The Sixers did an excellent job on Deron Williams and somehow overcame a terrible defensive rebounding effort to come away with a double-digit win over the slumping Utah Jazz. Andre Iguodala took advantage of a cupcake matchup with rookie Gordon Hayward "covering" him. Pretty close to a complete game for the Sixers to push their home record up to 13-7.
Charts
Thoughts
- It would be really helpful if Igudoala would attack mismatches like this for the rest of the season. He smelled blood in the water early and basically made Hayward look helpless all night.
- Brand started hot, but cooled as the night went on.
- The Millsap/Al Jefferson duo in Utah's front court is extremely soft. I can see why Sloan is at his wit's end with his current roster.
- Jrue had another underwhelming offensive game (3/12 from the floor), but I thought his defense was excellent in this game. He pressured Williams, almost never lost him, cut off his drives to the hoop and even played the pick-and-roll well. If slowing Williams down was the defensive focus for this game, Jrue has to get the lion's share of the credit for accomplishing that goal.
- Lou had an inefficient 20 off the bench, Brand finished with an inefficient 19. The offensive rebounding was the only thing that kept the Sixers heads above water in terms of offensive efficiency.
- The .500 at 50 games goal is still alive, barely. It would take a 7-0 run over their next 7 games. They have three games against +.500 teams over that stretch: Denver at home, NYK at home and NYK on the road.
- With the Knicks 6th consecutive loss last night, the Sixers moved within 4 games of the #6 seed. They're all alone in 7th right now.
Player of The Game: Iguodala. 8/10 from the floor for 22 points.
Team Record: 18-25
Up Next: vs. PHO, tomorrow
Game capsule
It just didn't make sense to me why they had Hayward covering Iggy when they had Raja Bell on Meeks. But great job attacking the mismatch. Essentially attacking mismatches is our best shot when we don't have an explosive scorer. (Lou is the closest thing, if only he'd attack the rim more instead of overdribbling on the perimeter and chucking up long jumper after long jumper)
iggy does this frequently. maybe its a confidence thing or just simply false bravado, but when he has a sap on him, he goes right at them and won't settle for jumpers. when there's a star (or something resembling one) on him, he'll defend like mad but settle for those awful jab step jumpers he so rarely makes. while i'm sure most good players do well against inferior competition, iggy's faults as a ball handler are positively glaring when he goes up against a respectable defender. he simply cannot create offense other than those jab step jumpers against anyone who can stay in front of him. he'll eat paul pierce's lunch on the defensive end, then go 2-11 on the other side (12/22 against boston).