Holiday, Thad Young lead Sixers to overtime win

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There hasnt been much Jrue Holiday hasnt shown during his breakout, All-Star caliber season. In fact, there arent too many folks around the NBA who arent aware of the Sixers point guards talent.
Everybody knows how good Jrue Holiday is, Sixers head coach Doug Collins said.
In Friday nights 108-101 comeback victory over the Toronto Raptors in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center (see Instant Replay), Holiday put his entire game on display and made his best case for an All-Star bid.
Holiday tied a career-high with 33 points on 13-for-23 shooting to go with 14 assists to lead the Sixers back from a 19-point second-half deficit. Better yet, it was Holidays layup with 1.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime and give the Sixers their first share of the lead all game.
However, he saved the real fireworks for overtime.
In the extra frame, Holiday scored all 12 of the Sixers points, converting on a three-pointer and three foul shots as they rolled to just their second win of the season when trailing after three quarters.
Even with the hyped-up defense in the third quarter, a victory seemed far-fetched for the Sixers. Aside from the 1-22 record when trailing after three quarters going into the game, the Sixers opened up by missing their first seven shots of the night to spot the Raptors eight points right off the top. Toronto also led by 17 at the half and pushed their lead to 19 points with 10:41 left in the third quarter.
No, it didnt look good for the reeling Sixers.
Guys just got up and got aggressive, thats it, Collins said. It wasnt about schemes. I wish I could say we reinvented the wheel, but we didnt. We just played harder and competed.
Still, after losing to the last-place Hornets on Tuesday night when the Sixers were shredded by the pick-and-roll and showed little in resistance at all on defense, Collins was asked if Friday nights victory was the type that could spur the team into a winning streak.
Not so fast, Collins said.
Id like to think it could revitalize us, but I havent seen it yet, Collins said. They have to prove it.
If thats a challenge for Holiday, he might just have to pile the team on his back the way he did during overtime on Friday night.
Its a confidence booster, Holiday said of the win. Obviously, there are no excuses now. We know every night on defense we have to go out there and do what teams do to us. I feel like we did that tonight.
Holiday didnt do it all himself, though. To give the point guard the chance to hit the game-tying shots and then pile on 12 more points in overtime, Thad Young scored 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and was the key to the Sixers defense against the pick-and-roll in the third quarter.
Tonight, it was all about defense, Holiday said.
The turning point for the Sixers came at the start of the third quarter when Holiday and Young spearheaded a defensive attack that effectively took away the Raptors offense. With Young stationed near the foul line and Holiday guarding the ball, the duo jumped ahead of the screens and forced the Raptors to start their offense from a different spot on the floor.
As a result, the Raptors went from shooting nearly 70 percent in the first half of the game to converting on just 5 of 18 field goal attempts in the third, with half the shots coming as long, contested two-pointers.
For a team that went into the game ranked 29th (out of 30) in the NBA in pick-and-roll defense, the second-half stand was a particularly poignant moment.
We just picked it up on defense and tried to be overly aggressive, Holiday said. Thats it.
Young, who often is pushed into the low post on defense, was able to exploit the defensive matchups because the Raptors did not have Andres Bargnani in Fridays game.
A lot of teams keep me out of the pick-and-roll. They dont want me in the pick-and-roll because I blow up the screens and I make guys do what they dont want to do, Young explained. We solved that problem and made it so their bigs couldnt make plays.
Collins agreed, adding that he had no particular message for the team at halftime and the third-quarter surge came about because Holiday and Young decided to take over.
I might not know much, but when Jrue and Thad play with that type of energy, were tough to beat, Collins said.
It was tough to beat that energy even when the Sixers trailed by 19 points. However, it has to be a lot to put on two guys like Holiday and Young to do all of the heavy lifting in every game until Andrew Bynum makes his debut.
Actually, says Young, if he and Holiday dont do it, who will?
Were the captains, Young said. Weve been around. Collins knows what were capable of and he knows what we can do. Sometimes it has to be that way where the lead guys come out and be consistent and play hard and the other guys have to follow.
The Sixers return to action on Monday night when the first-place San Antonio Spurs come to town.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com.

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