Andre Iguodala returned to Philly and got booed. Lustily. Then got a standing ovation after a tribute video. Then largely became irrelevant (he had 11 points) as it became the Spencer Hawes show.
It was just that kind of anticlimactic game.
I wouldn’t say Philly won this game as much they were less ugly — they shot 35.3 percent overall and 28 percent from three.
And Philly still beat Denver 84-75.
Your star of the game is none other than Spencer Hawes, who finished with 16 points — on just 11 shots — 12 rebounds and five blocks. He was the best player in the paint. So to recap: Spencer Hawes, who re-signed for two years, $13,5 million this summer has completely outplayed JaVale McGee, he of the $44 million off-season contract.
Denver is supposed to be an up-tempo, fun to watch, bombs-away-from three kind of team but the Sixers defense took them out of that flow early. And in the middle. And the end. Philly’s defense won them this game by controlling the tempo and running when they wanted to run (they were ahead 15-6 in fast break points after the first half).
The Sixers defense made the game choppy and the result was a Nuggets team that shot just 37.5 percent on the night and had 20 turnovers (the continuation of a preseason trend) and all of it together did the Nuggets in.
Yet it was close much of the game and while the Sixers led most of the way they never really pulled away, shooting just 35.7 percent in the first half (but hitting 6-13 threes). Still Denver might have really fallen off the map had it not been for the 13 offensive rebounds in the first half and Andre Miller’s 8 points and shot creation.
The Sixers started to pull away in the third quarter and started to pull away. It got interesting in the fourth when Philly went cold in the fourth quarter for a stretch, going 1-11 shooting and that led to a Denver’s 14-3 run got it down to 1. But then after a timeout and some defensive stops — plus more Hawes — it was all over.
You don’t want to read too much into one game. Denver will be better. But we need to give credit where it is due — Doug Collins gets guys of lesser talent to play for him, and play over their head. He has done wonders for that franchise.