Sixers lose in final seconds... for the 8th time this season!

By Jordan Sams Feb 23, 2009, 11:55pm EST

Seriously, how many times can this happen? Weren't the first 7 times enough? Out of all the game-winners I've been a part of this season, this had to be the most improbable. Down one, with 1.8 seconds left, the Nets had to go the full length of the court, and put the ball in the hoop to get the win. Somehow Devin Harris found a way to do just that.

The ball was inbounded to a running-Harris, he took a couple dribbles, got bumped by Iguodala, fumbled the ball, ended up throwing up a 50-foot prayer only to see it hit nothing but net.

My initial reaction was, "There's no way all of that happened in just 1.8 seconds!" Then I saw the replay, and realized that the ball had left his hand less than a milli-second before the "red light" came on. Unbelievable. Being the pessimistic, broken fan that I was, I proceeded to rewind the tape to "the play" to find out if it really was 1.8 second between Harris catching the ball and releasing it. After further review, it was actually 2.0 seconds. 0.2 seconds cost the Sixers the game, but it's nothing to complain about. The clock is always going to start a couple of milli-seconds early or a couple of milli-seconds late. That's just the way the ball bounces. When I first rewound the tape, I expected the time difference to be near a full second. That wasn't the case; therefore I'm not going to dwell on it.

Harris should have never had that opportunity in the first place. Once again, the Sixers failed to do the "little things", and it cost them yet another game.

23-37 from the free throw line is the only stat you need to know from this game.

I'm still in utter shock over what just happened.

Tonight's half-court, buzzer-beater by Devin Harris marks the 8th time this season the Sixers have lost in the final 20 seconds. 8 times! That's the difference between a 27-28 record and a 34-21 record. I used to think it was bad luck, but maybe the Sixers are just too young and too experienced to get it done in close games -- from the head coach, down to the players.

I actually planned on missing the entire game tonight, and now I wish I would have. I ended up making a Willis Reed-like appearance in the second quarter. I only missed the first quarter and half of the second. One of our posters, jmorcate, was kind enough to chime in with his first quarter thoughts.

Great quick move by Thad early in the game, similar to when he blew by Udonis Haslem before the break.

Good intensity by Sam: 2 putbacks, FT line J, outlet pass to iggy more than 1/2 court length, a couple FTs.

Green was 4-5, 1-1 from 3. He had 7 of the first 9.

Still not defending at the arc(which was obvious just from the boxscore): Harris 2-3, Yi 1-1, but very good defense otherwise forcing 4 turnovers.

Good passing in the half-court and on the break, led by Miller (10 assists on 13 FGs, only 1 TO being Iggys charge on the isolation play with 2.5 seconds left)

Nothing bad to say except for the 3point defense

Thanks Justin.

Apparently the Sixers got off to a really hot start, and looked well on their way to a victory. Then, the second unit happened. Check out their +/- for the game.

Lou-Will: -9
Reggie Evans: -13
Royal Ivey: -14

Marreese Speights is the only bench player who continues to contribute nightly. His +/- was +1 despite playing a lot of time with his bench-mates. Just like all the other nights that the second unit has blown a lead, the team never fully recovered.

A couple more things of note. Andre Iguodala was a beast tonight. He put the team on his back in the fourth. Speights is still a stud. Nobody else is really worth mentioning. I'm usually a huge Reggie Evans supporter, but tonight he was horrible.

I hate to re-live bad memories, but for you innocent bystanders out there, feel our pain!