The 76ers? Jrue Holiday, right, battles the Pistons? Jonas Jerebko for a loose ball in a home opener Friday that kicked off a relentlessly paced homestand. (Associated Press)
PHILADELPHIA ? Doug Collins was talking about games, about games, about games, not about practice. About games, four of them in five nights now, 66 of them stuffed into a labor-troubled NBA mini-season.
?Eight games in 11 days,? the Sixers? coach kept going. ?I?m telling our guys all the time that I am really going to monitor what they do. And I say, ?You guys have to work with me. If I am giving you a light workload, then you have to get off your feet and get rest to be successful.??
The Sixers played Friday night, thumping the Detroit Pistons, 96-73, and will entertain the Toronto Raptors tonight. In between, there will be no morning shoot-around. Two games, no practice. On a night in which the Sixers brought back alumni Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Bobby Jones to celebrate the new franchise ownership, Allen Iverson had to have been somewhere praising the new franchise work schedule. Andrew Toney celebrated it from an upstairs suite, showing up but never appearing on the floor, ever in character.
?Tomorrow,? Collins said, ?I want guys to sleep in.?
Sleep now, run later. The way Collins sees it, it?s the only way an NBA team will succeed in 2012. It?s also why the Sixers can be one of those teams. They are deep ? not necessarily in stars, but in skills. They are neither young nor old, and are not dramatically different than they were at the end of last season, when they were peaking.
?It?s exciting,? Elton Brand said. ?Especially in a short season like this. We have strength in numbers. We have a lot of players that can play ?- different guys that can step up on any night. So it is a lot of fun playing.?
From the bench Friday, the Sixers enjoyed 16 points from Lou Williams, 15 from Thaddeus Young and eight defensive rebounds from Evan Turner, energy that made them better later in the game. That means while they would not likely contend for a championship in a standard NBA season, they could be fresh enough, often enough, to thrive in this handy 66-pack.
?This was a franchise that for about 10 years was star-driven,? Collins said. ?It was Allen Iverson. And people came in here to see this little guy play some amazing basketball. We now are trying to develop some stars along the way, some young stars that we can have for a long time. We are doing it with seven, eight, nine guys on a particular night. One night it was Jrue Holiday. We?ve seen Lou Williams do it this year, and E.B. (Brand) too. That?s sort of who we are.?
The Sixers opened the season with a five-game road trip before finally luring 19,408 to the Wells Fargo Center for the home opener, hoping to see something new. The fans saw the Sixers jump the Pistons early, limiting them to one first-quarter offensive rebound. By the fourth quarter, the Sixers were trapping, creating turnovers and starting to run.
Better prepared early, better conditioned late, deeper throughout. That?s the way it will work this season in the NBA, a rare moment when conditioning and teamwork will matter as much as marquee magnetism. Continued...
?I think so,? Collins said. ?And you have got to stay healthy. You are looking around and you are seeing teams that are already beat up. Guys on some of the older teams have gotten off to slower starts because they are trying to get their legs. You?ve got some teams that already have some guys hurt. Look at the NFL. They had nine Achilles? ruptures in training camp; they had seven the whole year when they had their OTAs.?
If the Sixers stay healthy, they will contend in the NBA?s Eastern Conference. If they stay rested, their coach thinks, they will stay healthy.
?Less than 24 hours,? Collins said, after his team improved to 4-2, ?and we will be right back here.?
For another game, a game, a game.
Follow Jack McCaffery on Twitter @JackMcCaffery.
?
Source: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/01/06/sports/doc4f07d33e276c7926289414.txt
joseph kennedy iii dakota fanning leann rimes casey anthony video diary joe johnson lamarcus aldridge jeremy renner
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন