Preview: 76ers @ Grizzlies
Breaking News Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
76ers-Grizzlies Preview
By Matt Beardmore
Posted Feb 21 2012 1:00AM
The Philadelphia 76ers are assured of heading into this weekend’s All-Star break with the Atlantic Division lead.
It could have been a much larger advantage had they been better in close games.
Philadelphia will try to snap a season-high three-game losing streak Tuesday night when it visits the Memphis Grizzlies, who are looking to bounce back from their first loss in five games.
While 76ers coach Doug Collins is proud of his team’s perseverance through a recent rough portion of its schedule, he’s still concerned about his players’ ability to close out games. Philadelphia (20-12) has lost seven times this season by seven points or fewer including Sunday’s 92-91 defeat at Minnesota.
Kevin Love hit two game-winning free throws with 0.1 seconds left following a foul on Philadelphia forward Andre Iguodala.
“It’s a shame we haven’t been able to get that critical stop,” said Collins, whose team holds a 4 1/2-game divisional lead over New York and Boston.
The league’s best scoring defense (87.3 points per game) has helped Philadelphia win seven times by at least 20 points, but the team has come out on top just four times in games decided by fewer than 10.
http://www.nba.com/games/20120221/PHIMEM/gameinfo.html
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Game Notes:
Line: Pick
Records
Sixers: 20-12 (First place in the Atlantic Division. Fourth place in Eastern Conference)
Grizzlies: 18-14 (Third place in Southwest Division. Sixth place in Western Conference)
Previous games
The Sixers carry a season-long three-game losing streak into Tuesday’s game in Memphis. The latest loss was particularly disappointing with the Sixers losing with one-tenth of a second left in the game when Andre Iguodala was whistled on a questionable foul on all-star Kevin Love. Love buried both foul shots to win the game.
Though the Sixers held the Wolves to 38.8 percent shooting from the floor, they took just 10 foul shots to Minnesota’s 26.
Memphis has been on a roll, winning four in a row and six out of their last seven. Though they have been playing without all-star Zach Randolph for the past 28 games, the Grizzlies are right in the middle of things in the Southwest Division. Interestingly, Memphis won their last three games by a total of seven points, with a one-point victory at home against Golden State on Sunday night.
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Short URL: http://philaphans.com/sixers/?p=25812
Posted by admin
on Feb 21 2012. Filed under Breaking News.
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