(AP)

BOSTON – Maybe the 76ers circulated a memo throughout the locker room. Maybe they convened before Friday’s game, a 111-102 win over the Boston Celtics, and agreed upon a singular word to best describe Henry Sims.

“Aggressive,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said, carefully selecting the identical adjective that two others in the locker room had used in regard to Sims.

The Sixers big man scored a career-high 24 points and added nine rebounds in the team’s victory, their second in four games. Tonight, against visiting Brooklyn, they’ll go for their first winning streak since claiming four straight from Dec. 29 through Jan. 4.

The most-telling stat for Sims, beyond his point total, were his attempts from the foul line. The 6-10, 248-pounder went 14-for-18 at the foul line, including a 6-for-6 effort in the fourth quarter.

“He was in a bull mode, a really aggressive attack mode,” Brown said of Sims, who came to the Sixers as part of the trade-deadline deal that cast off Spencer Hawes. “He’d bury his head and try to get to the rim at all costs. In the first half, I thought he’d rush things when he was at a block. When he turns and faces things, he can catch and go, and play out of a dribble-handoff game at the top of the key area. He has a surprising first step and a fantastic mentality. With that it produced an aggression attack.”

Sims has been on a roll of late. He’s had a double-figure scoring total in seven of his last eight games, during which he’s also had two 20-point games. He’s also been a 77.3-percent shooter from the free-throw line. Not bad for a guy who shot 57.1 percent while with Cleveland.

When asked whether he’d ever had 18 attempts from the foul line in a single game at any level, Sims said no. (“If I did, I’d have had 40 (points),” he said.)

“Better opportunity here. More shots going up, more opportunities to get to the line,” Sims said. “I feel like I’m playing my game and Coach notices it. I’m still coming in every day, defensively and rebounding. Those are the two big things for me. Everything else is just extra.”

Thaddeus Young is seeing what Sims is doing.

“Very aggressive,” Young said, electing to use the operative word. “He went out there and played really, really aggressive. That’s the Henry I like to see all the time. When he’s aggressive, he’s always in attack mode. I encourage him all of the time to just continue to stay aggressive and be confident within yourself.”

Another standout from the win over the Celtics was Elliot Williams.

The reserve guard scored 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting overall and a 2-for-3 effort from 3-point range in 26 minutes. In his last 10 outings, Williams has shined. He’s averaged 8.4 points in 21.1 minutes per game, while shooting .484 from the field. Then compare those numbers against his season totals: 61 appearances, 5.6 points, 16.5 minutes, .396 field-goal percentage.

(USA Today)

NEW YORK – 76ers rookie Nerlens Noel said “there’s a possibility” he could play this season.

In an interview Monday for the NBA channel on SiriusXM Radio, Noel said no decision has been made regarding his availability this season. Noel has been viewed as a longshot to play while rehabbing the torn ACL in his left knee that he incurred in February 2013 as a freshman at Kentucky. Sixers coach Brett Brown has said that he looks at this season as an opportunity to reconstruct the mechanics on Noel’s shot.

As for missing the whole season, Noel said “that hasn’t been really said.”

“We’re just taking our time with it, being cautious with things,” Noel said in the radio interview. “I’m definitely worried about my health, but as (in) regards to the whole season, you know, that decision hasn’t been made up. I still have to meet up with my doctors – Dr. (James) Andrews, Dr. Kevin Wilk – and come to a conclusion with that.”

So there’s a possibility he might play for the Sixers?

“There’s a possibility,” Noel said.

Noel, 19, has not spoken to reporters since the team’s Oct. 1 media day. Reporters have been told Noel is unavailable for interview requests until he’s cleared to participate in 5-on-5 practices.

The Sixers (7-18) visit the Brooklyn Nets (8-15) Monday night.

(Associated Press)

He may not be the most talented man in the 76ers' locker room, but he's certainly the most outspoken.

Damien Wilkins doesn't shy from speaking the truth. He knows the Sixers have the tendency to show effort in games like Monday's, a 106-97 win over Brooklyn, than in games like Sunday's, against a bottom-feeding bunch in Orlando.

“Record-wise, we're not necessarily a good team, either,” Wilkins said, after scoring 13 points against the Nets. “We should want to play hard every night. Even if we're the No. 1 seed in the East, we all should strive to work hard every night. That's what we owe to ourselves, owe to our fans, to our organization. You can't teach effort. I think we have guys in this locker room who want to go out there and play hard every night. It's just a matter of us doing it.”

In a politically correct way, Wilkins made it clear that wins against a team like Brooklyn can be contagious. And the Sixers' schedule certainly doesn't do them any favors, with dates the rest of this week against Eastern Conference contenders Miami and Indiana looming.

Yet, Wilkins understands that accepting a losing attitude – while easier – isn't most satisfactory.
Read more »

(Associated Press)

The 76ers lost Tuesday to Brooklyn. They were outscored at the foul line by 13 points. You could argue that the free-throw discrepancy led to the Sixers' 20-point loss. And some in the organization took that route. Others didn't.

