When the Sixers play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight, for two-and-a-half hours I plan on forgetting all about the previous 35 games, the remaining 30, the race for home-court advantage in the East, the team's long-term cap situation and really anything other than what's happening on the court. Specifically, what's happening with two superb matchups.
The Sixers have the #1 defense in the league thanks mostly to the play of Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday. The Thunder have the #2 offense in the league, thanks mostly to the play of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. You've got the premiere wing defender in the league locking horns with the two-time reigning scoring champ. At the same time, you've got who I believe is the best defensive PG taking on probably the second-best scoring PG in the league. Durant is very much a jump shooter, Iguodala's strength lies in forcing opponents out further than they want to be on the floor, then contesting shots at the last second. Westbrook's offensive game is built around penetration, Jrue is second-to-none in on-the-ball defense in isolation. This is the test for all four of these guys. In a team game, you rarely get one matchup of pure strength on pure strength, let alone two. This is going to be a battle.
The parallels don't stop there. The Thunder come in with probably the leader in the 6th-man of the year award, James Harden. The Sixers boast a pair of guys who could challenge for the award in Lou Williams and Thad Young. Daequan Cook vs. Jodie Meeks, another mathcup of similar players. Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end. While the Sixers rely on Elton Brand's defense up front (when he's able to provide it), and a couple of rookies to fill up the rest of the minutes, the Thunder sport a tremendous shotblocker in Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins who at the very least knows how to defend and takes up a ton of space, and off the bench they have Nick Collison, possibly the best big in the league at defending the pick-and-roll (now that Al Horford is on the shelf).
The Thunder have three guys who can, and will, take turns carrying the offense. I believe Jrue and Iguodala can at least slow Durant and Westbrook down. They'll get their points, but their efficiency will be down. I'm not sure who handles Harden, though. It's not going to be Lou, it can't. Collins is going to have to rely on either Jrue or Iguodala to take Harden when he's on the floor for either Durant or Westbrook. If all three are out there, I don't think Collins has any choice but to play Iguodala, Jrue and Turner if he wants to match up with them. On the other hand, I've watched a bunch of OKC games this season and if Harden has an Achilles heel, it's his one-on-one defense. He's absolutely terrible at stopping penetration, so maybe you attack that with Lou, see if Lou is hot, and then hope Lou can out-score him.
One thing to watch for is the Westbrook/Durant pick-and-pop/roll way out on the floor. Typically, the Sixers switch when this happens, and against most teams they can afford to do that because Jrue and Iguodala are pretty interchangeable in most matchups. Against these two guys, though, they can't get away with it. Westbrook is too quick for Iguodala off the dribble, and Durant is just too long for Jrue to contend with. KD will just shoot over him. If Westbrook is handling the ball, Jrue needs to go under the screen so they don't need to switch. If Durant is handling, Iguodala needs to fight over, which he should be able to do.
A couple things playing in the Sixers favor. None of the OKC bigs has a post game to speak of. Ibaka has a decent mid-range jumper, but Perkins and Collison are basically pick-setters and opportunists on the offensive end. The bigs can provide help to the perimeter guys. Defensively, OKC is pretty much league average. They'll give up points. Finally, last night against the Pistons, the Sixers were able to force turnovers and get out in the open floor. The Thunder turn the ball over at an alarming rate. Durant and Westbrook both cough the ball up with great regularity (Harden takes much better care of the ball), and the OKC bigs are veritable turnover machines. If the Sixers stay active in the passing lanes and throw timely traps at the Thunder, they should be able to get their transition game going, and those easy points could make the difference.
Tonight's game is huge beyond being a great matchup. The Pistons game was reminiscent of their early-season thrashings of the league's bottom feeders. A win tonight, on the second night of a back-to-back against one of the best teams in the league would swing the momentum completely. The 2-7 finish to the first half would be a a distant memory and maybe, just maybe, we could start to believe again.
It's a tall order against a very, very good team, but a team the Sixers have played very tough over the past two seasons (the Thunder have won all four, but the games were close, save one two years ago), and also a team whose strength (perimeter scoring) can be offset by the Sixers strength (perimeter defense).
The tip is at 7pm. Game thread will land around 5pm. And remember, no Turner talk in the comments today. It's a Leap Day special.
Kevin Durant has a 7'5 wingspan and can shoot with a quick release and little space. I hope he has a bad shooting day.
Second chance buckets worry me. Ibaka and Perkins are physical players, Vucevic and Lavoy need to step up.
Offensively, I wonder if the Sixers will be able to get to the rim. Ibaka has been averaging 3.2 block per game.
You're assuming the Sixers want to get to the rim :)
Have to score in the paint, a lot, to beat the THunder
Many things about this game concern me, and I don't expect the sixers to win, but John Hollinger had some things to say about 'how' to beat the Thunder 9 days ago
It's insider only, one weakness is points in the paint, the thunder can give up a lot - though not sure the sixers can take advantage of that sadly.
Thunder are bottom ten in defensive rebounding rate
They have a possession disparity not in their favor, they turn the ball over at a league worst turnover rate.
