Scene Setter:
On Tuesday, the 76ers (6-39) go up against the Phoenix Suns (14-31) for the second and final time this season. Their match-up is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST at The Center. The contest brings to an end the Sixers’ brief two-game stay in South Philadelphia, while also marking the start of a four-game road trip for Phoenix.The Sixers are aiming to move past Sunday’s 112-92 defeat to the Boston Celtics. Their Atlantic Division foe backed up its stellar defensive efficiency rating – which moved to second in the NBA following Sunday’s performance – by holding the Sixers to a 39.3 field goal shooting percentage. Additionally, behind the strength of 14 steals, the Celtics were able to force the Sixers into 24 turnovers, their highest total since Ish Smith’s return. Boston created 25 points off those miscues. Robert Covington relied on a career-high tying six three-pointers in order to rack up a game-best 25 points. Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor were the only other players on the Sixers’ roster to reach double-figures, delivering 12 and 10 points, respectively. Noel paced the Sixers with nine rebounds, while Okafor hauled in six caroms. Phoenix is hoping to build on its latest performance, a dramatic 98-95 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Arizona. While the Suns held a scoring lead for all but six minutes of the game, Atlanta managed to lock the tilt at 95 with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Phoenix, however, was still due the ensuing possession, and third-year guard Archie Goodwin used the opportunity to emerge the hero. He buried a three-point field goal from the top of the arc with 0:00.1 to play in regulation to send the Suns to victory. The clutch conversation helped the Suns snap a six-game losing streak, and earn a win for just the second time in their last 17 appearances. Veteran center Tyson Chandler, now in his 15th campaign, has been a force on the glass his past two outings, snagging a total of 47 rebounds during that stretch. Series: The Sixers and Phoenix first met this season on December 26th, a day that represented the start of noteworthy change for the Sixers. Not only did Ish Smith make his first Sixers appearance of the year that night, the game was also the debut for Mike D’Antoni – who spent four seasons leading the Suns – in the capacity of Brett Brown’s Associate Head Coach. From the outset, the Sixers were spirited. On the their very first possession of the game, Smith hooked up with Nerlens Noel for what has become their signature play, an alley-oop lob. The club’s energy was contagious throughout an opening quarter that ended with the Sixers holding a solid 29-15 edge. As the tilt moved along, Phoenix hit its stride, managing to establish a slender lead down the stretch of the third quarter. Nik Stauskas recaptured momentum for the Sixers, firing off eight straight points to help the squad close out the period on an 11-0 run. The spurt gave the Sixers control for good, and ultimately allowed them to halt a five-game slide in the series. Subplots:
In dissecting the Sixers’ 112-92 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, Brett Brown saved most of his praise for T.J. McConnell, saying that the undrafted rookie point guard competed with the “spirit that [the Sixers] have talked about.” McConnell received 16 minutes of playing time, manufacturing eight points (4-7 fg), five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. “I kind of just go in there, play as hard as I can for how many minutes I play, and run the offense. Then be tenacious on defense,” McConnell said Monday about his approach.The 23-year old put his hustle and sacrifice on display in the first quarter, when he jostled the ball free from hard-nosed Celtics guard Marcus Smart. In trying to recover the rock, McConnell dove into the set of sideline-level seats adjacent to the Sixers’ bench. He “gashed [his] leg a little bit,” but later returned in the second quarter. The sequence resonated with the veteran that McConnell’s been assigned to back up.”He just kind of brings a different energy,” said Ish Smith. “To me, I don’t how he doesn’t get tired. He just constantly is like a pest. Staying on you, getting on your nerves. Just kind of like being a pest, sets the tone for our whole team. We see that, we don’t want to let up. He’s been great. Offensively, he’s been really good, finding guys, knocking down his mid-range jump shot, and knocking down wide-open threes. I talked to him the other day, I haven’t seen him have one bad game. He’s been special.”Through 45 games, McConnell is averaging 6.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in 21.2 minutes. He ranks eighth among all NBA players with a 37.5 assist percentage (portion of team’s field goals facilitated during time on court), and ninth in the league with a 3.0 steal percentage (portion of team’s steals generated during time on court).”He’s tough,” said Smith of McConnell, a Steel City native. “Coach [Skip] Prosser, the late great Coach Prosser that I had at Wake Forest, used to always say, ‘I’m from Pittsburgh. I’m tough.’ I guess that’s T.J.’s little saying. He does have a tough thing about when he goes out there and plays. It sets the tone for our whole team.”
Through his first three seasons in the NBA, Ish Smith was a man on the move. As a rookie, he appeared in 28 games for Houston, before being dealt to Memphis, where he played 15 contests. In his second campaign, Smith spent six games with Golden State, before latching on with Orlando for 56 games over parts of the next two years. Midway through Smith’s third campaign, the Magic shipped him to Milwaukee for 16 games. It wasn’t until the the Bucks flipped Smith to Phoenix in the months leading up to the 2013-2014 season that Smith finally was able to experience some (relative) professional stability. Playing under first-year head coach Jeff Hornacek, Smith logged 70 games with the Suns. The stint remains the longest he’s enjoyed with any of the nine different NBA organizations that have sought his services. Looking back at that period of time, Smith felt his run in Phoenix legitimized his career. “I’ll be honest with you, it was great,” said Smith of his season with the Suns, in which they finished a game behind the Dallas Mavericks for the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. “Coach Hornacek was great. The coaching staff was great. The players were great.””I played a good amount of games,” Smith continued. “Kind of gave some confidence that,’Ok. I can do this.'”Smith has kept in touch with several members of Phoenix’s 2013-2014 roster, including Philadelphia natives Markieef Morris, Marcus Morris, and Dionte Christmas, a Temple product. As for the present, Smith is focused on trying to get himself and the Sixers back on track following Sunday’s 20-point defeat to the Boston Celtics. Smith hit three of his 12 field goal attempts that evening, en route to seven points. He also had four assists, and three turnovers. Monday, after the Sixers practiced, Smith spent extra time on the court. “Just keep working on my midrange shot,” said Smith of the elements of his game that he was aiming to fine-tune. “That’s the shot everybody gives me. And then my three-point shot. That’s a shot that I could constantly get better at. Floaters, finishes, ball-handling, everything. Still for me, it’s another step, another level that I keep trying to tap into. Even though we’ve been playing some good basketball, there’s still another level. I’m going to constantly work, work, work until I’m perfect, and I don’t think I’ll ever be perfect. I think it’s another level, though, that I’m trying to reach.”
On the heels of Sunday’s showing versus the Boston Celtics, Robert Covington has now produced a pair of 25-point outputs over the course of his last five games. During this portion of the schedule, he has also connected on 21 of 47 three-point tries, good for 44.7 percent. Brett Brown has been encouraged by Covington’s recent production, not just offensively, but on the opposite end of the floor as well. “I think that when you go back to that thing…can you shoot and can you guard? Are you a two-way player? We knew he could shoot, and I think that his defense is improving,” Brown said Monday. “I think that his versatility guarding four men or three men also is there. He’s one of these modern day players where you can play some four, you can play some three. He’s a classic small ball guy. So I feel his improvement would make me say it’s very positive.”Covington is having his strongest defensive season by far, especially on the glass. His 4.8 defensive rebounds per game represent a career-high. Compared to last year, which was his second in the NBA, Covington is generating an additional 1.2 defensive boards in 1.5 fewer minutes per game. Covington also sits eighth in the NBA with a 3.0 steal percentage.
Sixers Health Report:
Elton Brand (conditioning)
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