Believe it or not, this picture was taken a couple of years ago, not during a Knicks practice prior to Mike D'Antoni's departure. Jeremy Lin will bring his mismatched collection of stars/superstars/fading stars and bit players to the WFC tonight to take on the Sixers in an Atlantic Division showdown.
I hate the Knicks. You hate the Knicks. We really don't need to dig too deeply for motivation in this game, and I'm hoping the same goes for the guys on the floor. Try to lure Melo into playing iso ball. Stay between Tyson Chandler and the hoop. Pressure the hell out of Jeremy Lin. The formula hasn't changed from last Sunday just because they have a new coach. If you want a goal, here it is. A big game from both Evan Turner and Jrue Holiday, just so I can stop reading about how they don't work together.
That's pretty much all I've got on the particulars of this game, so let's spend a second talking about the Knicks. If you've been in a cave since the lockout, this is their season in a nutshell: They stunk up the league, Mike D'Antoni's job was on the line, luck put Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire on the shelf at the same time Jeremy Lin was forced into the starting lineup. They won six games in a row, all of a sudden, they were title contenders and Lin was the MVP. Anthony and Stoudemire came back. The Knicks stopped defending. Mike D'Antoni got the ax. Mike Woodson took over, Melo and Stoudemire started actually trying (not because they care about winning, but because they care about how they look, and by playing good now, they can show everyone they weren't the problem, D'Antoni was, when clearly everyone was and still is the problem).
So now Mike Woodson has taken over and the meme out to the media is that Woodson is finally letting the Knicks' "superstars" be superstars. In the blink of an eye, the talking heads around the league have gone from praising Jeremy Lin as the savior to the comfortable perch of there are only a few legit superstars, and we'll tell you exactly who they are. They've gone so far as to say the Knicks probably won't even re-sign Lin at the end of the season.
Philadelphia can be a hard place to play, but it's really nothing compared to New York. In Philly, basically everyone hates you unless you prove you're the absolute best and/or you achieve some success by working harder than everyone else, and by working harder, I mean hustling when you're on the floor. In New York, the pain doesn't come from being hated by everyone, it comes from having the brightest spotlight in the world shining on you - even if you haven't really completely earned it - and then in the blink of an eye, it's gone. Vanished. You're a king one day, irrelevant the next. The storylines the writers create dominate everything. Anyway, long story short, Jeremy Lin has picked his game up a little bit recently and the Knicks defense has been much better in this four-game winning streak. Melo is still Melo, Amare is still Amare and the Knicks are still what they always were, a sub-.500 team with 500 reporters following them around desperately trying to put a crown on the next guy.
Just go out there and destroy them on national TV tonight, huh?
Tip is at 7pm, on ESPN. Game thread will land around 5.
"A big game from both Evan Turner and Jrue Holiday, just so I can stop reading about how they don't work together."
Has this line of thought become prevalent or something?
I've been seeing it recently. Basically there's only room for one of them to have a good game at a time.
There can be only one, it's a good life philosophy
If you are Scottish and immortal.
As you well now, if it's not scottish, it's crap
Seriously though...I'm not one who buys into 'must wins' unless they are actually the kind of game that ends a season. The sixers season doesn't end if they lose this game. They're still a playoff team, they're still probably ending up winning the division and being the four seed.
However, it would be nice to give a soul crushing beat down to the suddenly 'energetic' Knicks on national television to show the knicks (and possibly the ESPN idiots) that the Knicks still suck...I wouldn't say it's a must, and it's not even a need, but it's close, I think.
You can't lose 4 of your last 5 with your only win being against the Bobcats (who you let stay in the game a bit too long)...
It seems like the playoff standings have given the Sixers a false sense of where they are at the past few seasons.
For their last 3 playoff appearances they would not have made the playoffs at all had they been in the Western conference with the same record. Now they are "Leading the Atlantic" when in reality, they are also tied for the 6th seed.
They are a 6th seed caliber team. that is not in itself a bad thing- but it should be from that mindset that they make decisions regarding the franchise. I feel like they believe they are a "good" team, when their record over the past few years has consistently said they are an average team that is now slightly above average.
If rthey were in the NFL or MLB they would not be a playoff team. And they need to start approaching their future with that mindset.
If rthey were in the NFL or MLB they would not be a playoff team. And they need to start approaching their future with that mindset.
That's not entirely correct. If they were leading their division but had the sixth best record in the NFL they'd still make the playoffs (8-8 teams winning the division make the playoffs over 10-6 teams sometimes)
The sixers are winning their division, possibly the worst division in the NBA, and thus that adds to a false sense of where you are.
Yeah, you are correct. The 8-8 team that makes the playoffs from the NFC West is probabaly the better analogy.
The main difference is that in the NFL a slightly above average team can catch lightning in a bottle and win it all. That never happens in the NBA.
And in MLB the wild card has won the world series more than they probably should have (i remember one run, like 4 years in a row the world series winner was the wild card)...The NBA plays out more 'to form' than most it seems, but I see your analogy.
