The Sixers guard who couldn't shoot straight

WEDNESDAY IN Charlotte, 76ers point guard Jrue Holiday entered the fourth quarter having missed 11 of the 12 shots he had taken. Still, his team trailed the Bobcats by just three points, and there was a chance for the Sixers to win for the eighth time in 12 games. Then the all-too-familiar brain cramps started setting in.

While Holiday is the team's most reliable scoring option, it was evident that he wasn't going to turn his abysmal display around no matter how many shots he jacked up. Yet, he kept firing. In the fourth quarter, Holiday shot 1-for-12, missing both of his three-point attempts.

Even more troubling was that Holiday shot 1-for-7 inside the lane, meaning he was able to get penetration against the Charlotte defense, but chose to continue to try to find his shooting touch instead of dishing to teammates.

And then there was the failed inbounds pass that pretty much sealed the Sixers' demise. With 32.9 seconds remaining and the Sixers trailing, 84-83, Evan Turner threw a sideline out-of-bounds pass right into the hands of Gerald Henderson, who turned the steal into an uncontested, fastbreak dunk. There didn't appear to be maximum effort by players to get open for Turner. But also, Turner didn't do a very good job of disguising where he was looking to pass the ball. Henderson read it easily and practically took the ball right out of Turner's hands. It all added up to give the Bobcats an 88-83 win.

"You have to use a little fakery," coach Doug Collins said of Turner's turnover. "You just can't put the ball over your head and just [throw it in]. You need to [ball fake]. And we had a timeout in that situation. These are all situations you have to learn to do a better job with, that's why I'm constantly teaching with this group about finishing these games off and all . . . It doesn't look like we're going to make the playoffs, [but] still you have to learn to make the right plays in games like this, whether you're playing Charlotte or whether you're playing Chicago in Game 6 of the playoffs.

"The one thing I told our guys during the game was we had a playoff game last year where we had three turnovers and they didn't get easy baskets and we made them work. This team here, we get really careless. We play high-risk basketball."

And often not smart basketball, like when you're having a horrendous shooting night and still decide that shooting is the best route to travel in order to help your team win.

"There's nothing you can do about that," Holiday said of his five-point performance. "In the fourth [quarter] I know that I'm going to have the ball and I know I want to make that play. I didn't know I took that many shots until I came [into the locker room]. I just tried to be aggressive. I know that B.J. [assistant coach Brian James] has told me a lot of times that for us to win they need me to score. I was just trying to score and obviously down the stretch coach has all the faith in me."

Collins tried to get Holiday on track, taking him out for short rest periods and taking him off the ball for a bit in the fourth quarter in favor of Turner. Nothing helped.

"He struggled and he's the head of our snake," said center Spencer Hawes. "He's what propels us, and not only scoring but making plays as well. When he's having a tough night it has a trickle-down effect."