Pick Your Poison: Parker or Palmer

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The Sixers ran into the dynamic duo of Tony Parker and Violet Palmer on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. It's tougher to say which of the two played a more pivotal role in the Spurs 100-90 victory over the Sixers.

To his credit, Parker was pretty nasty, scoring 37 points on 12-24 from the field while shooting an impressive 13-13 from the line. The guy who puts up with the "Evvvvvva!" chants on a nightly basis made more free throws than the entire Sixers team attempted. That's where Violet Palmer and tonight's refereeing crew came into play.

While the Sixers often struggle to get to the free throw line in general, they received some rather unequal treatment against the San Antonio. The Spurs shot 21-26 from the stripe, more than doubling the Sixers 7-11 in freebies. That was pretty much the difference in this one.

Asked about the incredible foul disparity on the evening following the game, Coach Collins didn't want to have to break out the wallet had he been honest.

"I'm gonna leave that alone, respectfully," Coach Collins said. "Unless you want to talk to my wife about a fine."

He didn't have to expand. We all know he felt similarly to the 18,000 fans in the building.

The refs were tough to overcome, but give the Spurs credit. They're obviously a savvy team and Parker used his explosive quickness to get his teammates open looks all night long. The Sixers young bigs struggled to help out on D and allowed 54 points in the paint. Lots of mistakes, but fixable mistakes.

Jrue had his hands full with Parker all night long and the vet got the better of the youngster this evening. "He's crafty, low to the ground and does well in tight spaces," Jrue said of Parker. "When he slides through spots, it's pretty tough for anyone to defend."

It wasn't the Sixers' night. While they were not the better team on Wednesday, it wasn't for a lack of effort, which can be viewed as one of the lone takeaways from this one.

Back at it on Friday night in front of another L.A. team that goes by "Lob City" these days.

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