| 23 February 2012
Even Houston has a closer.Hard nosed Kyle Lowry, that is. Taking my hat off to him.
It was the Philly native point guard with three phenomenal plays down the stretch to give Rockets a 93-87 W in the last game before the All Star Game.
So Sixers slipped, a couple of times literally, to their fifth straigh loss (20-14, .588).
Rockets outscored us 10-3 in the last two minutes of the game, in which we weren't able to make a single field goal. If you think you have already seen this movie, you are right.
Lowry had an impressive sequence with two extremely tough "and one" plays completed, both drives that made it 86-84 and then 89-85, that sandwiched a charge he took by Thaddeus Young on the defensive end.
On the following possession Williams slipped for the second time in the night and stepped out of bounds, and the game was over.
It's disappointing because this (ugly) game could have been won and Sixers did many things well, some extremely well.
The defense was there, again, and kept Houston scorers were quiet for extended stretches. Too bad Kevin Martin exploded for 14 points in the final period, after having just two on 1/5 in the first three quarters, and Lowry had that final explosion. Rockets scored 32 in the fourth.
Sixers won the battle under the boards, also (40-38), whis is remarkable considering they were without both their starting big men again. Rockets were held to ZERO offensive rebounds until late in the third and finished with four. (more after the break)
Vucevic (in the pic) had a career high 18 points on 66% shooting: great game really, played with passion and intelligence.
We got to the line a lot, which is to me the best news of the night, and finally knocked down our freebies with a nice pctg.
So what went wrong? Outside shooting (0/9 from three), another slow start (we were 3/17 at a point in the first, 90% of those shots were jumpers, and two were airballs...) and lack of solutions down the stretch, as usual. Also, the 4th quarter defensive collapse, of course.
Our All star finished with 2 points (1/1) - 1 reb - 1 assist in the fourth, in which he played 10 minutes - even if few noticed, I'm afraid, because he literally disappeared in the final 7-8 minutes, on both ends.
Speaking of the All star break, it couldn't have come to a better time: Sixers not named Iguodala or Turner will enjoy five days of well deserved, much needed rest.
They need to relax, not think abut basketball possibly, then get healthy and regroup.
We still hold a three game lead over NY (17-17) in the division, which is far beyond anyone's expectations, let's admit it.
So no need to panic yet. It's wet, but it's not raining.
