I'm sick of 1-8 teams.
I'd love to say the Sixers played a horrible game tonight, but in all honesty,
they didn't play that poorly. Of all the things that would've sunk the Sixers against the T-Wolves tonight, I never thought it would be their interior defense, but that's what did it. Al Jefferson you can understand, the guy is a beast and he's got more moves than he knows what to do with in the low post. You can live with his 25 points. Ryan Gomes and Craig Smith, however, cannot hit for 35 points against you. Alas, they did.
Honestly, the Sixers didn't play a bad game defensively. I thought their doubles were crisp and came at the right time (except for the killer one, check after the jump for the skinny). They didn't leave the shooters open, for the most part. They controlled the glass.
On offense, they shot 47% from the floor, although they went through a couple long scoreless droughts, and only scored 13 in the third. They were a pitiful 1/11 from three and a completely unacceptable 15/23 from the line (Iguodala was 4/9 from the line.) Those are really the only two negative numbers on offense. They took care of the ball, 15 turnovers is acceptable. They grabbed 11 offensive boards. In fact, I didn't think their execution down the stretch on offense was particularly bad (more on this after the jump as well.)
This game came down to the effort put in by those three big men for Minnesota, and the Sixers' inability to stop them. Plain and simple.
Much more after the jump.
As decided earlier today in the comments, I tracked the Sixers' defensive double teams. I disregarded doubles resulting from screens and Reggie Evans' spaz doubles at half court. These are the doubles which happened with some thought and for some reason.
- Al Jefferson in the post: Thad leaves Mike Miller to double down (Jefferson misses forced shot) BAD never leave Miller
- Al Jefferson in the post: Brand helps from the middle of the floor (Gomes is fouled after receiving an interior pass) GOOD, bad help from weak side, though.
- Rashad McCants at about the foul line: Brand doubles from weak side (Wide open layup) BAD, why would you double McCants with Iguodala on him?
- Gomes in the post: Evans helps (Brewer hits wide-open jumper) BAD, no need to help Brand in that situation, although Brewer is the guy you want to leave open.
- Mike Miller in the corner: Speights comes to help and trap (turnover) EXCELLENT, Speights read the situation perfectly and caused a turnover.
- Jefferson in the post: Iguodala leaves Mike Miller (Miller drains the three) BAD, do not double off Miller.
- Jefferson in the post: Brand comes from inside to help (Collins misses layup) GOOD, the lane was clogged, forced Collins into a tough shot instead of giving Jefferson an easy one.
- Jefferson in the post: Andre Miller helps early off of Foye (Missed layup) GOOD, help came early and was effective.
- Jefferson in the post: Andre Miller comes early again (Turnover) EXCELLENT.
- Jefferson on the wing: Thad comes before Jefferson gets anywhere near the hoop, leaves Miller. (Miller drains a wide-open three) HORRIBLE, this was the game. It pushed a 1-point lead to 4 and there was no reason for it. Jefferson would've had to shoot an 18-footer or take Sammy off the dribble. No need to double, especially no need to leave Miller.
Looking back, maybe they should've used Andre to double down on Jefferson more than they did. Jefferson never scored against the double, and the Sixers were really only burned by it three times, the last one being the dagger.
I tracked one more thing at the end of the game. With 3:15 left on the clock, the Sixers pulled to within 90-89. Here are their offensive possessions from that point on.
- Miller, drive to the hoop - Layup good.
- Brand, jumper from the elbow - Miss (good shot)
- Iguodala jumper in the lane - Fouled, made 1/2.
- Miller tough jumper - Good from 17.
- Iguodala forced three, missed, Brand with the offensive rebound and put-back.
- Iguodala forced three - Missed, desperation.
7 points on their final 6 possessions, with a missed free throw in there. That's not bad execution, the T-Wolves just did better.
Some random notes to finish this thing up:
- Mo used offense/defense subs in the final minute and a half of the game. This is the first time I can remember him using this.
- Rush and Marshall should've been on the floor for that final possession when the score was 100-96. Worst-case, they spread the floor and someone gets an easy drive to the hoop. Best-case, they drain a three. Willie was in there instead.
- Thad was all over the place in the first half, disappeared in the second. They even called a play for him in the post early on and he scored on a beautiful hook, never called another for him.
