Just when we were starting to feel good about this team. (Well, I was, anyway.) The Sixers followed an impossibly tough loss to the Magic in Orlando with a hard-fought but similarly disappointing drop to the Bobcats in Charlotte, one which brings them to eight games under .500 and a half-game out of the playoffs in the East. "I knew fatigue was going to be a factor for us," said coach Doug Collins of Thursday's 100-97 Charlotte loss, a mere night after their OT contest in Orlando. "We just couldn't get the critical stop."
The sort-of good news for the Sixers is that the Utah Jazz, visiting for tonight's showcase, are currently going through a much more alarming lull. Last night, the Jazz got blown out 110-86 by the Celtics in Boston--which is still much more forgivable than their previous two losses, to the absolute dregs of the Eastern conference in Washington and New Jersey. Hopefully they can stay in that holding pattern against the Sixers, who Utah crushed in both meetings last year. Then again, hell, a blowout loss would almost be merciful at this point. Not really.
7:30 tip from the Wells Fargo Center. Viewable nationally on NBA TV if you're an out-of-towner, one of the few non-League-Pass-necessitating outings for the Liberty Ballers this year. If that's not reason enough to cancel your Saturday night dinner plans, well then, you must have some really fantastic Saturday night dinner plans.
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