Philadelphia 76ers vs Brooklyn Nets Recap and Player Grades

The Sixers beat the Nets 106-97 to snap their 5 game losing streak. It was a good effort by the team led by…uh…Damian Wilkins and Spencer Hawes. If you didn’t watch the game, please make no mistake. Those two players did it tonight.

Mar 11, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Spencer Hawes (00) celebrates a play during the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers defeated the Nets 106-97. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Sixers.

The Sixers led for most of the way. As I said in the preview, I really saw the Sixers losing. Reggie Evans didn’t out rebound the Sixers this time. Sixers took 76 shots. Cool. They shot 53% for the game and had 7 turnovers. They even got to the foul line but only shot 67% on 18-27 shooting.

The Nets were led by Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, both with at least 20 points with Williams ending with 27. Brook Lopez had 19. Other than that, the rest of the team had single digit scorers. It seemed like the Nets were not playing as well as they could. It seemed like they didn’t take the Sixers seriously and it cost them.

Doug Collins wins his 100th game with the Sixers. So congrats.

And now for some player grades.

Jrue Holiday: B+

Jrue has been struggling with his shot during the losing streak. I predicted that he would snap out of it tonight and while he didn’t explode like we saw before the All-Star break, he did shoot better than what we’ve seen from in a while. He ended up with 15 points on 4-8 shooting and went 6-8 from the foul line. He also had 11 assists. Hopefully this is the end of the slump.

Evan Turner: C

Evan may have had 16 points but he took 18 shots. He did make it the FT line making 3 of 4. He didn’t play defense very well and just wasn’t a major factor. He did add 4 assists and 7 rebounds.

Damian Wilkins: B+

Damian set the tone early in the game and scored the team’s first points.  But then he score again until the 3rd quarter. But, in the 3rd quarter, he scored 11 points while helping the Sixers get to a 14 point lead.  He had 13 points in all.

Thad Young: B+

Thad continues to be Thad. He also had 16 points but took half the shots Turner took. Making sure he wasn’t out rebounded by Evans, he ripped down 10 rebounds, with two of them being offensive. He’s been the best player for the team all month in the midst of the losing. Also, very consistent.

Spencer Hawes: A

Hey, if Spencer wants to have a good game for every  50 bad games, that’s on him. But, he played well tonight and deserves that credit. He had 24 points on 10-15 shooting. He, along with Thad, pulled down 10 rebounds. And we’re talking about real rebounds. He was fighting for them. 4 of them were offensive. He also had 7 assists and 2 blocks. So he was doing everything out there.

Sixth Man: Dorell Wright: B

Dorell Wright was also part of the 3rd quarter explosion for the Sixers. At one point, he scored 3 straight FG’s for the team and they were all 3 pointers. He ended with 15 points.

Bench: C

The rest of the bench played well enough. They made some plays. Charles Jenkins apparently is taking Jeremy Pargo’s minutes as backup PG and he didn’t really disappoint. Lavoy Allen had more fouls (3) than rebounds or points (2). Ouch. Moultrie had quieted down from his recent…some kind of…coming out party.

Sixers next game is vs the Heat on Wednesday. We’re best friends with them these days. And with the Pacers and Blazers looming behind the Heat, is there another losing streak on the horizon?