Philadelphia 76ers: Preseason Showing New Life

For any doubters left in the Atlantic Division of the NBA, they should have been dismissed and the bandwagon should be on its way in right about now.

The Philadelphia 76ers, even though it’s still very early, showed a great deal of talent and depth in their preseason opening win against the Orlando Magic, 102-95 on Thursday night at the Amway Center in downtown Orlando, Florida.

The Sixers showed much talent in several areas that are new to the young team’s bag-of-tricks and likely will serve them well for the rest of the season. It will serve them well especially when looking in the areas of depth, three-point-shooting and pure physicality up and down the court.

Looking first at the depth of the Sixers team, the rotation and substitution methodology used by Coach Doug Collins was very useful against this slacking Magic team. The depth looked strong as guard Nick Young finished with 22 points, 3 rebounds, and a couple of assists leading the way for the second group. All together the bench scored 56 points on the way to the Sixers victory.

Moving forward, the three-point-shooting for the Liberty Ballers seemed to be limitless as the points were pouring in basket after basket. The Sixers shot 50 percent from behind the arc (9 for 18) led strongly in the first quarter by guard Jrue Holiday, who shot 3 for 4 from three-point-land by the end of the game. Holiday also finished with 27 points for the contest, only missing two shots by game’s end. Young also went 3 for 4 from the arc added on by forward Dorell Wright who did the same adding three on as well

The physicality of the Sixers was evident as it was a slug-fest in the paint all night. Missing injured big man, Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown stepped up and fought it out on the boards along with Lavoy Allen.

As the preseason wages on, the Sixers have some great points to touch on as camp continues. Coach Collins has a revamped offense and bench being led by a gaggle of three-point shooters all along the arc. The added physicality in the paint with new big men (Bynum, Brown, Moultrie) will prove to be a difficult line to pass through for teams along the Eastern Conference. Lastly, with added guard play from Young and Maalik Wayns, the team seems to be complete from top to bottom.

Emphatic play along with competitiveness at every position will aid the Sixers and will continue the winning momentum into the regular season. This Sixers team is ready for a big run.