Philly Sports Jabronis
WASHINGTON –– The last time the Sixers traveled to Washington, D.C., for a Martin Luther King Day matinee on January 20, Philadelphia suffered a 111-76 loss at the hands of a then-streaking Wizards team. But while Washington entered Wednesday’s contest as losers of five of its last six games, the result was largely the same.
The Wizards opened the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back, seeing their lead balloon to 65-42 by halftime and 93-62 by the end of the third quarter. Despite a late push by the Sixers, Washington waltzed to a 106-93 wire-to-wire victory.
“I get flashbacks of the first time we came in here, on Martin Luther King Day. You realize, when you roll out Jerami [Grant], and JaKarr [Sampson], two 20-year-olds, and Nerlens [Noel], another 20-year-old, and it feels like they’re 20-years-old… all those things add up,” said head coach Brett Brown after the game. “It was a physical game, they ran us out of our stuff, and they were great themselves trying to get offensive rebounds.”
After opening the fourth quarter on a 23-7 run, the Sixers were able to trim their deficit to 15 with just under six minutes left in the game, but the Sixers’ momentum was thwarted when guard Isaiah Canan went down with an ankle injury at the 4:44 mark of the final frame. He had scored 10 of Philadelphia’s 23 fourth-quarter points at that point.
Ish Smith matched a career high with 23 points on 11-of-17 shooting, and Nerlens Noel contributed 14 points (5/9 FG), 10 rebounds, and three assists in the loss. Hollis Thompson, a product of Georgetown who is no stranger to the Verizon Center, added 16 points off the bench, going 5-for-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from long range.
Marcin Gortat led the way for the Wizards with 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocks. John Wall added 13 points (6/11 FG) and 15 assists, and Bradley Beal finished with 20 points (9/18 FG), five assists, and five rebounds.
Inside The Numbers: 10
Since seeing his role shift from playing primarily at the center position for the first 69 games of his rookie year to logging the bulk of his minutes at power forward over the Sixers’ last three games, Nerlens Noel has seen his assist numbers rise. Prior to the switch, the rookie big man was averaging 1.6 helpers per game, but over the last three he’s notched 10, averaging 3.3 per game.
Inside The Numbers: +13
Despite struggling on both ends of the floor, the Sixers outscored the Wizards 25-12 off of turnovers. On the night, the Sixers turned the ball over just 11 times and forced Washington into 18 giveaways.
Next Up
After playing five games from Monday last week to this week, the Sixers get a much-needed break. After Wednesday’s game against the Wizards, the Sixers get two days off before heading down to Charlotte for the first game of a road back-to-back against the Hornets and Knicks. After that, it’s another two-day break before the team hosts the Wizards next Wednesday in the third-to-last home game of the 2014-15 season.
