SIXERS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#SIXERSWIN https://t.co/XycBCBE6Yx
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) December 4, 2014
For the first time in 28 games, and the first time in lauded rookie Jahlil Okafor's career, your Philadelphia 76ers have won a regular season basketball game. Brett Brown and his fruit basket can finally breathe a sigh of relief for about 30 seconds before preparing his team for their next contest. On a night where the Wells Fargo Center was filled with more Kobe Bryant fans than you could shake a stick at, the Sixers pulled off their most complete performance of the season. Though there were periods of sloppy performance throughout the game, the Sixers stepped up when it mattered the most and hopefully banished some of the demons that plagued them for the five previous games.
Philadelphia fans are smart, while we understand for the most part the rationale behind "The Process" and Sam Hinkie's vision of building this team into a perennial championship contender, it's still difficult to watch some of the basketball that's been played in this city. Tonight however, we can all be proud of our young guys for pulling out a win against one of the premier players and franchises of the NBA.
The first quarter started out hot with five consecutive possessions ending with a three pointer, Kobe himself 3-4. The Sixers got their first lead of the night at 10-9 off of a Jerami Grant free throw, who was just starting out on what would end up a full stat sheet. The rest of the half was marked by sloppy basketball for both teams, however not as turnover happy as Sunday's game against Memphis. A few Sixer defensive breakdowns led to Los Angeles heading to the locker room with a 58-50 lead.
Brett Brown came out of halftime urging his team to pick up the energy, and it got through. A foul on Roy Hibbert by Isaiah Canaan lead to a scuffle between Hibbert, Jerami Grant, and JaKarr Sampson. After a long delay Hibbert, Grant, and JaKarr were awarded technical fouls, but that only seemed to energize Philly who played with much greater intensity than earlier in the game. As we have come to expect from this Sixers team, they play hard until the final buzzer regardless of the score, whether shots are falling, or if their defensive rotations are crisp, and this was no exception. Though the Lakers made a late run to cut the Sixers' lead from fourteen to six the Sixers held their lead finishing strong.
Robert Covington led the Sixers in scoring with a stat line of 23 points, 5 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks, yet again putting his print on every facet of the game. Jerami Grant also stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points on 76 percent true shooting, 7 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and a steal. These are two Sixers that have shown tremendous growth since their first games with the team last year.
Other than a few dunks off of lobs and transition Nerlens Noel had a quiet game by his standards, though contributing 14 points and 9 rebounds.
In the battle of top picks of the 2015 draft, neither Jahlil Okafor nor D'Angelo Russell really had an impact on the game. Russell scored 12 points, but was a -16 for the night. Big Jah had 12 points on 6-14 shooting including a few well timed assists that led to three pointers for the Sixers.
Kobe Bryant had a underwhelming performance on his final appearance in Philadelphia as an NBA player with 20 points on 26.9 percent shooting. Though he hit three of four three pointers in the opening minute of the first quarter he was 1-14 from three and 4-22 overall for the rest of the game.
Tonight Sixers fans can rest happy knowing their team finally has a win under their belt. Though at the end of the season there may be some draft implications, as the Sixers own the Lakers' first round pick but only if it's outside the top three, this win feels good either way.
The Sixers play next at Madison Square Garden in NYC to face Carmelo Anthony, top pick Kristaps Porzingis, and Grant brother Jerian when they face the Knicks tomorrow Dec. 2 at 7:30pm.
