What's the opposite of a JV squad? Veteran Varsity? Super-Senior Varsity? Whatever it is, that's the team that took the Heat 48 minutes deep last night in Miami. Yes, our second straight game without Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Nik Stauskas, and Kendall Marshall was by far the closest thing to a win the Philadelphia 76ers have experienced since the All-Star break. With a starting lineup that included a staggering four players with at least three seasons' NBA experience — essentially a Hinkie Diamond Anniversary first five — our boys played the likely home-court-bound Heat even until the final minutes, ultimately succumbing to an admirable 103-98 loss.
The heartening four-quarter effort wasn't even all that unpredictable either. With their three blue-chippiest young guns out of the lineup (and, uh, also Kendall Marshall), the Sixers were left with a first unit of Ish Smith, Hollis Thompson, Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, and Carl Landry — a combo that, for better or worse, makes more sense and fits together better than most of the starting fives Brett Brown has been forced to trot out this year. Everyone played hard, everyone played smart, and we nearly patched together enough Carl Landry pick-and-pop jumpers (18 points on 8-16 shooting), Ish Smith fast breaks (21 points on 8-12), and wing threes (four each for Hollis Thompson and Isaiah Canaan) to eke this one out.
Alas, rebounding is a thing. The one thing that Brett Brown's oldfangled Starting Five is badly missing is height, and the Heat absolutely feasted on the boards last night, with both Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside posting double-doubles. Philly also got unlucky that it was a rare hot shooting night from deep for Miami, as the team with the league's second-worst three-point percentage hit eight of 14 from beyond the arc last night — including a late Goran Dragic triple that essentially put the game out of reach for our scrapping Sixers. Considering how impressive it was for them to get that far, it was hard to be too mad with that eventual result.
The Ballers get a couple days off now before hosting the Rockets at home on Wednesday, the beginning of a homestand that lasts for six of their next seven games, including a home-and-home against the Nets that probably represents the Sixers' best chances of picking up those two W's they still need to escape further Bad History. Hopefully some of the intensity and professionalism that marked the team's effort last night will carry over to when our players who are actually supposed to be good eventually return, otherwise it is going to be a depressing end to Our Dark Lord's junior season.