- Lou was much improved tonight, although his stat line doesn't really say so. I especially like his dish to Speights for a dunk.
- Thad had back-to-back sick assists, the better of the two being a drive on the baseline and a lob to Sammy for the jam.
- Iguodala + Brand = 15/36 (41.7%)
- Thad + Miller = 15/24 (62.5%)
- I really wish the Sixers could've found a way to get Mike Miller, his line tonight: 4/7 from the floor, 2/4 from 3, 10 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals.
- Iguodala's line was impressive, if you don't count the shooting stats: 17 points, 9 boards (4 offensive), 6 assists, 2 steals.
- First one to 100 wins.
Player of The Game: Miller
Team Record: 5-6 (get over .500 already)
Up Next: The Clips, @ home on Friday night.
+/-: The
spreadsheet is updated. Tonight's top performer was Ivey (+3), worst was Willie (-9)
Looks like the double teams aren't what did us in after all.
What kills me about last night’s game is that I can’t stop feeling that we continually shot ourselves in the foot. I must have groaned about 20 times throughout the game.
Obviously, missing all those free throws really hurt. Beyond that though, it seemed like every turnover, even though there weren’t a ridiculous amount of them in total, was absolutely a killer. That opening stretch at the beginning of the 4th quarter was particularly aggravating. The Wolves get called for a moving screen and we get called for a moving screen (Sammy) on the other end. Next, the Wolves have a wing player step out of bounds and we follow that up by having our wing player (Willie) step out of bounds.
Even with the game that Jefferson (and Smith) had, we had our chances. However, instead of capitalizing on the Wolves mistakes, we just turned around and gave the ball right back to them.
The final insult to all this injury was seeing Jefferson and Miller win the game doing exactly what we had hoped to see Brand and SOMEBODY do for us, which is make the opposition pick their poison between a big man down low or a shooter on the wing. I keep hoping that we will see the Sixers put the shoe on the other foot and start doing this to other teams very soon.
That play that ended the game, with Miller hitting the three, that's exactly what I want Thad and EB to run. Instead, they still insist on clearing the entire side of the floor for EB when he gets the ball in the post, doesn't make much sense. Minny wasn't doubling him last night, though. He just couldn't hit his shots.
I actually started watching the game exactly when it turned. It was 21-10 and iggy missed four consecutive free throws. It should have been 25-12 instead it was 21-12 and minny scored 8 more straight. Then Miller sat down and the whole thing went to crap. Why was it so difficult for the sixers to defend the pick and roll? Where was the adjustment? I'm baffled.
I think the problem is that they're too rigid, which may have something to do with youth/low basketball IQ (Sammy).
For example, when Randy Foye is running the pick and roll, there's no reason to switch, you don't even really have to fight over the screen. You can go under the screen and give him the open three, he isn't a very good shooter from distance.
There are some tandems where you're in a tough position because the guard is an excellent shooter and the big is either a great shooter, or a great target rolling to the hoop. That's not the case with either Foye or Telfair running the point. That automatic double off the pick and roll caused problems that they really didn't need to cause. I'd like to see the big just show on the other end of the screen, then get back to his man instead of doubling so aggressively and forcing the entire defense into a desperation rotation all over the floor.
Al Jefferson is the player I thought Elton Brand was. After watching Brand now for 10 games I realize hes nowhere near as good as Jefferson.
Sixers didnt play horribly but lets be honest here....the wolves are 1-8...and the Sixers lost to them. The fact that they didnt win is horrendous enough. Still looking for evidence that this is a playoff team...They have ONE win against a quality team. Indiana. Toronto had no Calderon...and thats huge for them.
Jefferson has a ton of moves on offense, and he looks better down in the post, but I wouldn't say he's a better player than Brand. Brand's shot hasn't been falling, but he's the complete package. Al doesn't defend like Brand, and I think Brand's mid-range game is better as well.
Couple things:
Besides the blind optimism, you've become a really good blogger. All the stats and game tape stuff is great.
Gomes and Smith aren't bad. I mean, 35 combined is a little much, but it's not like, "oh my god, how did you not stop these two scrubs" bad.
Thanks.
Coming into last night, Smith and Gomes were averaging a combined 16.4 points/game. They more than doubled that, no one else really did more than their average that's why I pointed at the production from those two spots as the difference maker. I think Smith killed the Sixers in that game after the break last year too.