Star-less Spurs add to 76ers woes
PHILADELPHIA – With Jerry Colangelo sitting courtside, the Philadelphia 76ers gave their new man in charge an up-close look at just how far away they are from becoming a competitive franchise.
Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard all sat out and the San Antonio Spurs still rolled past the Sixers, 119-68 on Monday night.
LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 26 points and nine rebounds and Tony Parker scored 12 points.
Coach Gregg Popovich rested Duncan and Ginoboli against the hapless Sixers and Leonard was ill.
It’s hard to imagine it would have been much worse for the Sixers had the trio played.
“That’s embarrassing,” third- year coach Brett Brown said.
The Sixers fell to 1- 21 hours after Colangelo was named Philadelphia’s chairman of basketball operations. Colangelo, the chairman of USA Basketball, would also serve as an adviser to team ownership.
He had a front-row seat for the mess of a roster team president Sam Hinkie assembled over three seasons that rank among the worst in any era in professional sports.
There are no quick fixes in Philadelphia.
The 51-point loss was the fifth-worst in franchise history, according to STATS:
• Jan. 2, 1993: 154-98 at Sacramento, 56 points.
• March 6, 1993: 149-93 at Seattle, 56 points.
• Nov. 13, 2014: 123-70 at Dallas, 53 points.
• Feb. 27, 1992: 136-84, 52 points. Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas and Nerlens Noel each scored 13 points for the Sixers. Jahlil Okafor, back from a two-game suspension for his role in a Boston street fight, scored 10 points. Brown, a longtime Popovich assistant in San Antonio, brought Okafor off the bench because of an illness.
“I’m going to push this game aside and that’s really all I have to say about this game,” Brown said.
In other results, Washington unleashed a strong finishing kick to stop Miami, 114- 103; Charlotte routed Detroit, 104-84; Dallas downed New York, 104- 97; Phoenix nipped Chicago, 103101; Milwaukee edged Portland, 90-88; Boston outplayed New Orleans, 111-93; the Los Angeles Clippers held off the Minnesota Timberwolves, 110-106; and the Toronto Raptors blasted the Los Angeles Lakers, 102-93.
Back in Philadelphia, the Spurs led by 44 points at the end of three quarters and hit the 100-point mark with 10 minutes left in the game.
“What’s tough is, I know (Brown’s) a hell of a coach,” Popovich said. “But it’s not a fair battle. Talent for talent, it’s ridiculous.”
The Spurs just milled around the court during timeouts in the fourth quarter, nothing really to say with the game so far out of reach. Aldridge, Tony Parker, Danny Green, Kyle Anderson and Matt Bonner all started for the Spurs. Anderson failed to score in the first quarter and the Spurs still led 33-17.