Complacency Could Be Ailing The Sixers
WELLS FARGO CENTER — The 76ers miss Lou Williams. That much is clear.
But it would be a mistake to say their offensive problems are due solely to the absence of their sixth man extraordinaire.
On Friday night they escaped with a 98-93 victory over Toronto — a 21-58 team that was without leading scorer Andrea Bargnani and a handful of others — and afterward coach Doug Collins talked about how “out of kilter” his team was offensively, how it is “not as connected” as it has been all season.
Elton Brand scored 22 points, Thaddeus Young had 20 and Andre Iguodala generated 10 of his 16 in the fourth quarter for the Sixers (41-39), who snapped a three-game losing streak.
But the starting backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Jodie Meeks combined to shoot 5-for-22 from the floor. And the Sixers as a team missed 11 of their 18 attempts while being outscored 30-19 in the third quarter, a period that has been problematic for them lately.
They were, Brand said, “a little overconfident.” Also unfocused, perhaps fatigued and — oh yeah — still painfully young, not to mention working on stuff, as Iguodala noted.
“We tried a few schemes to prepare ourselves for what’s to come next week [in the playoffs], that we wouldn’t have otherwise,” he said. “If this was in January, we would go with what works best against that Toronto team. We tried a few things. Sometimes they worked. Other times they didn’t.”
That being the case, maybe this wasn’t as worrisome a night as it seemed. Maybe this is nothing the arrival of an important game — and a return to health for Williams, who has that bad hammy — can’t fix. (Though it is far from assured that Williams will be ready for the playoffs, which begin next weekend.)
Collins’ immediate solution was to give everyone a day off Saturday, before the Sixers close out the regular season with home games against Orlando, Monday and Detroit, Wednesday.
“I just want them to get away,” he said. “We need a break.”
Certainly complacency was an issue Friday, as Brand said. They had clinched a playoff berth one week earlier, and were playing a team that is not only terrible, but in ill health.
“These are the games you hate to coach,” Collins said, “when you’re playing against a team that’s playing with house money, and they’re loose and free. If you miss a shot, it doesn’t matter. … These are the hardest teams to play. They really are.”
It is, Brand admitted, “a little hard to get up for these games.”
“Harder than it should be,” he added. “We should be focused. We should be ready, but we didn’t bring it the third quarter, like we should have.”
Later, he added, “We went into tonight’s game thinking, ‘We’re good.’ ”
The game remained in doubt until Toronto’s Jerryd Bayless airballed a 3-point attempt with 3.9 seconds left and his team trailing by three. Holiday then sank a pair of free throws.
Iguodala said that while he has no problem getting up for any game, any time, some of his younger teammates might.
“They can be goofy at times,” he said, “or out there just playing without really understanding time and score. They’re still playing hard. That’s the bottom line.”
That has been this team’s MO from Day One. But Meeks can’t make a shot — he’s missed 15 of his last 17 from the arc — and while Holiday generated 13 points and 11 assists Friday, he also turned the ball over five times.
“I thought he was leaving his feet again [before passing] and being casual with the ball,” Collins said. “That’s what he did early in the season, when he had turnover problems.”
So maybe this is nothing that can’t be cured over time. Though the suspicion is that it will take more time than they have this season.
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