On the Beat: Brown Greedy for Physical Mindset, Play

DALLAS – Brett Brown freely admits it.  He can be a greedy coach.  At the moment, the wish list item he wants most isn’t material or quantifiable.  It’s an intangible element that Brown knows when he sees.  Take Friday’s game in New Orleans, for instance.  This ingredient in question went missing for a majority of the opening half in the Sixers’ first appearance since the NBA All-Star break, but it did surface later in the third quarter, when squad positioned itself for a potential comeback. “More sting,” Brown said following Sunday’s shootaround, when discussing how he hopes the Sixers start their game versus the Dallas Mavericks later in the evening.  “We didn’t communicate at all in the first half of the New Orleans game.  [Seventy-one points] is completely unacceptable.  Some of it you can blame a little bit on we had [eight] days off, some of it is we have to get better.”At intermission, the Sixers were staring at a 16-point deficit.  Despite shooting 52.6 percent from the field themselves, they had allowed the Pelicans to convert 59.5 of their attempts. The Sixers also committed 15 turnovers and surrendered 23 fastbreak points in the first stanza.Following the break, the Sixers made strides, holding New Orleans to a 41.0 field goal percentage for the rest of the evening.  The Sixers outscored the Pelicans by nine points between the third and fourth quarters as well.  Their sting was back.  In defining this operative word of choice, one that has been used several times since Friday, Brown said, “Sting is a physical word.  It’s a mentality.  I want to play way more physical with far more of a sting on both offense and defense.”The challenge that awaits the Sixers on Sunday at American Airlines Center is to perform with that nature of competitiveness against a seasoned, frustrated opponent whose grip on a coveted playoff spot is, at present, anything but firm.  All five of Dallas’ projected starters have logged at least five years in the NBA, and are players accustomed to qualifying for the post-season.  Despite holding the sixth spot in the Western Conference, the Mavericks are only a half game in front of the seventh-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, and just one full game ahead of both the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz, which are tied for eighth place.At 37 years of age, 13-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki remains the Mavs’ most prolific scoring option, at 17.4 points per game.  Brown indicated that he plans to mix up the coverages the Sixers use on the rangy , 245-pound power forward.  With Jahlil Okafor receiving increased opportunities to defend that position as of late, the rookie figures to find himself frequently paired with the German. “I used to play with him in 2K all the time, or NBA Live,” said the 20-year old Okafor, referring to the two popular hoops video games. “It’ll be pretty cool guarding him [Sunday].””He’s 7’1,” and can shoot the ball really well,” Okafor continued after shootaround. “He hasn’t been able to be stopped.  Just try to make him work hard for his shots, stay down on his pump fakes, and make him work hard.”Both Okafor and Nowitzki turned in solid showings on November 16th, when the Mavs downed the Sixers 92-86 at The Center.  Okafor registered his third double-double of the campaign (19 pts, 11 reb), while Nowitzki generated 21 points, the highest total in the contest. On Sunday, Okafor and the Sixers will be bidding to snap a nine-game losing streak in Dallas, where they fell 123-70 a season ago. “I expect it to be a lot of a halfcourt fist-fight [Sunday],” said Brown.  “It wasn’t like that last year here.  It was like that in Philadelphia this year, this season.”A steady dose of consistent sting throughout the evening could go a long ways towards helping the Sixers’ cause.