In writing about Ted Williams once, the author John Updike called the idea of a clutch player a vulgarity, the term implying that the athlete in question was not trying his hardest upon other occasions. Until recently, the Sixers, to a man, have echoed such sentiments, touting the virtues of team ball and celebrating their uniqueness in that respect among NBA teams.
But that's the rap on the Sixers, or the one that continues to stick - there is no superhero like MJ, or like Deron Williams, LeBron James or in last night's most recent example, Tony Parker. Against a guard-rich team like the Sixers, Parker scored a crowd-numbing 37 points and added eight assists, distributing them evenly over four quarters, seemingly answering every late big Sixers moment with one of his own.
"He had that ball on a string," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "We were trying to do our best to keep him crowded and make him shoot jump shots, and we just never could get him under control."
Including last night's 100-90 loss to the Spurs, the Sixers have now been in 10 games decided by 10 or fewer points this season. They have lost six of them. In those instances, the postscript has invariably noted the lack of a superstar among their ranks, or specifically, someone to put them on his back down the stretch.
Almost to a man, the Sixers sound schizophrenic on the topic. They have won 18 games and lost eight this season without such a discernible star.
"Tell you the truth, everybody says you need that person," Turner said. "But our offense is not designed to have that go-to guy. I don't think people understand that."
Yeah, people do. But when you watch a game like last night's, the knee-jerk conclusion is that you need one.
