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Sixers Notes: No free throws for 76ers' Lavoy Allen vs. Nets

NEW YORK - Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young were the only 76ers starters to attempt a free throw in Sunday's 95-92 loss at Brooklyn.

NEW YORK - Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young were the only 76ers starters to attempt a free throw in Sunday's 95-92 loss at Brooklyn.

That he didn't make at least one trip to the line, despite playing more than 30 minutes, left Lavoy Allen, who made his 18th start of the year, perplexed.

"I don't know what I can do other than continue to stay aggressive," said Allen, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. "That's the mind-set of everyone in here. That's all we can do."

Small ball

The 76ers aren't the only team that is going to a smaller lineup. It's become somewhat of a trend for teams to trot out undersize lineups at crucial junctures of the game to get quicker players on the floor who can score.

The Nets did a lot of that in the third and fourth quarters Sunday, and one of the results was forward Gerald Wallace's finishing with a season-high six assists. Wallace, a small forward who spent much of his time Sunday playing power forward, became the first Net not named Deron Williams to lead the team in assists.

When the Nets go small, they actually keep center Brook Lopez, one of their top two players, off the floor. Lopez didn't play 11 minutes in the second half on Sunday.

"It helped us," Nets coach Avery Johnson said of the smaller lineup. "You saw the way Gerald ignited the break for us. Basically, over 60 percent of the league is playing that way. No matter who they started at [power forward], Gerald was going to start at [power forward], and that is what we were looking at for the last two days."