Coming into tonight's game with the Utah Jazz, the Sixers had to at least be feeling good about their chances. Deron Williams, one of the best young point guards in the NBA, was going to miss the game because of a family issue, and the Jazz only had nine players available. Rookies Eric Maynor and Wes Mathews were starting for Utah, but the Jazz worked their gameplan to perfection, utilizing Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, as well as an excellent game by Maynor to coast to a 110-92 win over Philadelphia.
After taking a 32-30 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Sixers never really threatened again. Utah rolled in the second quarter, going on a 17-4 run before making the score 64-50 at the half. It didn't get any better for the Sixers in the second half, as the Jazz continued to dominate. Carlos Boozer scored 24 points and brought down 12 rebounds, while Eric Maynor took advantage of his first career start, scoring 13 points and dishing out 11 assists. Even without Deron Williams playing tonight, the Jazz did exactly what they wanted to, and the Sixers were never able to get back into a groove.
The only player for Philadelphia that played worth anything tonight was Thaddeus Young. Young scored in double figures for the fourth straight game, putting in 17 points on 8-10 shooting. Adnre Iguodala scored 11 and had 10 assists, but 4-13 shooting isn't going to get it done against any team, let alone a team that was shooting as well as Utah tonight. The Sixers shot almost 48% from the floor for the game, but Utah shot 51.2%, and that was with attempting just 11 three pointers. Basically, the weak defense of the Sixers came into play again tonight, and when they needed stops, they couldn't get it done.
The bench provided very little in terms of performance tonight as well. Jason Kapono had a decent game, scoring 12 points, but other than that, there was nothing. Marreese Speights only scored four points in 24 minutes, while Jrue Holiday went 0-2 in two minutes. Meanwhile, Paul Milsap and Andrei Kirilenko each scored in double figures off the bench for the Jazz, who only actually had seven players log major minutes for them tonight.
Overall, this was just another example of how much this team swings in the middle of the NBA pendulum. Like I've said time and time again this year, one night, they can look like one of the top ten teams in the league, and the next, they look like they did tonight. Once again, they somehow have to find that balance that lets them play at the same level each and every night. They can't have one of their starters playing well one night, and then go cold the next. Without a consistent scorer on this team, unfortunately, this looks like the way things are going to go for a while. Games like this should be won by the Sixers, and when they're not, it just makes things look even worse for this team. They're nine games into the season, and I'm still not sure where this team really stands right now.
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