Inside the Sixers: For Sixers' Holiday, limiting turnovers trumps assists

One of the biggest concerns for the 76ers during the lockout was that the work stoppage prevented them from having direct contact with point guard Jrue Holiday during the offseason.

The Sixers were thrilled with the growth that their precocious point guard demonstrated in his second season and during the team's first-round playoff series with the Miami Heat. Much of that success was attributable to the mentoring of assistant coach Aaron McKie, whom the Sixers wanted to be in constant contact with Holiday in the offseason.

More so than any other player on the team, Holiday's relationship with McKie is perhaps the most crucial because Holiday is responsible for triggering the offense and making sure that the Sixers don't commit turnovers.

Last season Holiday, who turned 21 in October, was mostly responsible for the Sixers' turning the ball over a league-low 13 times per game. McKie, who spent a little more than six of his 13 years in the league with the Sixers, has set at three the number of turnovers that he is willing to accept from Holiday per game. The thinking is that if Holiday stays below three (his 2.4 this season is down from last season's 2.7), the Sixers offense will run smoothly.

When the Sixers reunited for their brief training camp, coach Doug Collins was concerned that the more than six months the team went without the McKie/Holiday relationship being allowed to grow, the greater the potential for Holiday to pick up bad habits.

Early in the season the Sixers thought that Holiday may have slipped a little in terms of game discipline. But lately - and it's really reflected in the Sixers' turnover numbers - it's clear that Holiday has gotten back on track.

Against the Los Angeles Lakers last week, the Sixers committed a franchise record-low four turnovers. Friday's loss to the Clippers marked the eighth game in a row in which the Sixers turned the ball over 10 times or less. The Sixers average a league-low 10.7 turnovers per game this season and are on pace to eclipse the league record of 11.4 set by Detroit during the 2005-06 season.

Holiday committed five of those turnovers in the 78-77 loss to the Clippers.

Just how high a priority Holiday and the coaching staff place on turnovers was evident when Holiday was asked about his assists this season (they are down from 6.4 per game last season to 4.9), and the point guard admitted that he did not know what he was averaging.