“I've never seen anything like it. I just haven't,” said Sixers coach Doug Collins, whose team went 6-for-10 at the line, compared to Brooklyn's 19-for-22 effort.

When prodded about whether it's just out of character for his guys to drive the lane...

“Guys, you're getting me in territory,” Collins said. “I don't want to talk about this because I'm going to get fined. You're taking me to a territory that, all of the sudden, the league is going to look at me and – I'm sorry, I can't. I hope you understand that. I'm not trying to dance or anything like that. The more questions you ask, the deeper the water gets.”

The Sixers' Evan Turner wasn't as diplomatic.

“We go to paint. There's no reason to keep talking about it. We go to paint,” Turner said. “There's no point in talking about it. When you go down and there's one foul and another foul that's not called. We go into the paint just as much as other teams. It's not new. For the past three years, we haven't really gotten calls. That's not on us anymore.

“We can talk about it. We get into the paint. We get hit, we get slapped. I know a bunch of people got scratches and bruises all on their body. It's not from angel kisses. You can't worry about what you can't control.”

The Sixers (15-21) rank 28th in the NBA in free-throws made and free-throws attempted. So don't just take the Sixers at their word. Judge for yourselves.

(Associated Press)

NEW YORK – The calls aren't coming. The whistles have been in one team's favor, and that team hasn't been the 76ers.

They understand what's going on – sort of. They have a roster of bigs who prefer mid-range jumpers and guards who like testing themselves from the 3-point line. They get that. What they're struggling to comprehend is the difference between creating contact and initiating contact, which could what's separating them from getting to the line.

“As a referee,” Jrue Holiday said, “when you look at that – or even a regular person when you look at that – every time we play a game, is it that we just don't initiate contact? Or is it that it's not a foul? Why is it different? Why is that margin so bad? I can't really say anything. The only thing I can do is go out there and play.”

In losing, 95-92, to Brooklyn, the Sixers went 8-for-10 at the foul line, compared to 21-for-30 by the Nets. The Sixers have been outscored by 110 points at the free-throw line this season, more than any other team in the NBA.

The Sixers, who continue their roadtrip Wednesday in Memphis, are at a crossroads. They rank 29th in the NBA in free throw attempts, leading only Orlando in opportunities from the line. Without Andrew Bynum, a post player who has a propensity for drawing fouls, or a slashing shooting guard (Jason Richardson, at this stage of his career, just doesn't fit that bill), the Sixers are kind of out of options.

So what are they to do – have Evan Turner sacrifice his burgeoning mid-range game to drive and draw contact? Have Holiday drop the selfless act by passing less and shooting more? Have Dorell Wright take on some of that responsibility?

“You've got to do what you've got to do,” Wright said. “There are a lot of games that we play that are close games. If we lose by six or seven and the other team is beating us at the free-throw line. If fewer of those shots are in the paint, or we're getting to the free-throw line, we can take some games and beat some teams.”

Doing what the Sixers have to do does not involve technical fouls or fines from the league office, though.

“I have to be real careful because I don't want to give away my holiday money,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said. “I have to be real careful. We have to continue to get in there and find a way.”

Added Wright: “I only think I have three techs in my career, and the reason why is I know they're not going to change the call. The only thing you can do is go up to them nicely and say, 'Hey, you missed that,' or 'Hey, what was that?' You've just got to deal with it and do what you can to sell that you got fouled without flopping so you don't get fined – because I'm not trying to get fined.”

*      *      *      *      *      *      *

EDITORIAL NOTE: Gang, I took some time off -- in conjunction with the holidays and the Sixers' West Coast roadtrip. I'll next be blogging (barring breaking news) from Oklahoma City for the tail-end of the eight-game stay away from Philly. So enjoy the holidays, be safe and check back with the blog in the near future. Cheers!

(Associated Press)

NEW YORK -- As reporters huddled around the lockers of Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner, there was Lavoy Allen, dressing in silence until an interview request came his way.

“I feel special,” Allen said. “Ain't nobody talked to me in weeks. It's been lonely.”

The attention surely was on teammates Holiday and Turner, who had returned from injury to lead the Sixers to a slump-snapping 99-80 victory over Atlanta Friday.

Allen deserved as much postgame focus. The second-year center out of Temple played a season-high 36 minutes, pulling down seven rebounds and scoring six points in the win, which broke a five-game skid.

“I was down there doing all the dirty work, playing good D,” Allen said.

How good was Allen's game? Against the Hawks, it was only the seventh time in 27 games that Allen grabbed seven or more rebounds, he tied a season-high mark with three assists and he threw down a demonstrative dunk over Atlanta's Zaza Pachulia to punctuate the end of the first half.

Considering how little production the Sixers (13-14) have gotten from the centers this season – an average of five points and four rebounds in 21 minutes per game – Allen's performance “was great,” according to coach Doug Collins. It's exactly what the Sixers need, as they open an eight-game road trip Sunday in Brooklyn.

“He'll let me know game-to-game what he's going to do and just take it how it is,” Allen said of Collins' plan for him. “I'll take 34, 35 minutes any day.”