Blazers Embarrass Philly In the Fourth

use·less      /ˈyuslɪs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[yoos-lis] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective

1.	of no use; not serving the purpose or any purpose; unavailing or futile: It is useless to reason with him.

2.	without useful qualities; of no practical good: a useless person; a useless gadget.

See Also: Rodney Carney

The Philadelphia 76ers were flat out embarrassed in the fourth quarter of tonight's 97-72 loss in Portland. The Trailblazers extended their winning streak to 13 games, snapped the Sixers at 3 and made just about every member of the Sixers team lose his cool. 4 technicals were called amid the 35-9 drubbing in the fourth. Yes, the refs were probably bad, but not that bad. You can't blame anyone but yourself when something like this happens. The Sixers need to take a look in the mirror, and Mo Cheeks especially needs to take a long look at his rotation now that Kyle Korver is gone.

I can only hope either Willie Green returns tomorrow night, Gordan Giricek is inserted into the starting lineup immediately or Thad Young is moved up in the rotation and given the nod, because Rodney Carney is absolutely useless. You can't blame this one him, but he certainly didn't help things. The ironic thing is that this was one of his better games of the year. He scored 11 quick points, while the starting lineup dug a deep hole in the first quarter. When Jason Smith, Lou Williams and Thad Young were inserted into the game, the Sixers went on a run and took the lead. They held the lead through the third, barely surviving a run by the Blazers when the starting lineup came back in. When the subs returned later in the third, the lead ballooned to 11.

Then, for some reason I cannot fathom, Mo went right back to the starters for the 4th. 6 minutes later, a 1-point lead had turned into a 17-point deficit and the Sixers still hadn't scored a single point. Rodney Carney was in the middle of so many negative plays, I don't have the time to list them out one by one. Carney has no business being in the NBA, he certainly has no business being in the starting lineup, at the very least, Mo needs to realize that he has no business even sniffing the floor for crunch time. He and Reggie Evans should change into street clothes after the third every single night.

It's off to Seattle, which I'm told is the Emerald City, tomorrow night for the third game of this trip. If the Sixers want it to be a successful trip, tomorrow night is a must-win.

Player of The Game: Giricek, for having the common sense to remain in street clothes.
Team Record: 13-17