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Sixers win; Young hurt
By Jonathan Atwood on March 31st, 2009 10:51 PM |
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The 76ers beat the Atlanta Hawks 98-85 Tuesday, but lost forward Thaddeus Young to an ankle injury.
With 2 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first quarter,Young contested a shot by Atlanta forward Josh Smith, and came down on Smith’s foot. The ankle bent unnaturally, and Young immediately began to clutch it, in obvious pain.
The team said after the game that X-Rays were negative.
“The good news it that it just looks like an ankle sprain, but I’m scheduled for an MRI [Wednesday] morning,” Young said.
The MRI determine whether Young suffered any ligament damage. No timetable has been set for his return.
That being said, the game went on. Despite losing Young, the Sixers played like a team with something to gain, while the Hawks played like a team content with their current standing.
Rookie Marreese Speights attempted to make up for the loss of Young with 16 points in just 26 minutes. Andre Iguodala had 19 points and Andre Miller added 18 of his own.
While the Sixers have several scoring options, Young has quickly become the spark of the offense.
“Well, it does change the look for several reasons,” said coach Tony DiLeo. “Number one, Thad is one of our better scorers and we were struggling to score there for a while, so it takes a scoring threat out of the lineup. Thad is also like our backup three man, so that takes that out of the lineup and our starting four.
“It affects us in a lot of different ways. We’ll just have to sit down tomorrow and figure things out.”
The Sixers are currently sitting as the sixth seed in the East, just one game back of the Miami Heat. Winning the fifth seed is important, as they will most likely play the Hawks, as opposed to the ever dangerous Orlando Magic. The Sixers have yet to win a game against the Magic this season, but have taken two of three from the Hawks, including one in Atlanta.
It is up to DiLeo to piece things together over the final couple weeks of the season while they await Young’s return.
“You definitely want to get these wins and get it in their head that it’s going to be a battle,” guard Willie Green said. “Right now we are focusing on getting as many wins as possible coming down with the last nine [games].”
That will be made much easier with a quick return by Young.
