposal in a season that has already proved he is basically naked in that area.

"Apart from him just individually looking good the team was excited to have him," Brown said. "Everybody, you could see, had an extra bounce to their step. The ball moved, it was probably our best passing day that we've had. He is a true point guard. He's the rookie of the year coming back and feeling he's got to defend his belt, that he earned something last year that we are all very proud of, that he will have a little bit of a bull's-eye on him. Skill-wise, the passing will go up a notch. I think that the turnovers will go down a notch."

And hope that the win total will go up a notch. And soon.

Obviously there are many areas one can find fault on this 76ers team, from the shooting to the defense to the turnovers, and so on and so forth.

But the real puzzling area is why this team seems to deflate in the second half. Nothing has been forced on this team more than fitness. You can't get through a day of talking to coach Brett Brown without hearing about skin folds and weight and nutrition and hydration and sleep and body-fat percentage. The players wear small monitors in their practice jerseys to track how much they run. The coach and players wear bracelets to monitor how long they sleep and when their best hours of sleep occurred.

Sports science and sports conditioning is the theme of the staff. So what gives in the second half? The average score this season at the end of the first half: Opponents 52.2, Sixers 51.6. In the second half: Opponents 48.8, Sixers 38.4. Brown's club is averaging just 14.2 points in the fourth quarter.

"I think teams start playing harder [in the fourth]," Brown said. "We're playing against more focused defensive teams. We haven't played enough with each other. Michael [Carter-Williams] coming back will help to understand what happens when teams overplay us and take away options. I thought Houston the other night just locked us up for a 5-minute period where they overplayed everything and we had no answer. Those things come to my mind. I do feel like we're making strides with our defense. I think that we're getting better defensively and we can hold the fort and stay in some games through our defense, not because of our offense. Our offense has to catch up to our defense and our defense is not even close to where it needs to be, but our offense is way behind."

In the game against the Houston Rockets, when the Sixers trailed by just one at the half, the Rockets simply turned things up a notch to pull away and win by 11. James Harden scored 35 points, and it seemed he barely broke a sweat doing it. Many times this season the losses will just be about the disparity in talent levels, but other times it has been something else. The Sixers held a three-point lead in Indiana against a team starting its third-string point guard and missing three starters and four of its top six players. Still, the Pacers were able to outscore the Sixers by 15 in the second half and scored 11 of the game's final 13 points.

Against Milwaukee, the Sixers closed out by not scoring in the final 8 minutes, 21 seconds of the contest. Miami broke open a four-point lead after three to win by 18, and Orlando limited the Sixers to 14 points in the fourth quarter.

"We understand fully when we start finding some wins, it's not because we're going to be blowing people out," Brown said. "We have to close out games. Our wins are going to be close. That intellect, poise, controlling-the-game portion of winning close games, I see [Carter-Williams] helping out with that tremendously."

Nerlens Noel didn't practice yesterday and "we don't expect him to play" tonight when the team faces the Chicago Bulls, said Brett Brown. Noel sprained his left ankle in Wednesday's loss to Orlando. He tried doing some drills yesterday, but quickly called it a day. He spent some time on the stationary bike.

UPCOMING GAMES

Sixers vs. Chicago Bulls

When: Tonight, 7 o'clock

Where: Wells Fargo Center

TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/The Fanatic (97. FM)

Game stuff: This might be a very scaled down version of the Bulls.

Derrick Rose returned to action on Wednesday after being sidelined for a pair of games with sprains to both ankles. He didn't appear himself in a win at Milwaukee and admitted to not being 100 percent. Joakim Noah has missed the last two games due to illness.

Sixers at Toronto Raptors

When: Sunday, 7 o'clock

Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto

TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/The Fanatic (97.5 FM)

Game stuff: Cardinal Dougherty and Villanova product Kyle Lowry and his bulldog style are carrying a team that has high hopes this season. Lowry scored 35 points Wednesday for the shorthanded Raptors in a win over the Boston Celtics. Toronto should have its full complement of players for this game.

Sixers at Dallas Mavericks

When: Thursday, 8:30 p.m.

Where: American Airlines Arena

TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/The Fanatic (97.5 FM)

Game stuff: After opening the season with a loss, the Mavericks then won their next three games, doing so while averaging 115.7 points on 53.5 percent shooting. Big offseason pickup Chandler Parsons has been playing very well of late as he averaged 23.3 points on 56.8 percent shooting in those three wins.

BY THE NUMBERS

90: That's how many points a game the Sixers are averaging, a year after averaging 93.2. That was the lowest mark in the league, the first time the Sixers have ever been there.

81: That's how many turnovers the Sixers have committed in their last four games.

13-6: The first number is how many rebounds a game Orlando center Nik Vucevic is averaging. The second number is how many times he has been to the foul line in the team's first five games. Odd.