Is it too early to get excited over the Sixers?
They won their fifth straight game last night, pounding the Pacers, 96-86. They are now 6-2 and in first place in the Atlantic Division of the Easter Conference of the NBA.
Andre Iguodala led the team with 20 points.
You can read Dennis Deitch's account of another big win here.
Those are not the most important numbers from the game, however.
For that you will have to look at the bottom of the boxscore. Or, more conveniently, the vast expanse of empty seats at the Wells Fargo Center last night.
Only 8,612 people made their way through the turnstiles last night. The Wells Fargo Center holds more than 20,000.
That’s a lot of people dressed up as red seats.
That compares with 19,000-plus on opening night on Friday and maybe 15,000 for Game 2.
The Sixers have a great, young core of players who spill their guts most nights. They have a dynamite coach in Doug Collins, a guy whose love of the game spills out of every pore.
They even have enthusastic new owners who are doing a lot of inventive things to spark interest in the long moribund franchise.
What they don’t have is a star. Yes, as hard as it to say, they don’t have anyone on the level of an Allen Iverson. And I’m not even talking about practice. I’m talking about the games.
If they want to routinely pack the joint, the Sixers need a star.
Maybe some day Jrue Holiday will be that star. It’s pretty clear that Iguodala will not be, especially if he persists in his habit of taking the last shot of the game – and too often clanging it off the rim.
The team is off to its best start in a decade. It will be a shame if they continue to do so in a house that is three-quarters empty.
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