For 76ers coach Doug Collins, key to big finish is a good start

It is commonly thought that the fourth quarter is the most important of an NBA game.

But this early NBA season has helped 76ers coach Doug Collins see otherwise.

"We've been digging ourselves huge holes," Collins said Friday after practice as the team prepared for Saturday's game against defending Western Conference champion Oklahoma City.

"We've won three first quarters, and we're 3-0 [in those games]," Collins said. "But we've lost nine first quarters. So there is this misconception that the NBA is a fourth-quarter game. Well, that's maybe when the excitement begins. But the first quarter a lot of times dictates how you are going to play."

Their most recent example of the troubles with a sluggish start were on display in the Sixers' last game, a 92-83 loss to Cleveland on Wednesday. In that game, the Sixers (7-5) fell behind by 28-15 in the first quarter, their self-destruction largely the by-product of a 3-for-18 shooting performance (16.7 percent) in the game's first 12 minutes.

At one point trailing by 19 points, the Sixers cut the lead to 79-77 with just more than three minutes to play in a game that got away from them at the end.

A similarly slow start against the Thunder and their Olympians, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, could result in more than just a loss. Winners of eight of their last nine games going into Friday's contest in Boston, the Thunder are capable of embarrassing the Sixers on their own floor.

"They've got [Westbrook,] a pit-bull, shot-out-of-the-rocket point guard who is absolutely as relentless as you'll find attacking the rim," Collins said. "They've got Kevin Durant, who is maybe one of the toughest matchups in the NBA. They are athletic, and they are a team that has a chance to get to the NBA Finals and win a championship."

Going into Friday night's game - a loss in Boston - Durant was second in the league in scoring, averaging 25.4 points per game, and his 10.1 rebounds ranked 10th in the NBA.

Westbrook, while not shooting well from the field (40.5 percent), was averaging 20.8 points and 8.4 assists.

Despite trading away another Olympian - last season's sixth man of the year, James Harden - the Thunder were ranked second in the league in scoring at 103 points a game. Harden's replacement, Kevin Martin, was averaging almost 18 points and slightly more than 30 minutes a game. Martin was third in the league in three-point shooting accuracy (54.1 percent, 33 for 61).

And the Thunder are not that shabby at the defensive end, either, especially with center Serge Ibaka averaging a league-leading 3.48 blocks.

"They are going to pose a lot of problems," Collins said.