Yes, Dan Gelston of the Associated Press, the Philadelphia 76ers are "suddenly decent." A team who had only one win through nearly two months of the NBA season now has seven, going 6-9 in their last 15 games and only looking like an outright embarrassment in two or three of them. Win #6 came last night against the Suns — who somehow have gone from a team with All of the Point Guards to a team starting Archie Goodwin at the one — and it was a relatively decisive one, Philly leading from early in the first quarter on, and generally looking the better of the two lottery-bound teams. Final score: 76ers 113, Suns 103.
The Sixers were fun last night. With a relatively short nine-man rotation — Brett Brown was down two starters, with both Jahlil Okafor and JaKarr Sampson out ill — everyone found ways to contribute. Robert Covington and Hollis Thompson combined for eight threes. Nik Stauskas, T.J. McConnell, and Jerami Grant (??) all had at least four assists. Nerlens Noel and Richaun Holmes combined for 15 rebounds and five blocks. And Ish Smith, forever orchestrating the madness, finished with 20 and 9, with just a single turnover. It was a nice all-around performance from a team that seems to enjoy playing together. (When they're winning, anyway.)
Of the individual performances, I was probably most heartened by Stauskas' 15-4-4 night — delivered with optimal efficiency on 4-7 shooting and zero TOs. The guy's shot has been slow to return since he missed about a week after running into the concrete statue that is Jimmy Butler — he was just 1-6 on Sunday against Boston, and he missed his first wide-open attempt from deep tonight badly — but he's attacking the rim, getting to the foul line and making plays for teammates, and he's earning Brett Brown's trust with his defensive attentiveness. Sauce played a team-high 38 minutes in this one, as true a testament as you could ask for to Coach Brown's newfound confidence in his stud swingman.
North to Detroit tonight for the second night of the Sixers' second back-to-back of the New Year — again, with no Jahlil or JaKarr. Meanwhile, seven wins brings us just two back of the Lakers — a development that will undoubtedly have some Fightin' Franklins fans pulling their hair out in lottery anxiety, but I'm not gonna sweat the potential 5% change in lottery odds too too much just yet. For now, I like the fact that there's such a thing as a basketball game where the Sixers are expected to win — like, say, at home against the Suns without Brandon Knight or Eric Bledsoe — and where they actually do it.