The Nets start three players who have absolutely no business starting for an NBA team. The Sixers start two, at the most. Advantage Sixers!
Before we get to the lineups, I'd like to thank the geniuses at the NBA who make the schedules one more time. Yet again, the Sixers have the second night of a back-to-back at home (negating the homecourt advantage), and yet again, the team they're playing on the second night has extra rest.
- PG: Jrue Holiday vs. Devin Harris
- SG: Evan Turner vs. Anthony Morrow
- SF: Andre Iguodala vs. Travis Outlaw
- PF: Elton Brand vs. Kris Humprhies
- C: Spencer Hawes vs. Brook Lopez
Two bones to pick with the Nets front court: (1) Spelling Chris with a K is silly. (2) I really hate getting dominated by a center with a stripper name.
Key to the Game: The interior. Lopez is probably going to have a field day against us, and New Jersey has a ton of active bigs who will crash the offensive glass. If the Sixers can't find a way to at least mitigate their front court disadvantage, this is going to be a loss.
I'm looking forward to seeing Favors play. Troy Murphy is out, so he should get decent minutes up front, and he's the type of guy that's been eating the Sixers alive.
Prediction: PHI 90, NJN 91
This is your game thread, I'll be watching on delay again (last time!), so keep it clean. Maybe Turner will hit a shot tonight, huh?
The Nets apparently are unhappy with Troy Murphy and want to trade him, for no real reason. They're also unhappy with/considering trading Terrence Williams for more understandable reasons. Anyway, Lopez has really struggled for much of this season and could, who knows, continue to do so tonight.
He is an expiring contract and they have no reason to resign him with Lopez and Favors needing playing time.
So they are just benching him until they trade him at the deadline.
Brackins is de-activated in favor of Songaila (because of Lopez), No Kapono again.
Brook Lopez will murder Songaila.
Pregame video: Doug Collins on the Sixers' resiliency, Jodie Meeks, playing fourth game in five nights:
http://ow.ly/3giA5
Evan looks horrible again
Sweet turn-around by Andre there.
Really nice start for Jrue, although I'm not crazy about that foul that he gave to Lopez. Not smart. He looks like he could have a big night though.
Turner is not a post-up player. I have no idea why they are trying to get him going by doing that.
Jrue looks very motivated and is aggressive. Nice.
Heat check Jrue.
Jrue and Dre are playing great. Maybe Jodie can shake free for a few looks here.
win. tonight. please.
Just don't put Lou in and let him stunt the flow.
Come on, where's the foul on Andre there? wow
Terrible call. Thad was standing there forever.
Alright, it's about time for Jrue to get Lou, and AI9 to get Nocioni or Thad.
Couple of bad shots there. ugh.
we have pissed away a nice lead in the span of a few minutes
We have given them so many free throws and points near the cup. It was bound to catch up to us and lose the lead.
Evan with the behind the back hesitation. Smooth.
Doesn't sound right to say this but we are down 2 at the half. We should be up double digits easy. They had that one bad lull where they gave up something like 11 straight and the early trips they sent NJ to the line.
Worth mentioning - the crowd is a nice turnout. Hadn't seen this many since maybe the opening game.
turner's great rebounding seems to have gone out the window the past couple of games. Well at least he's taken 5 shots at the half.
Good timeout Doug. Down seven now. Sub some guys in please. Change it up coach.
Yeah Dre. Way to hustle and leak out a few times.
And we miss 3 straight freebies. phew
Must I say Spencer Hawes. Some positive contributions. lol
Bad shot Hawes.
We should be blowing these guys out, yet we're tied.
Much better on-court chemistry tonight.
Thad with 2 quick buckets.
Wait. Hawes is +10?
Battie time.
Thad's has a rhythm right now.
Just take Lou out and put Jodie in. Keep Jrue out there though.
ANdre for 3! Let's go guys, hold this lead please.
SHit Dre travels forcing the break. ugh
Jrue with a between-the-legs-twice for a lefty lay-in. Nice change of direction.
Lou! With the 3 and foul...
10 pt lead, just finish guys. Thad and Jrue have been huge in this fourth quarter.
Jrue's made some tough shots tonight.
Doug is pumped up over there, and rightfully so. Maybe he can manage to pull some emotion out of some of our guys.
Atta boy Jrue. With the hard attack and swift pass for the assist. Good execution.
We should have won by 30, easy.
If Jrue can be this Jrue every night, we could win a good amount of games. Yeah, he's young, but his game looked effortless tonight. If you make it look that easy, just repeat it.
Loved this game... that was the Thad I want to see. And ofcourse, Jrue was great.
