Holiday will have to trust his coach on that, because he certainly isn't trusting himself at the offensive end. He again shot poorly (4-for-16) and it was a big reason the Sixers lost their 13th consecutive road game, 99-91, to the lowly Orlando Magic.
In the past five games, Holiday has shot 20-of-75 from the floor (26.7 percent). For a player who is relied on for so much of his team's offensive production, shooting slumps like this are impossible to overcome. The Sixers have lost 12 of their past 13 games in falling to 23-39. Playoff hopes shouldn't even be talked about anymore.
Sunday, there were passes into the stands, plenty of airballs and enough Swiss-cheese defense to allow two limited offensive teams to score in NBA fashion.
That's what happens when you combine the Magic and 76ers, a pair of teams that had combined to win 40 of 124 games this season. Add to those numbers the Sixers' 12-game road losing streak entering the game and that the Magic had lost seven straight at home and 18 of their last 20.
It was the dreaded "somebody had to win."
The Magic rode Jameer Nelson's 24 points and 10 assists and Nikola Vucevic's 14 points and 17 rebounds to earn just their 18th victory.
"I've been trying to encourage the best I can," said Collins, who wrapped his arms around Holiday several times during the game, trying to infuse some confidence. "Losing is not fun. I'm sure there is some discouragement because there were such expectations for us this season and it just seems like so much stuff has gone against us. But that's part of this business."
Certainly not the fun part. The team, already fragile in the confidence department, exited the floor looking like kids who had just had their ball stolen.
"I feel really badly for our guys," Collins said. "We play really well in spurts, we just have not been able to close out some games. We've had three or four games now in this stretch where we've had great chances to win and just haven't been able to do that."
Thaddeus Young scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Sixers, who also got 16 points and six assists from Damien Wilkins and 15 points from Spencer Hawes.
The starting backcourt of Holiday and Evan Turner (2-for-5) combined for only 14 points on 6-for-21 shooting from the floor.
"I've been going through a scoring slump right now," said Holiday, who is averaging just 12 points during the past five games. "I'm trying to make other things happen, whether it's on defense or swinging the ball, just trying to make plays. We got up by 10 points on them and they came back and matched that. There are times we need to go on a scoring streak and I don't think we got it today."
Nelson sealed the win with a pair of plays in the last minute. With Orlando leading 93-89, he corralled a bad pass while running down the lane, somehow tiptoed the baseline and fed Arron Afflalo (17 points) for a three-pointer with 59 seconds left for a 96-89 Orlando lead. Then, with the Magic leading by five, he hit a corner jumper as the shot clock was expiring for a 98-91 lead with 32 seconds remaining.
The Afflalo trey came after a horrendous turnover by Wilkins, who threw the ball right into the arms of Beno Udrih while bringing the ball up the court.
"He made some big plays," Collins said of Nelson. "I felt really bad for Damien because he really played his heart out; for him to throw that ball away at the end, he feels terrible."
On Twitter: @BobCooney76
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