Sixers win first Summer League game
Despite many injuries the Sixers were able to win their first Summer League game today as Lavoy Allen made his first appearance of the summer after signing his new contract.
The Sixers roster for Wednesday's game against Brooklyn was severely depleted due to injury as Maurice Harkless (hip), Nikola Vucevic (Achilles'), Arnett Moultrie (ankle) and Jacob Pullen (ankle) were all out. Still, the team picked up its first win, 79-71, over the Nets.
Justin Holiday led the team with 18 points, including making all four of his three point attempts. Xavier Silas added 12 and Solomon Jones 10. Lavoy Allen collected six points, six assists and four rebounds in his first action.
On the defensive end Holiday made a very nice block on a MarShon Brooks (18 points) drive late in the game to help seal the win.
"We can do a number of things with him out on the floor," said summer league coach Aaron McKie of Holiday. "Defensively MarShon Brooks is a handful so we let those other guys run around with him to try and get a taste of what it's like to try and guard an elite scorer in the NBA. Then we figured if we kept the game close we'd put Justin on him late.
"You can take the offensive part out of it, cause that has to get polished. But defensively he talks, he rotates, he understands defensive schemes and he's very vocal out there, which I love."
Asked if Holiday is a future NBA player, McKie didn't hesitate. "Oh, yeah. Definitely."
Penn's Zack Rosen came off the bench to provide some spark with six points and six assists in 17 minutes.