December 10, 2015
Anytime a team shoots 4-31 from beyond the arc in the *Ron Jaworski voice* NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION, a loss is almost always heading its way. That the Philadelphia 76ers made Thursday night’s game in Brooklyn competitive is part testament to the Fightin’ Brett Browns’ effort, part indictment of the Nets.
Despite managing a measly 12.9 percent from deep, the Sixers led by six points at one point in the fourth quarter. Besides T.J. McConnell’s 3-4 night from three, the other Sixers were Siberia cold. What particularly stood out is that a lot of these shots were good looks the Sixers just flat-out missed.
If the Sixers manage just 30 percent, this is likely a win. And if my aunt had… well, you know.
Nik Stauskas’ three-point shot (0-7) looks particularly broken. Remember, this a guy who made 44 percent of his threes both years at Michigan on a boatload of attempts. He’s now down to 30.6 percent this season and his misses are generally all over the place. That’s not a good sign. Stauskas does some nice things off the dribble, but it doesn’t matter all that much if he is passing up wide-open threes and passing to Jerami Grant.
Brooklyn ended up winning, 100-91. Here are a few other brief observations:
• McConnell had an excellent game, scoring 17 points on 6-9 shooting. Why Isaiah Canaan, who couldn’t make a shot (2-10 FG, 0-6 3P), was running the point late in the game is questionable at best. Brett Brown doesn’t have the horses, but I still haven’t agreed with a lot of his late-game lineup decisions over the past few weeks.
• Tony Wroten is the greatest. He attacked the rim like a madman and earned nine points and six free-throw attempts in 17 minutes, but he also does stuff like the Vine that you see below. Bill Simmons used to call Tony Allen “Trick or Treat Tony,” and I think that nickname also fits for Wroten as well:
That's just not good enough from Okafor, he has to get position on Bargs right on the block, not 20 feet from the basket.
— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) December 11, 2015
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
