Offense garners the applause. Defense wins games.
A year ago Doug Collins turned what had been a very poor defensive team into a good one. Last season, the Sixers were 12th in the NBA in fewest points allowed. They were ninth lowest in opponents field goal percentage, holding teams to 45 percent shooting. And their 14 forced turnovers per game ranked the 13th in the league.
Eight days before their regular season schedule opens Collins has his guys thinking next level defensively.
We would like to get a few more deflections and get in the open court, Collins said after Sundays practice. The other night at the half we had 19. We set a goal to get 35 a game and if we do that means we are active, disruptive, pressure the ball and it is hard for teams to just come down and throw the ball in the post against you.
Keep in mind, the Sixers do not have a shot-blocking presence in the post. Milwaukees Andrew Bogut led the league last season with 2.58 blocks per game. The Sixers starting center Spencer Hawes averaged .9 blocks but he only played 21 minutes on average. Elton Brand actually led the team with 1.3 blocks per contest.
Because shot blocking is not their forte, the Sixers cant gamble trying to get steals in passing lanes but deflections are exactly what get their fast break going. Collins preaches constantly: think about the risk as well as the reward.
In other words, be smart and compensate with strong defensive communication as well as use speed and quickness to help each other out.
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Friday night in Washington, Thaddeus Young was a perfect example of this teams tremendous speed.
Thad was all over the court, Collins said. And Nik Vucevic was very good with him. Nik did a good job defensively being in the right spots, and then Thad just covers so much stuff with his speed. He is really good.
Collins believes Young and Jodie Meeks made the greatest defensive strides last year. They are two of the fastest players on the roster, which allows them to not just help but also recover.
We're adding to it. We're growing from where we were last year defensively, Elton Brand said. We're adding Andre Iguodala's quickness, Jrue Holiday's quickness, Thad Young's quickness, to kind of be all over the court and allow us to rebound and block shots. We're using that speed and athleticism a lot more this year.
Collins cited examples from Friday night where Brand did things on the defensive end that were not reflected on the stat sheet.
EB did a great job the other night, Collins said. He got his body on his man and then Spencer cleaned up the boards. A lot of times you will look and say he only had five rebounds but he gets his body on his guy and all of a sudden he allows Spencer or one of our guards to clean that up so rebounding numbers can be misleading.
Collins is masterful at selling players on things they otherwise would not want to do or at least do as intensely as he demands. He also has a gift for using inspirational phrases like the one he shared Sunday.
Strong side defense wins games; weak side defense wins championships, the coach said. And so when you are really good you can play on that weak side defensively and that is where we need to get better.
In addition to becoming a really good defensive unit, Collins has suggested to his players that the condensed season will favor the mentally strong.
I have told my guys the things that will separate the teams seeded five through eight will be competitive will and tough mindedness, he said. That you dont give in and say oh man we are playing so many games. Or wow this is the fifth game in six nights. To me if you are strong willed and competitive and can win those games you can separate yourself.
Any edge is the next 130 days is certainly welcomed.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com