The 76ers faced off against the Orlando Magic Tuesday night with a great chance to end their five game losing skid. A very young Magic squad arrived in Philadelphia without Jameer Nelson, one of their few veterans, as he was out with a knee injury. The Magic came in on a 10 game road losing streak and only winning 3 of their last 31 games. This could not be set up any better for the Sixers to snap their own streak against an inexperienced, losing team with five rookies on their roster.
The 1st quarter was kept close even though at times it seemed the Sixers would race ahead. Philadelphia's defense kept Orlando to 18 points as the Sixers took a two point lead to the 2nd quarter. The 76ers went on a 9-0 run early in the 2nd quarter, but the Magic were able to take back the lead after four Philadelphia turnovers and scoring on the fast break with a run of their own.
Orlando led 47-42 at halftime with 28 points in paint off high percentage shots while the Sixer's offense appeared far too sloppy. No Sixer was in double figure points at the end of the first half.
The Magic quickly expanded lead to 17 in the 3rd. The 76ers ugly offense continued, taking low percentage shots after one or two passes. After 3 turnovers in first 5 minutes of the quarter Coach Collins subbed out 4 of 5 starters to send a message to his team. The message seemed to be received as the Sixers cut the deficit to 8 by the 4 minute mark. However, the Magic again expanded the lead after the 3rd quarter break to 21, their largest lead of the game. Philadelphia appeared to fight back but it was not enough and much too late as they fell to Orlando 98-84 for their sixth loss in a row. Philadelphia fans let their frustration be heard as the clock expired at the end of the game.
The Sixers came out flat from both halftime and the 3rd quarter break which put them in too deep of a hole to dig themselves out. Orlando had two separate 14-2 runs though out the game in which the Sixers looked lost on both sides of the ball. Damien Wilkins and Jeremy Pargo led the Sixers with 14 each off the bench. Collins let Wilkins play most of the second half as he ran in transition and played well on defense. The 76ers' starters did not play well at all. Evan Turner led starters with 10 points off 2-7 shooting.
Turner has been trying to do too much at times, not letting the offense develop and taking bad shots and making ill advised transition passes. Turner had a -27(+/-), by far the worst in the lineup. Holiday had only 9 points off 36% shooting as he was double teamed many times through out the game. He did however have 10 assists and only one turnover. Spencer Hawes, now the starting center, collected only 1 rebound as he was absolutely dominated by Vucevic, a former Sixer, who had 19 rebounds and 12 points. The Magic shot an impressive 54% from the floor as all five of their starters were in double digits.
Losing to the Heat and Knicks over the previous two games was understandable, but getting beat by Orlando, the second worst team in the league, at home, is terrible. Coach Collins was furious after the game about the team's effort, as he well should be. It was one of the worst losses of the season. The Sixer needed this win tonight if they had any chance of turning their season around as their schedule only gets tougher. Philadelphia will play the Bulls in Chicago on Thursday on TNT where I do not see them breaking this losing streak.
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