Here we go. 13 days of hell begins in 90 minutes with a home game against the Los Angeles Lakers. This is the toughest stretch of games the Sixers will face this season, tonight they face the defending champions on their home floor. Can they possible start this stretch with a win?
Lineups
- PG: Jrue Holiday vs. Derek Fisher
- SG: Jodie Meeks vs. Kobe Bryant
- SF: Andre Iguodala vs. Ron Artest
- PF: Elton Brand vs. Lamar Odom
- C: Spencer Hawes vs. Pau Gasol
The tip is at 7, I'll be here throughout. Join me if you didn't head down to the WFC to secretly wish Kobe had spent his entire career in Philly like about 15,000 others.
WHat do people think of Bucher reporting us turning down the Portland offer of Batum/Pryz for AI9. That's not an embarrassing lowball offer like the Knicks were doing, but I agree with the Sixers there. Batum is having a tough year too.
I think this is a deal that should of been done, I like batum over iguodala because of their contracts, you lose assists but you hope you gain those assists back by having ET starting. I would like to know what the front office plan is.
Batum Per 36 is pretty close to Iguodala (except assists) and is really young. I thought I've read he's fallen out of favor with McMillan, which is interesting because didn't Minnesota just want him as the centerpiece of a Jefferson deal this Summer, which Portland said absolutely no too? That's a pretty quick 180 on a guy. Pryzbilla is pretty injury prone too, but I don't think it's a terrible deal if they did it.
There was a rumor that Minnh offered the #4 pick for Batum, and Portland said no. I have other thoughts, maybe for a post at some point.
Yup, I thought I had that wrong. That's what it was, the #4 Pick for Batum. I thought I read "untouchable" with him then too.
He certainly isn't the first piece you'd think to move if they're trying to blow things up. I guess Roy is unmovable, but there's Miller and maybe LaMarcus. They should really get out from under LaMarcus if they could.
Bucher also said the sixers turned down redick and gortat but that he thinks the sixers would say yes to VC and gorta
He also said Iguodala 'hated' it in philadlephia now and he doesn't seem to hate it to me
Yeah, I saw that too, and I haven't seen that much elsewhere. He says that he doesn't want to be there, and as I'm watching it I see Cooney talking about how much more at ease AI9 has been this year as compared to last year. I'll take Cooney and Dei Lynam's word rather than Bucher, who is across the country.
God, we were offered Batum and Przybilla for Iguodala? And we turned that down? A very promising young player and an expiring contract - who, by the way, could actually make us better in the short term so that we could get some precious playoff experience (if you're into that)? Maybe we shouldn't trade Iguodala, but if we are thinking about trading him, I doubt you'd get a better offer anywhere.
Also Brian I think you are dead on about Rondo playing too much. I watched him get hurt on Wednesday and that looked really bad. It was ugly enough couldn't watch it after I saw it on the replay the first time. Then he comes back into the game for crunch time in a pretty meaningless game? That's just plain dumb.
"Join me if you didn't head down to the WFC to secretly wish Kobe had spent his entire career in Philly like about 15,000 others."
And I imagine if he did our front office would've screwed it up and his career wouldn't have gone any better than McGrady's. It's not like he's an instant ticket to success, the only times he's ever won he's played with players who had better advanced stats than him. In the post-Shaq, pre-Gasol years, that team was going nowhere
Heresy.
and his career wouldn't have gone any better than McGrady's.
You're right, playing in philadelphia would have given Kobe a bad back and chronic injuries cause everyone knows how good the air is in LA - healing powers
I didn't quite mean that. Kobe would've been durable, and we would've ended up trading him after not doing all that much better than we did with Iverson for 8 or however many years.
I think your comments are foolish as they built a really good team around allen iverson that made the finals and kobe was easier to build around.
And one bounce of the ball the other way you got iverson duncan, i expect you think the sixers would have messed that up too
Alrighty, here comes the tip.
And Hawes loses it. We're off.
Like seeing Jrue drive. Don't like air ball tear drops.
Ugh, don't give the ball to Hawes there, Iguodala.
Well, that was a good look for Jrue. He's just off.
First to score wins.
So they put Iguodala on Kobe and Meeks on Artest. I don't have a problem w/ that. They're trying to run offense through Artest, which is good for us, imo.
Really ugly shooting start.
Another wide open look for Jrue. Have to hit those.
Who knew there were so many transplanted Los Angelinos in Philly?
Wow, this is awful.
Anyone else having problems with their league pass feed? Mine is jumping and skipping.
0/10 from the floor and only down by 8. That's something.
Yea, was getting ready to ask you the same thing.
Put Thad in please.
Guess nocioni will do......