The sixers are mediocre, but hey, they were mediocre before Eddie Jorda, they were mediocre after Eddie Jordan
But that's what we were promised - continuity
Blog (with photo): Schedule-maker could be helping Sixers this week:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/sports_columnists/tom_moore/sixers-have-shot-to-take-advantage-of-schedule/article_ffec1226-31fd-5a3e-a3bc-281b2bbe6e4b.html
It is a shame that basketball teams can't be built slowly over time like in basebal. It seems like in the NBA you either have 'it" or you don't... and the "it" typically is a difference making player.
The prime example is the Bulls since 2004: http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/
They tried to build the "Baby Bulls" to a contender and ended up much like the Sixers in that they had some success- peaking at 49 wins and a second round appearance. then a few injuries and they were back in the lottery. But once they added a truly elite player in Rose the hard ceiling was removed.
That could have been the Sixers had their #2 pick come in a better year, but that is water under the bridge.
Sorry to be a bit of a broken record, but this season has lost any compelling interest. For a while it was really interesting to see if/why the Sixers could sustain an elite pace. But now that it is clear that "they are who we thought the were"- a bit above average- it is hard to get excited for the playoffs or to think of a clear way for them to break through to become a contender. Worse yet, they very well could lock themselves in another 5 year cycle of mediocrity if they add a "good player" or start locking up their "young core" to a bunch of 8-10M deals over the coming years.
I guess this is where other sports have it over the NBA. There is more reason for hope, since you can turn around a franchise quicjker. In the NBA you need a great draft pick or rare mega trades fro superstars to really effect a change.
Well see, there's still interest to me because I was more interested in player progression and such than overall record. There's things to watch (though none of them are encouraging to me at this point) if you are focused on player development.
I admit - I only listened to the second half of the bobcats game that was still being played after I got home from work, I was balancing the books and prepping dinner
The player development would be more interesting if they were actually developing. I'm not one who blames Collins for holding guys back (although that could be a part of it.) I just don't think Thad, Jrue and ET have very high ceilings.
That does not mean I want to trade them. But its not like early in the careers of Barkley and AI when you could tell these guys were really special talents. That was exciting. Probably more exciting then when they actually found some success.
Well that's where we differ (in a couple way)
1. I'm impressed with Thad's development this season cause I didn't think he could improve much more over last season - defensive improvement good - rebounding still needs work but there's hope
2. I probably think Jrue has higher upside than you do and i DO think Collins is interfering in it in his short term goal to work on his career won loss record
This is a "must win" for the KNICKS if they want a shot at the division crown. Looks like a sellout - just tried to get tickets through the website and none were available (at least not in groups of 2).
They did this special for Brian so he won't miss her come baseball season.
Comcast SportsNet Sixers sideline reporter Meredith Marakovits has been named the New York Yankees’ clubhouse reporter for the YES Network. She will be part of Yankees’ telecasts, pregame and postgame shows, and the “Yankees Batting Practice Today” show. Marakovits will also appear on additional Yankees programming and will contribute to YESNetwork.com.
Her last game with the Sixers is in early April. Doesn't give them much time to find a new sideline chick.
They'll probably just go back to Dei for the rest of the season.
Seems that being the sixers sideline person is a good stepping stone - the one before meredith is now working on TV in LA (and she's a NY Giants fan, so good riddance to her)
The one before her (Jaime Maggio) was drop dead gorgeous (especially in person) and now works for CBS. You can see her at a lot of these NCAA tournament games. I'm hoping for a step back in that direction. Not hard to get more attractive than MM.
My only concern with sideline reporters is that they understand what they're talking about, I realize that networks (and other fans) have other hiring qualifications
miami close to signing turiaf
Figures. Doubt he plays much there.
Oh god, the game is on ESPN
Tebow is in New York
This broadcast WILL be annoying
Any thoughts on Boris Diaw? He is getting bought out by the Bobcats as we speak.
I know he has been completely out of shape and horrible this year, but going forward he might be an intriguing bench player. He can play multiple positions and i really think he can help as a bench player for a contender. I am just not sure he will be in a good enough shape to contribute this season.
Even if he was in shape, he isn't the type of guy the Sixers need. Soft defender, and his value on the offensive end really comes from the ability to run the offense through him out on the floor at PF/C.
I agree that his skillset is not really what the team needs, but to me he is a guy to keep an eye on in case the Sixers decide to make some additional moves.
He is still only 29 so he should have plenty of ball left in him considering that he doesn't really depend on athleticism.
Sounds exactly like the "ball friendly" type of player they want...
Yes, but they aren't fit for this company :)
Comment spammers have a special spot in hell reserved for them.
I was wondering where Tommy went :)
Only way to really beat the content spammers is to have a more thorough login account system. I'm betting you don't want to do such a thing?
tommy will be visiting spamlaws.org from now on. Unfortunately, it looks like spamlaws.org sold out. Oh well.
i asked about JJ Hickson the other night but didn't see if anyone responded. i don't know how he fell off so far to the point of being waived, but if i were the Sixers i'd at least take a look
They should. They won't.
No one can sign him to a long term deal until the off season, and he wouldn't help now...maybe signing him in the off season makes sense...right now he's less helpful than sam young
he had 8.7 rebounds in 28 minutes a game last season
Brian, man...hahahha such a well written post. i appreciate Depressed Fan. Thanks, man.