Sixers' bench play key to turnaround

I'll admit, I definitely have not been keeping up on following the Sixers this season. For whatever reason, I've caught less than a handful of games from start to end and I haven't missed out on much.

Last night was one of the games where I tuned in late after missing the entire first half. What I stumbled into was the Sixers going through the motions and trailing the Detroit Pistons by 15 in the third quarter. I nearly turned the TV off.

Late in the third quarter, the Sixers started to make their run and methodically chipped away at the lead. The players that started the comeback were the same guys that were sitting on the bench during the opening tip-off. Guys like Willie Green, Lou Williams, Reggie Evans and Donyell Marshall (yes, he's still a Sixer) made things happen in the fourth quarter and were the reason the Sixers pulled out a 96-91 victory over the Pistons.

Coming into the season, I was especially excited about the Sixers because of the way the team beefed up its bench and acquired the best free agent power forward on the market in Elton Brand. And we forgot to mention, Brand was out last night with a strained hamstring and is day-to-day. In one of the few games I've watched this season, the Sixers' bench bludgeoned a weak Sacramento team with Green, Williams, Marshall and the little-used Kareem Rush cracking double figures off the bench.

I knew that it would take time for the new players to mesh, mostly because they were seemingly switching from a running team to a half-court offense that worked the ball inside. That win over Sacramento was early in the season (fourth game) and was especially promising because it looked as though the players had found their roles. But after 20 games, which roughly amounts to a quarter of the way through the season, the Sixers are 9-11.

My suggestion to Head Coach Maurice Cheeks would be to find minutes for Marshall and some of those hungry bench players. Marshall's only played in four games this season and was inactive in seven of the last nine games. He's the team's best shooter hands down. That's a guy that needs to be in at the end of games to make clutch shots like he did last night.

The Sixers don't have much time to celebrate last night's win as they host the New Jersey Nets tonight. This season, the Sixers did not sneak up on anybody so their current record is a disappointment; the 10-8 Nets have done quite the opposite.