Fucking Nocioni? He's the answer, I guess.
I guess is right.
Noce for Meeks, not a bad move in this spot.
I was hoping for Turner.
I wanted Thad for his willingness to get to the rim.
Sissy Hook!
Eric Snow is a mental midget.
More pressure on the perimeter, please.
Hawes has to do a better job on the defensive glass here.
Smart move by Jackson to go with Odom at point-forward.
Spence w/ the sissy three!
Sick hands, Jrue.
Love it.
Yeah, let's go baby, get some confidence, Dre slams
JRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who had 15-14 game after that start?
Jrue just ate Fisher alive on those two plays.
Three absolutely sick defensive plays by Jrue to fuel this run. Let's go. They're better than you, but they're also older. Make them match your energy.
2 steals, 1 block and three assists for Jrue in the past 2:30 or so.
heh. Kobe doesn't like playing against Iguodala.
Nocioni w/ the blown bunny.
Kobe's crowding Dre. He's gotta try to drive and get into the lane.
Need Good Lou in this stretch, need him very badly.
Good start.
Two buckets and a great contest on Blake.
Sick play by Iguodala, on both ends.
YEs, Dre with the whoop-te-do!
Holy shit.
Man, Lou got his tail up on that one. And gave Kobe a peek before doing it.
That's some energy from Dre and Lou. Lakers uncharacteristically turning the ball over.
HUUUUGE bounce back by the Sixers after that start.
PHI 21, LAL 18 after one.
36 more minutes of that energy, please.
Random fact:
Elton Brand, Lamar Odom, Andre Miller and Ron Artest all taken in the 1999 NBA Draft
GIve a foul there Thad? geez
Don't like this group at all. Not one fucking bit. Lou, Meeks and Nocioni on the perimeter is a very, very limited group on both ends.
Jodie needs to be monitored. If he's off, he doesn't help. Lakers look to double Thad.
No playmakers out there at all. Get Jrue back in right now, please.
Get Jrue back in there.
No offense right now. Waiting too long to get into anything.
Look at the lineup. It's a miracle if they ever get into anything with this group.
This unit needs to be broken up. Bullshit 5 possessions or so.
Fucking awful start to the second. That unit was an abortion.
Don't know why DC hasn't been running Jodie off multiple screens to free him for looks the last couple of games. He doesn't seem to hit the spot-up 3 as well as the catch and shoot in rhythm.
Come on Thad, your man was the inbounder.
Collins brings in Hawes. That's it. Jesus.
That is not the damned sub they needed.
Go get Jodie, please.
He called Jodie's number there but he clanked the 17 footer.
Sixers haven't gone to the line yet, and the Sixers have missed about 6 wide-open threes. Damnit.
two straight airballs by the Lakers...
Thad really mentally out of it... Snow made on his best points of the year so far when saying Odom would give him problems, terrible matchup
As I say that he gets an oboard and layup.. hope that keeps happening
Took them 5 minutes to score this quarter too.
Fuck, put Turner in or something? If they score with this unit, it's pure accident.
another missed wide open three by nocioni. ugh.
Put JIT in for these guys.
They're willfully giving us the 3's, and, we're damn sure taking them - and missing. shit
iguodala and jrue back in. thank heavens.
That just pisses me off.
what are you talking about, thad's "foul"?
The -9 run by that second unit.
Thad looks angry, at least.
Dre looked to try to pass that after he got fouled, hope they say he was shooting?
Man that second unit did nothing. You can't willfully give 11-0 runs to the Lakers.
We need another strong finish to this quarter, and we need Collins to never, ever go with that unit again.
Still not a single foul shot.
We need a backup pg in the worst way, Lou needs to be off the ball when he's out there. Jrue goes out and we just pound the air out of it and stand around it seems.
We need Iguodala to keep doing this. Get the ball and push it.
Dre can kill these guys pushing it in transition. They are really running off a rebound with a purpose.
I've been wondering if we should run off of makes too, not just the boards.
Jrue-Iguodala-Young-Brand-Hawes.
Better matchups across the board right now, let's see what they can do with it.
Nice. Nice run.
Hawes looking very good.
Hawes is basically carrying us again tonight. Our starting backcourt is 0-8.
Hawes displaying his ballfriendliness.
Dre even got one on the delayed break. Hawes seems up to the challenge so far too.
Who had Spencer Hawes as the first guy to get to the line for the Sixers?
Getting stuff in transition is key. It's gonna be hard to get points in the halfcourt with their length/our shooting.
I still can't believe all the missed open threes. it's like they've got the yips.
First foul on Jrue. Now don't compound it and pick up your second.
Whoa Thad!
