The Philadelphia 76ers opened the first half of this season as the warmest feeling feel good story in the NBA. They played their way to the 3rd best record in the East right out the gate, and seemed to be well on their way to a seed in the top-5 this postseason.
Then Spencer Hawes, who was averaging an double-double before suffering a series of injuries in mid-January, went to the shelf for 27 of their next 29 games before returning on March 14th. He hadn’t been the same over the last month either since his return, and Philly dropped 10 of their last 14 as a result.
Last night though, Coach Doug Collins made the decision to bring Hawes off the bench in favor of Nikola Vucevic, and the big man responded. Although, despite direction from Assistant Coach Jeff Capel, he did leave his hotel room in one piece prior to arriving at the arena.
“Spencer was not happy at shootaround,” Collins said. “[Assistant coach] Jeff Capel told Spencer, ‘Go back to your [hotel] room, act like a little child, tear up your room, give me the bill and be ready to play.’ “
It was a figure of speech, but Hawes got the message. He had help from Young, who lost his job as a starter a season and a half ago, and has since thrived as a reserve.
“It’s just the nature of the business,” Young said. “You’ve got to take it and go, and that’s pretty much what he did. I told him, ‘Just play, and everything will work itself out.'”
Hawes came off the bench to score 19 points and grab 8 rebounds, and the win helped Philly cling to a 2-game lead over the 9th seeded Bucks out East. Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young also came off the bench to score 20 and 19 respectively in that win over New Jersey.
Which is something I like about the way Coach Collins pushes buttons. I think Collins makes the conscious decision to bring a few of his better players, arguably three or four of this top-5, off the bench to capitalize on mismatches against other teams second units. It’s a smart play too, I think, for a team who doesn’t really have that one frontline player. Lou Williams has come off the bench all season and he’s this team’s third best player behind Andre Igoudala and Jrue Holiday at worst. Last night he added Hawes to that second unit mix and it paid dividends.
I can only imagine what would happen if Spencer does go rockstar on his hotel room next game.
