Inside the Sixers: Where can 76ers find more points?

The 76ers offense has been slowly grinding to a halt for a few weeks now, and on Friday against Dallas it completely crashed.

Their total of eight points in the third quarter, the Sixers' worst showing in any quarter this season, was inexcusable. They added just 16 more in the fourth quarter for a grand total of 24 in the second half - matched by Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki. So now the Sixers, with few problems defensively, have to quickly figure how to unbridle their offense.

The answer is not easy.

The Sixers are clearly less potent offensively without center Spencer Hawes in the lineup. Hawes has missed 17 of the past 18 games because of injury and has a walking boot on his Achilles tendon. Until he visits Los Angeles specialist Richard Ferkel, the Sixers won't know when he'll return.

Coach Doug Collins calls Hawes ball-friendly, and for good reason. He has soft hands, and the Sixers, who early in the season when Hawes was playing just briefly had the most fluid offense in the league, took advantage of that. More often than not, they ran their offense through Hawes, which gave opposing defenses headaches because they just couldn't figure out how to defend what he brought to the lineup.

Yes, the rookies are good. Nik Vucevic, who scored a team-high 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting against the Mavericks, looks as if his ceiling could ultimately be higher than Hawes'. But the Sixers are the ultimate system team and are not going to win on a regular basis when their leading scorer is a guy they are developing.

The offense, which produced 102.6 points per game through the first five of the season, has not scored 100 in any of the last 14 games. It is their longest streak without a 100-point effort since they went 15 games without cracking the century mark in 2006. They have scored more than 100 points just five times over the last 26 games.

Defensively, the Sixers are as sound as ever. The 87.2 points per game they are limiting their opponents to is still the league's gold standard. Their defense allowed them to outscore opponents by 194 points through the first 13 games of the season. Only the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls, who outscored their opponents by 225 over the same number of games, have done a better job of this dating back to the 1985-86 season.

Putting up these kinds of numbers without a shot-blocker is pretty remarkable. But the Sixers have had a user-friendly schedule. The crowds at the Wells Fargo Center, where they have played 19 of their 31 games, have been enthusiastic and supportive.

But the second half of the season is going to be far less forgiving. It is chock- full of road games and includes a brutal stretch at the end of the season with nine of their last 11 games on the road.

The question all year has been where will the offense come from at the end of games. That will be more frequently asked as the Atlantic Division race inevitably grows tighter.

The Sixers have proven that they are very balanced, with six players averaging in double-figures scoring, led by Lou Williams' 16 per game off the bench. Two others, Jodie Meeks and Evan Turner, are averaging close to nine points.

But the longer Hawes is absent from the lineup - who knows what the prognosis will be later in the week? - the more clear it becomes that someone is going to have to step up and become a better scorer alongside Williams.

Andre Iguodala has done it at times in the past, but the 12.4 points he's averaging are the fewest since he averaged 12.3 in 2005-06. Elton Brand's average has fallen from 15.0 points last season to a career-low 10.2, and his game, after 12 seasons, appears to be in steep decline.

Jrue Holiday has yet to find the happy medium between triggering the offense and being more aggressive, and Turner's growth, after an impressive start, seems to be stagnating.

They can't count on Hawes - and nobody is going to trade for a big man with an Achilles tendon problem - so they are in a quandary. And with Boston and New York playing better now and the schedule's compression being a problem, an answer needs to come quickly.

The question, though, is from where?

Few NBA analysts would call Spencer Hawes, who has missed 17 of 31 games with an injury, an elite center. But there is no question how much he means to this Sixers team, especially on offense. Here is how the 76ers have done with and without Hawes in the lineup:

WITH HAWES

Record: 12-2

Points per game: 101.7

WITHOUT HAWES

Record: 8-9

Points per game: 89.3

- Gary PotoskyEndText