Philadelphia 76ers Stat Monkey Brief: Sixers/Magic (3/10/13)

Quick Recap

Any Sixers fan watching Friday night's game against the Miami Heat knew the first half was too good to last. One of the least worst offensive teams in the league was beating the best team in the league at their own game. The Sixers were draining threes, getting to the basket and playing, dare I say it, efficient basketball.

In the first 24 minutes, the Sixers posted a 61.4 effective field goal percentage (eFG%) while holding Miami to 51.2 eFG%. Unfortunately for Doug Collins, his team remembered who they were in the second half. Their shooting dropped back down to 48.8 eFG%. The gap in three-point shooting between the two halves was the Sixers' biggest downfall on offense. After knocking down 7-10 from deep in the first half, they proceeded to hit just 3-11 threes in the second half.

A Place of Nightmares

The last time the Sixers met the Orlando Magic on the floor, the aftermath wasn't pretty. Collins melted down after the game, likely sealing his fate as Sixers' coach. To avoid another embarrassing press conference, there are a few things Collins' players should be sure to do.

Box out - The SIxers got murdered on the glass by Nikola Vucevic, retroactively one of Collins' favorite players, last time these teams met. Giving athletic rookie Arnett Moultrie some of the minutes that were previously going to Spencer Hawes and Lavoy Allen should help provide some help keeping Vucevic from running rampant on the boards, despite Moultrie's poor rebouding rate.

Take it to the hole - The good news: the Sixers made 80 percent of their shots at the rim in their last game against Orlando. The bad: they hardly got there, taking only 10 shots from close range. Jrue Holiday, the team's best penetrator, was the main culprit, taking only one shot from within 10 feet. As an All-Star, he simply has to be more aggressive.