Sixers Willing To Play Through The Pain
WELLS FARGO CENTER – The destination is within sight now, though the trip has not been without cost.
It would be not completely accurate to say the 76ers are limping toward the playoffs – that seems a little too extreme, a little too dramatic – but it’s at least worth noting that three key guys played Wednesday night with physical problems of varying severity. And that the Sixers (39-36) nonetheless beat Houston 108-97 to reduce their magic number for reaching the postseason to one.
One more victory (or one more loss by Charlotte), and they’re in. The Sixers’ next game is Friday at home, against New Jersey.
“One step closer,” said forward Elton Brand, limited 28 minutes by a stomach bug. “We really wanted to get this game, and we want to clinch at home.”
Brand managed eight points and four rebounds. Andre Iguodala, who continues to struggle on his tendonitis-wracked right knee, had nine points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. But Thaddeus Young helped pick up the slack, despite suffering an adductor strain (i.e., a groin pull) during Monday’s victory in Chicago. He scored 22 off the bench Wednesday, two fewer than Jrue Holiday’s game-high total.
Afterward coach Doug Collins said what he has said before – that he would never play a guy who says he is too hurt to go out there. Nor would he ever question the extent of an injury, knowing how hurtful it was when his heart was questioned as he battled through one affliction after another during his playing days.
But all these guys seem to want to play, even when they‘re not right. They seem to want to play for each other, as much as anything else. That’s in keeping with the all-for-one, one-for-all feel of this team, a product of its youth and the struggles it endured last year, and early in this one.
So it should be no surprise at this point that Brand said this: “You hear some guys have their best games when they’re sick. I didn’t, but I wanted to. … I wanted to give as much energy as I could out there – block some shots, rebound, hit some shots and just be there for my team – especially now.”
Nor should it come as any surprise that Iguodala said this: “If I feel like I can play – if I feel like I can contribute in any way – then I go out there and play.”
Young has likewise said he wants to be on the floor at every key moment. And after extensive treatment earlier in the day – “It took three or four hours just to get everything loose and stretched out,” he said – he played with his customary effectiveness.
“I felt it,” he said of his injury, “but I didn’t let it bother me.”
Things are much dicier with Iguodala. Only extensive rest will alleviate his knee problem – likely two months of it, according to Collins. While it couldn’t hurt to sit out a game or two once the team clinches a postseason berth, Iguodala said he’s going to play that by ear.
In the meantime he must adjust his game according to how he’s feeling. And that, he said, “depends on how well it warms up, or if it has a chance to warm up during games.”
“Some games,” he added, “it feels good. Chicago, it felt really good. I was surprised. Tonight it just got sore again, so it varies from day to day.”
Collins, who called Iguodala “a brilliant basketball player” with “great instincts,” believes the veteran swingman can find a way to be effective, no matter his physical limitations.
“If you’re a smart player, you can make up for it,” Collins said. “If you’re just a talent and you get injured, it really costs you. With a guy like Dre he can still play at an incredibly high level because he has such a great basketball IQ.”
And now the destination is in sight, for him and everyone else.
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