John Smallwood: Wish upon a superstar for 76ers

THERE'S NO GETTING around it - superstars matter.

They may not leap tall buildings in a single bound or change the course of mighty rivers, but in the NBA, they don't need to.

All they need to do is make a difference - not on every possession, just when it really counts.

It was easy to distinguish the difference between the Sixers and the Oklahoma City Thunder last night at the Wells Fargo Center.

OKC had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook - the two best players in the building.

The Sixers had the other guys.

And while coach Doug Collins has molded this no-name crew into a sum that may be much better than its individual parts, there almost always comes a time when the big dog can fend off even a well-coordinated group of scrappy puppies because he simply is bigger.

That's what happened in the Thunder's 110-105 overtime win.

When it got down to crunch-time and the game was on the line, Durant and Westbrook took the Thunder to a higher level.

There were 2 minutes, 17 seconds left in the game when Lou Williams hit a three-pointer to put the Sixers up 101-96 in front of a frenzied crowd of 19,283.

The Sixers didn't score another point in regulation.

On the other side, Durant made a tough running 14-footer to make it 101-98 with 36 seconds left.

Then, after Andre Iguodala missed a jumper for the Sixers, Durant knotted the game with 6 seconds left by draining a beautiful three-pointer after Westbrook had quickly rotated the ball to him.

The Sixers had the ball with plenty of time to win, but Iguodala was called for a charge while driving to the basket.

The Sixers remained scrappy during overtime, but their chance for a significant late-season victory had already passed them by.

This is what a portion of disgruntled Sixers fans mean when they say this team has no superstar.

The Sixers' performance over the last 48 games has shown that the value of team play in the NBA has been underrated.

What Durant and Westbrook did in combining for 61 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists proved that another theory is not overrated: Superstars are needed to become an elite squad.

Superstars make big plays at big moments that bring their team back from the brink or drive a final nail in a coffin.

Nice players, which the Sixers have a roster full of, get outscored 14-4 after holding a five-point lead and lose in overtime.

"Our guys really played a terrific game tonight," Collins said. "We had a great chance there to close that thing out at the end.

"We had a couple of shot-clock violations and Kevin Durant hit an incredible shot.

"Durant, now they have a real strong option. He and Westbrook are something special."

That nicely sums everything up.

I really like this Sixers team. I like the way the players fight. I like that it is a young team with a lot of room for growth over the next few seasons.

That said, I would trade any three players on this roster for Durant, probably Westbrook, too.

You don't have to say I'm caught up in the star system because I freely admit it.

Season in and season out, stars have proved to be a necessity for winning a championship in the NBA.

It has been six seasons since 2003-04, when the Detroit Pistons were the last NBA champion not to have at least one player make first-team All-NBA.

Still, as much as people like to talk about that Detroit Pistons team being without a superstar, they had All-Star caliber players in Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace.

Before that, you have to go all the way back to the 1989-90 season, when the Pistons won the title without a player who was first- or second-team All-NBA.

But, again, that Detroit team still had a viable Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer.

This version of the Sixers are not at the caliber of either of those Detroit teams.

You need a superstar to contend, probably two. Look at the top four teams in the East.

The Boston Celtics have three future Hall of Fame players in Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, plus an All-Star point guard in Rajon Rondo.

The Chicago Bulls have an MVP candidate in Derrick Rose, as do the Miami Heat in LeBron James and the Orlando Magic in Dwight Howard. Those team also have some good supplemental parts like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson, who would shine brightly on the Sixers.

Out West, Durant is an MVP candidate but Oklahoma City likely will be no higher than the fourth seed in the playoffs. Why?

Well, the San Antonio Spurs have an all-time great player in Tim Duncan, who may no longer be better than teammates Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli.

The Dallas Mavericks have a former MVP in Dirk Nowitzki.

The two-time reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers are still being led by Kobe Bryant, who is the best player of his generation and is making a push at being the best player of all time.

People sleeping on Bryant being a legitimate MVP candidate are doing so at their own peril.

And by the way, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum would be the best players on a lot of teams outside of LA, including the Sixers.

The Sixers don't have any player currently of that caliber.

It's not going to happen with Iguodala, and because of their youth, there's only hope that it will happen for either Jrue Holiday or Evan Turner. But there's no way to tell yet if their ceilings are high enough to be more than really nice players.

Unlike nice guys, nice players don't always finish last, but they don't win championships either, unless they play in Detroit, which, if you've noticed, is a long way away from Philly.