Damien Wilkins, Royal Ivey try to fulfill Doug Collins' wishes for good defense

"DEFENSIVE identity" is what coach Doug Collins looks for from his 76ers, and the ones who appear to match his desire are Damien Wilkins and Royal Ivey.

In Saturday's win over the Houston Rockets, which snapped a seasonlong five-game losing streak, both saw significant minutes off the bench, while regular sub Nick Young didn't see any action.

During the losing streak, the Sixers gave up an average of 102.4 points a game. In giving up 100 to Houston on Saturday, they held the league's top-scoring team to close to six points below its average, 44 percent shooting and forced it into 17 turnovers.

Tuesday against the Hornets, neither Wilkins nor Ivey could stop the bleeding as New Orleans darted to a 111-99 win, dropping the Sixers to 16-23. That, despite a late burst by Young, who finished with 14 points.

Wilkins, one of the NBA's more cerebral players, thinks he knows what needs to be done for the Sixers to turn their defensive deficiencies around.

"Learning how to put stops together consistently is something we haven't done over the course of the season," he said. "I think things have been somewhat easy for opposing teams when they play against us. They don't feel our pressure or our defensive intensity. It's something that I think could help us get easy baskets if we focus more on getting stops defensively - that way we can get out and take advantage of our speed and quickness on the offensive end.

"It's hard to stop anyone in this league one-on-one with no help. It's a collective effort. It's guys going out and consciously knowing that you have to make multiple efforts defensively to get stops in this league. It's hard to win, it's hard to get stops, but if you do it as a team, it makes your job a whole lot easier."

Collins is looking for Wilkins to contribute in a variety of ways defensively, whether it be rebounding, being a physical presence on the ball or harassing an outside shooting threat. Ivey's job is simpler; Collins wants him to pressure the ball the whole length of the court, taking time off the shot clock and making it more difficult for opponents to start their offense where they want.

"It's just energy and the continuity of being on one page," Ivey said. "I think the guys need to connect, and we're doing a better job of that in practice, and the other night [Saturday], we had that flow, the communication, the talking, that togetherness and just being on one page, that's key.

"Getting one stop and then having the mindset that we have to get another stop at a key time [is big]. It's very contagious, and just the willingness to get stops and get after players and just bringing the defensive prowess. Once we get one stop, it can be like an avalanche in getting another one and another one and another one."

Before Tuesday's game, coach Doug Collins threw a date out to his players: Nov. 30. It did nothing but evoke blank stares and shoulder shrugs.

"I asked them today what the date Nov. 30 meant to them," Collins said. "And none of them knew. It's the last time we won two games in a row. It's been 6 weeks. We had won our third game in a row that night in Charlotte. It's time for us. If we're going to be in the talk and in the mix in the East, we've got to start doing it now."

It would appear to be a good time, as Tuesday was the second home game during a stretch in which the Sixers play 12 of 13 at the Wells Fargo Center.

While the shooting session Andrew Bynum went through Monday at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine won't make any exercise videos in the near future, it was a steppingstone for the 7-foot, 300-pounder, who hasn't been on the court since being acquired by the team during the summer.

Asked Tuesday on "Daily News Live" on Comcast SportsNet how Bynum's knees responded, general manager Tony DiLeo said that all was good and that there were no problems.