Come from behind win

The first half of this game was reminiscent of the previous loss to New Orleans. The return of inept 3 point shooting. Giving up offensive rebound after offensive rebound. Inability to defend the 3 point line. And, most importantly, a propensity to turn the ball over. It looked like the Sixers were well on their way to their first two game losing streak since the annual road trip that shall not be named.

Then, the amazing happened. They stopped turning the ball over, forced turnovers, and played lock down defense. This is how Ed Stefanski drew it up in the offseason when he signed Elton Brand. Brand had quality minutes next to both Dalembert and Speights, and really showed how capable he is of anchoring a defense.

Elton Brand is, in my opinion, the Sixers best defender. By far. And tonight he showed exactly that ability, and why he has the ability to really help the Sixers fast break as well. He got rebounds and made outlet passes. He blocked shots that led to break outs, He hard trapped the pick and roll and forced turnovers. And he got out on the break and finished. This notion that Brand is a plodding power forward you can't run with is nonsense.

Major props to out to Samuel Dalembert, who did his best against a near-impossible assignment. I'll even overlook his atrocious outlet passing (for the time being, at least). Thaddeus Young's impact was significantly more valuable than the numbers he put up. For a guy who I've gotten on in the past about his defensive rebounding, he seemed to be a magnet for every one tonight. Speights was a monster (I still can't believe he was able to catch that alley-oop from Lou. He has one of the best set of hands for a big man you'll see), and what can you say about Iguodala. His coming to life in the second half was something the Sixers couldn't win without. While I don't necessarily think the Sixers should draw up that fadaway baseline jumpshot all that often, he connected on it tonight in a big spot when the Sixers needed it the most.

That's not to say there weren't things to be worried about. It's becoming a very disconcerting trend defending the 3 (3 straight games where opponents shot over 40% from downtown), as well as the turnover problems, and that the team has regressed to early season form from downtown (3-16 in the last two games). But, overall, this was a good win, against a good team, on the road, and a great comeback.

Now let's see if they can get over the hump on Friday against a very bad Washington team and get above .500.