Do The Sixers Need A Closer?

It's really hard to get mad at the Sixers.  They are such a young and fun team to watch that sometimes I find it difficult to voice my frustrations.  But the Sixers have lost three out of their last four, and it's starting to become somewhat easy to get mad at this team.

Last Wednesday, the Sixers hung tight with the NBA leading Oklahoma City Thunder.  They defended Durant, did a good job of scoring, and overall kept themselves in the game.  But down the stretch the Sixers stumbled greatly.  They were a different team in the final minutes and ultimately the Thunder were able to cruise to victory.

On Sunday against the Bulls it was the exact same story.  The Sixers again played well enough to win but couldn't get that bucket in the final few minutes to put them over the hump.  Most recently the Sixers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday in the same fashion.  They fought hard and tied it up at the end, but when they needed that big basket nobody came through.

All season long the main theme surrounding the Sixers is that they need a closer.  Experts and fans alike continue to talk about how the Sixers need a guy who they can go to down the stretch and who they can depend on to get a bucket in the clutch.

In last Wednesday's loss to the Thunder, Lou Williams was the guy who took the final shot.  In Sunday's loss to the Bulls, it was Andre Iguodala heaving a three at the buzzer.  And in Monday's loss to the Bucks it was again Lou Will who had the final say.

Personally, I want Lou Will to always take the final shot.  Out of all the players on the Sixers, Lou is definitely the purest scorer.  He can create his own shot and he has proven in the past that he can both take and make pressure shots.  But Williams also tends to force the issue a little too much so in that regard he isn't an ideal closer.  The last person I want to have the ball in the final minutes is Iguodala.  I'm not an Iguodala hater by any stretch, but time after time he simply fails to get it done in the clutch.

But this discussion of who the closer should be raises two main questions: First, why do the Sixers struggle in the final minutes of the fourth?  And second, do the Sixers really need a closer?

I think one of the main reasons the Sixers struggle down the stretch is that close games force them to rely solely on one guy to score.  When the Sixers are at their best the defense is creating turnovers, the Sixers get out in transition, and they get balanced scoring from everyone.  But close games force the Sixers to change their game and rely on just one guy.  The Sixers are not the Miami Heat or the Los Angeles Lakers.  They don't rely on one player to have success.  They are a balanced team that gets contributions from just about everyone.