Usually though Westbrook and or Durant shoot the team to a win, so it'll come down to defense on them, and truly efficient offense
I'm wondering if the points in the paint is a direct relation to the high turnover rate. Turnovers = transition hoops, which come in the paint. Obviously, not all the points come off turnovers, but the transition hoops off turnovers account for the delta that makes them allow more pitp than average.
The article indicated that ibakas love of trying to block shots might be a reason too, when he goes to block some shots he is out of position.
If you haven't read the article, it's through the prism of that OT game against the nuggets where the thunder played out of their mind (11 blocks?, westbrook and durant both scoring quite a lot of points) and it was still close.
It's a good read to me, but I think the sixers lack the pieces to take full advantage (especially in the paint) of the thunder, so what it will be instructive to see how far they are from competing seriously with the upper echelon, I think.
Yeah, this is a great matchup in so many ways. The things that i will definitely put an eye on are:
- Durant is great at drawing shooting fouls. Iguodala is a great defender with a very very low foul rate.
- Harden vs. last years no.2 pick. Similar expectations going into their NBA careers. Similar starts as pros. Will the similarities continue?
- Will Vucevic be able to score over Perkins who is a very good post defender to say the least.
- Can Young be effective against Ibaka and Collison. This is a major test for him after a very good game last night. Ibaka especially has some similarities defensively to Joel Anthony.
- Can the Sixers stay even close in the FT battle?
Thunder 91-Sixers 77. Ibaka with 5 plus blocks. Westbrook with over 25 pts. Jrue will disappear against an elite PG like he has on so many other nights.
What basketball team do you root for. It's clear you have no positive things to say about the sixers.
lol
I hope he disappears like he did against Derrick Rose tonight.
But Rose had a bad back.
Damnit, forgot that excuse. My bad.
Just this once, it is leap day.
Andre Miller, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, Jameer nelson ---all had incredible nights against JRUE.
You guys talk about him like hes some major lockdown defender and hes just not. Iguodola--absolutely. Not Jrue.
You going to bring up ONE game against a under the weather Derrick rose ?
Cmon. Stats don't lie.
He's playing the most minutes (statistic) on the league's leading defense (statistically) that specializes in Perimeter D.
Those aren't stats, those are player names. The stats say Jrue has been an amazing defender this season, because he has been. And as you said, stats don't lie.
Statistics do not lie.
People do
People abuse statistics
And those who do not know what statistics are refer to them when they are not being used in the slightest.
Would you even know how to find the statistics that Jrue has been a good or bad defender this year (I will give you a hint, it is not in the box score of a given game)
OK so maybe you guys can educate me. If the player Jrue is guarding puts up insane numbers when he is guarding them how is that NOT on Jrue ? Which stats tell you jrue had some great lockdown night against any of the guys I mentioned. Lets take Tony Parker and Deron Williams. Was Jrue lockdown by holding parker under 60 points ? Help me understand. Playing great games against the wizards and pistons doesnt mean squat.
If you look back, I actually broke down exactly what Deron Williams did when Jrue was guarding him, and when someone other than Jrue was guarding him. If you look at the Denver game, Jrue spent more time on Ty Lawson than on Miller. Chris Paul had about 18 points on 18 shots before Iguodala was switched on to him. Parker had a great game, it happens. He's been doing it to everyone this year.
Looking at the box score and seeing how many points the opposing PG scored isn't statistical analysis. And ignoring roughly 85% of the games a guy has played and focusing on 15% doesn't seem very sound.
How come when Danny Granger scores 7 points its ALL credit to Iguodola(no mention of another defender possibly picking granger up at times or about team defense) but when Jrues man scores 35 or has a +24(I believe that was Kidd) against him its somehow NOT his fault ?
Maybe because Iguodala did defend him the whole time, that is a possibility. Do the research
You make baseless claims without supporting evidence, when your baseless claims are contradicted with actual facts, you change the argument.
Tell me again, what makes you not a troll?
just because I differ from your opinion doesn't make mine any less valid. Just different. I dont have to act like all the Sixers are these elite players just because some of you think they are. Try having your own opinion, you may like it.
Your opinion has no validity because it's not supported by FACTS. Your opinion is not worth the paper it is written on. An opinion without supporting facts is usually a wrong opinion. If it were accurate you could find facts to support it. Brian presented you with facts that contradicted your original opinion so you changed what your opinion was so you could try and make another baseless unsupported by facts point.
Learn the difference between opinions and fact. Learn how to support your opinion with actual facts. If you do not, why should anyone take you as any more than a troll?
i think gosixers mention it earlier in the comments but use ibaka's strength(shot blocking) as his weakness, since he goes for every block, pump fake him or grab the offensive rebound when he leaves his man
also something to keep an eye, ibaka sometimes wags his finger after a block like dikembe mutombo did which is considered taunting, i haven't seen him called for it though
You can wag your finger at the crowd, but not at the player whose shot you just blocked. I think that's the rule now.
ok thanks for clearing that up
What basketball team do you root for. It's clear you have no positive things to say about the sixers.