Trio of Sixers Shine in Loss to Thunder

Coming off of their first win of the season on Wednesday night in Minnesota, the Sixers (1-18) came back home to host Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder (6-13). The duo of stars from OKC are both back after recently nursing injuries and they came into the game with just five wins. 

Ugly Start: The first quarter didn't start off well for the Sixers. A defensive lapse left Kevin Durant wide open for three to open the scoring and that was immediately followed by an errant pass that went out of bounds from Nerlens Noel. 

Quick glance at the game: The Sixers trailed 31-24 after one and fell behind by as many as 14 in the second quarter but rebounded to be down by just ten at the half, 57-47. The Thunder came out of the locker rooms on a 13-3 run to extend their lead to 20 early in the third quarter. OKC led 82-67 at the end of three. With the Sixers fighting back to cut the lead to seven with just under three minutes left in the game, they came out of a timeout with some momentum. Brett Brown went with a bold call, setting up center, Henry Sims, for a three ball but it he put a little too much on it.  With just under three minutes to play and down seven points, Robert Covington drove the paint and turned the ball over. Durant answered with a layup and then the Thunder went on a 6-0 run, sealing the victory by an eventual score of 103-91

The Good: There was plenty of bad from the game tonight, but really more good. This was a game the Sixers could have easily rolled over on after winning against the lowly T'Wolves. The Sixers played with some physicality we do not normally see from them tonight. Even though KD and Westbrook were still dealing with some rust, they still remain as some of the best talent in the league. MCW played with an extra energy tonight, not surrendering much to the All-Star from OKC. Carter-Williams earned another double-double, scoring 16 points while dishing out 14 assists. MCW also grabbed seven boards and stole three. Unfortunately, the Sixers PG only shot 6-for-19 from the floor. His offense is definitely still a work in progress.

In addition to MCW's strong performance, both Nerlens Noel and Robert Covington had good games as well. While foul trouble may have kept Noel from contributing late in the game, the Sixers rookie got a double-double of his own, scoring 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting while also tallying 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and an emphatic block on reigning MVP, Kevin Durant. Meanwhile, Robert Covington led Sixers scorers with 21 points on a slick 8-for-13 shooting from the floor. "Big Shot Bob" was also 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and managed six rebounds. After scoring 17 against Minnesota on Wednesday, Covington followed it up with a strong performance. In his last five games, he is averaging just over ten points in 19.4 minutes of floor time.

The Bad: Let's keep this simple. The Sixers are a very poor shooting team. On Wednesday in Minnesota, they shot just 39% from the field and tonight they fared even worse, shooting 38.1% and they also missed 20 of their 28 three point attempts. They did manage to outrebound the Thunder by four, but the Sixers struggled from the line as well, missing 11 free throws. 

Up Next: The Sixers head to Detroit for a matchup with the Pistons tomorrow night. They have lost their last ten games and are 3-16 on the year, so the Sixers have a great opportunity to get win number two in the second part of a back-to-back.

Brandon Apter is a writer for Sixerdelphia.com