Lavoy Allen Avenges Temple Loss with Career Night in Sixers Win

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Well, so much for that whole tanking thing. It appears the Sixers will,
for better or worse, be trying to actually win the remaining 13 games on
their schedule, and while that's arguably detrimental to the team's
long-term prospects—though with a draft this uncertain, who knows how
beneficial a higher draft slot will even be—it at least makes for some
surprisingly watchable games, such as tonight's 117-103 beatdown of the
Kings in Sacramento, by some distance the team's greatest offensive
outing of the season.



Much of the credit for that goes to Temple's own Lavoy Allen. The Owls
might've taken a tough loss today in their second-round matchup against
Indiana, but their esteemed alum had quite arguably his greatest game as
a pro, and definitively his highest scoring, as Lavoy chipped in 20
points off the bench on 9-13 shooting, with seven boards and one very
pretty assist to Thaddeus Young to go along with it. He hit his first
couple jumpers and kept rolling from there, cashing in offensive boards
and running the pick-and-pop to perfection. Lavoy has been in and out of
Coach Collins' rotation as of late—his 20 points for the game is just
one shy of his total for all of March before tonight—but if he could
consistently hit shots and provide energy like this, he could still be a
useful cog for the team for the remainder of the season (and more
importantly, the second year of his $6 million contract).



Lavoy was hardly the only Sixer to put up numbers tonight. Dorell Wright
was also beastly off the bench, draining six threes and ending with 22
points and an impressive six assists. Evan Turner struggled with his
shot early, but smartly went into facilitating mode in the second half,
ending with nine assists and helping the Sixers find a good rhythm in
the third quarter as they pulled way from Sactown. Spencer Hawes and
Damien Wilkins continued their respective unlikely streaks of Doing Good
Stuff, Hawes shrugging off the boos from the arena he once called home
and ending with a 14/10 double-double, and Wilkins pitching in 17 points
with six boards and three assists.



But as per usual, the team was led in example by Jrue Holdiay. The
Damaja paced the Sixers with 21 points, seven assists and ten
rebounds—rebounding being a real strength of Jrue's lately, tonight
making the sixth straight game of six boards or more for our crafty
point guard. The team shared the ball brilliantly, especially in the
second half, and that stemmed from Holiday, doing a great job of
initiating the offense and setting the wheels in motion, while the Sixer
wings and bigs did an excellent job of making the extra pass and then
hitting their open looks. It's a cohesion that we've barely seen from
the Sixers' predominantly ugly offense this year, and one that reminds
of the early days under Doug Collins, where ball movement was paramount
and Marc Zumoff went to bed with a smile on his lips.



Philly travels to Utah for their one Salt Lake showdown of the season
tomorrow night. If we keep winning games like this, we'll be lucky to
even crack the top ten on draft night. It's not a great thing, but it's
hard to get too mad at the guys for playing good team basketball,
offering a late air of hope and redemption to an otherwise totally
miserable season. What can you say? You win some, you lose some (by
winning some). 

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