To see Thad returning to form is definately encouraging! With it happening so early...if he can maintain it...point to some great games to come!
Thad's efficiency has been scary offensively. I'm the first person to criticize his faults, but he looks like he has it all figured out offensively.
It's soooo much more enjoyable when we win this year, but WTF was Collins doing blowing kisses to the crowd after the game?
That was just a great all-around effort from everyone. Everyone contributed in their own way. AI9 has strung together some excellent basketball since he came back, even if he's taking too many long twos. Listening to DC's presser, he praised Iggy's leadership after last night's game. His three point stroke looks excellent, he's around 37 percent now.
Jrue was fantastic, only one turnover too, which is what we need from him. He took one or two really bad threes and he still shot 9-16. His midrange game can be deadly.
EB and Battie with nice performances. Good Lou and Good Thad in the 4th quarter too. Thad really had his way with Favors on offense.
This win is the type of win I want to see, good freakin basketball.
So what did DC say about his leading last night after the game?
He said after last nights game 'keep your heads up guy, we're getting close.' Not a huge thing but I think some people think he's completely selfish. I thought it was good to see he's still comitted to being here. I was just joking about the kisses, it was a little goofy though.
And I totally agree on the good freakin basketball. They had 29 assists on 43 made. If that isn't good basketball I don't know what is.
Wasn't Collins blowing them to the troops? Or no? Not really sure, just guessing.
This was the first game I've been able to go to this year, and it was great to see the lineup Collins put in in the 4th quarter dominate. As soon as Battie was inserted, our interior defense and rebounding improved by leaps and bounds, and Thad, Jrue, and Iggy were fantastic offensively. It was a pleasure to watch. I really hope we see that combination (Jrue, Igoudala, Thad, Battie) along with Brand or Lou, depending on the situation, more in the future. Hopefully Collins finally gets the message that as sad as it is, Battie needs to see significantly more minutes.
I'm glad Holiday played well, but Turner... it's like a rookie Darko almost, but with way more playing time. Would anyone like to offer examples of some high draft picks who were this offensively useless early on and amounted to something eventually? The one guy I can think of was Joe Johnson on the Celtics, but he wasn't quite this bad. Actually, his first month in the league was perfectly solid but by January he had tailed off into abysmal play. Rookie Iguodala wasn't extremely productive, but was very efficient. A lot of guards who became big scorers had very inefficient starts to their careers (Wade, B. Gordon, D. Williams), but not, like Turner, extraordinarily nonproductive starts. Deron Williams comes the closest - he was alright in November but had an extremely lousy rookie December. Devin Harris was both unproductive and inefficient in the first couple months of his rookie season, but he didn't play much. Rudy Gay had a pretty quiet start to his career.
38 percent shooting, 9 points, 4 assists per game before the All Star Break of his rookie year
And he spent 3 years at Illinois...
Forgot to name the player! That's Deron Williams
Collins only uses five players in fourth quarter of win over Nets:
http://ow.ly/3glOs
Definitely the best two-game stretch of the season so far. Jrue is the player of the game, obviously, but Thad was probably the player who turned the game with his offense early in the fourth. Best thing about the game was adjustment. I don't know if it was Collins or the players or a combo, but they were fouling so much early on, and they really had no answer for Lopez. I couldn't believe NJ only had 20 FTA at the end of the game. Really clean second half. Good win, enjoyable basketball. If only we could talk the fans out of doing the effing wave.
My wrap will probably land tomorrow afternoon/night. I'm heading home and things will return to normal around here. Thanks for keeping the flame burning in my absence, guys. We've got an Around the Web coming first thing in the morning to hold you over.
The wave was awful. Seemed like a pretty good crowd though, especially for the Nets, who don't strike me as a 'hot ticket.' Lower bowl looked pretty close to full.
Thad was great, but Battie was really the key to the 4th quarter turn around. Before he came in, the lane was wide open for easy drives to the basket. Battie completely shut down the driving lanes and was pretty much the sole reason why the Nets couldn't score when it mattered.
Almost forgot my DeMarcus Cousins update: 3/8 from the floor, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls in 16 minutes of work. This has to be one of the worst all time starts for a big drafted that highly with a decent amount of playing time, no?
I mean, he's making Olowokandi look like Shaq.
I DVR'd and watched the Kings - Clippers game from Thanksgiving night. Thinking that they could be trade partners with the Sixers. Cousins is playing like Speights on O & D. Hopefully, learning the ropes. He does have much softer hands and is more athletic. If he's willing to work and learn, He will be an allstar. I guess that is always the question with him. He is no Olowakandi.