The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a 29 point win last night against the Detroit Pistons on the road. Philly played a consistent game with Thaddeus Young coming off the bench scoring 20 and grabbing 8 boards and Louis Williams scoring 13 with 7 assists. Both bench players led the scoring for the Sixers and they are sitting at 4th in the east and 1st in the Atlantic division. Philly's a strong home team at 13-6 but they are going to have their work cut out for them facing a strong road team in the Thunder at 12-6 on the road. The OKC Thunder are well rested after the all star break, and Kevin Durant after winning the MVP is motivated to start the second season. I said this about Dallas, but Nowitzki who is unmotivated after qualifying for the Olympics and winning his championship is different from Kevin Durant and the Thunder who have yet make it to the NBA finals. Kevin Durant is scoring 27.9 PPG and grabbing 8.1 rebounds per game along with Russy Westbrook who is scoring 23.5 PPG, grabbing 4.8 boards per game and dropping 5.5 assists per game. The Thunder have won their last 5 before the all star break and look to continue the second half of the season strong. Philly on the other hand lost their last 5 before the break with 4 losses on the road to Orlando, Minnesota, Memphis and Houston. This Philly team is a good squad, and they are going to hold their own against OKC. Iguodala who made his first all star appearance is going to have to play a solid game, but he also needs help from his point guards Jrue Holiday and Louis Williams to help contain Russell Westbrook and James Harden. This game is going to be close, but I think the OKC Thunder pull away late in this game.
Result: This was a fun game to watch, two young teams with young legs going back and forth. Nearing the end of the first half, Evan Turner pushed Kevin Durantula on a rebound and KD reacted by pushing Evan Turner back. I mention this because on the way back down the court with time winding down, Kevin Durant who scored 23 points hit a cold blooded 3 for the biggest lead in the game at 5 at the end of the half in favor for the Thunder at 53-48. The first half was high scoring, which was expected because to beat the Thunder, Philly would have to score baskets to match the fire power that the Thunder has. The 3rd quarter was low scoring, both teams combined scoring 29 points, although at the end of the 3rd the Sixers found themselves up by 4. This momentum would carry over to the 4th quarter where the Sixers would go up 8. Earlier in my write up, I mentioned Jrue Holiday and Louis Williams would have to help Igoudala contain Westbrook and Harden in order to get a W. James Harden helped Kevin Durant in the 4th to push for a comeback and found themselves with a 3 point lead with a minute left. The Sixers played the fouling game, and there were lots of missed free throws by the Thunder which would have helped them easily cover the 3 point spread (though I hardly think that is on their minds.) Louis Williams had a wide open 3 point opportunity to tie the game, but the Sixers had crucial turnovers and couldn't find the bottom of the net towards the end of the game. James Harden got 16 and 8, Westbrook got 22, 13 and 4 with a key offensive rebound to end the Sixers night at 92-88.
6-3
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