76ers coach Brett Brown: 'Everything we're doing is about winning'

With a breakthrough against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, the Philadelphia 76ers tasted victory for the first time this season. 

And while they lost to a healthy Oklahoma City Thunder squad just two days later, they hung tough, played up to the challenge, and now find themselves on a mere one-game losing streak. They'll have to lose another 16 in a row to return to the depths from whence they emerged. 

Head coach Brett Brown is looking to set the record straight once and for all about those pervasive tanking allegations as he rallies his troops around an altogether alien concept: winning. 

"Everything we're doing is about winning," Brown told ESPN's SportsCenter on Friday morning. "I coach to win. I talk about winning. We plan to win. We prepare to win. I get why (tanking) comes up, but it's not even close."

With the 3-16 Detroit Pistons (on a 10-game losing streak of their own) lying in wait, the 76ers have a halfway decent shot at making it two wins in three games. But they're trying not to get too far ahead of themselves. 

"The big picture is to get better and start with defense first and continue to progress," said rookie power forward Nerlens Noel. "We are a young team, average age is like 23. So we are coming along, we are getting better every game.

"We just got our first win and we gave one of the top three teams in the NBA a pretty good game. So it speaks for itself, and we'll just continue to get better and better."

The defense has indeed been much improved; after ranking 26th in the league a season ago, the Sixers now rank 17th on that end - firmly in the middle of the pack. And three of their losses have come by three points or less, so a few more lucky bounces could've made their record look far more respectable. The front office might have its own endgame in mind, but it's hard to accuse the players - or their coach - of not trying to win. 

"The challenges are all over the place, said Brown. "From trying to grow the team, to make sure they don't feel deflated, that they feel good about themselves. ... But I love it. Even though what I know now, with two draft picks not playing this year, I'd take this job 50 times out of 50 times."