HA!!!
Thad delivers a facial on Artest.
Too easy for Gasol on the other end.
Sweet backdoor pass by Hawes for another Thad slam.
Thought that was Jrue's second, gave it to Hawes instead. Not sure if that's better tonight.
Peyton to Thad. I think I've seen more backdoor passes in Hawes' mini-resurgence than all of the PO produced.
Heh, true. Good point.
lol
Although we don't have squat on offense, we've held these cats to 35 pts w/ 3 min left. That's pretty damn good.
Against Indy they had 36 in the first quarter.
Finally a three drops. Let's go!
Keep attacking Dre.
Man, that mess went down for Pau. ugh
Jeebus, how did that drop?
Come on, with the turnover.
Ugh, they killed us on that backscreen.
Lakers finishing the quarter strong...
Awful end to the first half, so far. Getting to the line here to stop the 9-0 run, hopefully, and they got a two-for-one out of it.
Not a huge fan of Nocioni coming back. To miss more threes? Thad's been lazy on Odom a few times.
Alright, stop and a hoop.
Got the stop, but not the hoop. Jrue 0/6 in the first half, I believe. And missed three threes.
Sixers down 39-44 at the half.
I think Iguodala should have just kept pushing that. Looked like they had numbers but he decided to hold for the last shot
I'm pretty worried about Jrue's three ball. He might be leaning like Lou a little bit. Just a lot of bricks recently.
Pretty sure he was something like 5/8 in his last two games coming into this one.
6/10 over his last three, actually.
Before that he was pretty cold though. November was pretty bad, even though he had some hot nights. 32 percent for the month, with nights of 3-5, 4-5, and 2-3. Something to monitor, he's too young to criticize him for.
And wouldn't you know, Speights comes in a'gunnin'....
What a bummer. 35 pts for the first 21 minutes, but give up 9 in the last 3.
Eerily reminiscent of that darn 9-0 run vs the hated.
We can win this fucking game. Do they want it?
Weird rotations from DC tonight... Maybe it has something to do with tomorrows game in Orlando?
btw, I have no problem at all with the Sixers taking 12 threes. They were mostly very good looks. on average they probably hit 5 of those looks. I'd be much more worried if they were jacking up a ton of long twos. Wide open threes for the guys who were taking them are the result of good offense.
Driving wildly into Gasol/Odom/Bynum is foolish too. If you have an angle, yes, but any force is going to be heavily contested. Their best chance is early in the shot-clock.
0/18 combined to start the first and second quarters. If they do that to start the third, this game will be out of reach before they can make a legitimate run.
Btw, I've seen enough of Nocioni. He really didn't do anything positive in his stretch.
Maybe a bit harsh, he did have 2 d-boards and 2 blocks. Still don't want to see him again.
It was harsh....ha lol cuz I was like Damn.....
Jrue or Andre have to score more here, screw the back-to-back just run, run, run. They're on a trip too themselves. Misses, makes - run.
What a pass by Spencer.
To the line on the first possession, that's good.
Artest is guarding Jrue, Kobe on Iguodala. Strange.
OK, let's go. Make a statement here early that this is going to be a 48-minute game.
Why did EB not take that up toward the rim? He hesitated and backed it out and gave the defender the advantage.
Now he gets a steal.
Good ball movement. Let's go.
I know this isn't a crucial skill, but Brand has the best passing lane instincts of any forward in the league.
sorta like Bobby Jones - uses his reach and plays the angles
Dammit. Great D by Dre and FIsher cans the muthafukcere.
0/7 for Jrue.
Meeks to the line.
But we're only down one....
Yeah Jrue, look for YOUR offense.
There we go, Jrue. Can't stop shooting, just take good ones. we need you.
DREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
AI9 w/ the jam! Let's go, keep the pressure on. Fuck, 2 more misses for Jrue.
Shit, Jrue misses another open 3.
Damnit. Meeks misses a wide-open three.
Meeks shorts one.. Hawes w/ the board...Hawes with the J
God damn Hawes is playing great.
Sure is.
wow... just wow
OMG Hawes with the terrible positioning, but he still gets the block.
Hawes with the block (after he gives up the o-board).
Can't play any better D than that.
SISSSSSYYYY HOOOOOKKKKK!!!!!!!!
That shit was sweet by Hawes. Nice....
He really did create the space beautifully... he has the coordination... god all i can think about is they're going to resign him...jesus
Not just re-signing him, but how damn much they may possibly give him.
I love the double with the second big.
The Sixers will win this game if Meeks can make a few. They are leaving him wide open. He's also able to play Artest, who has been an absolute zero.
He'll pump fake dribble inside the 3 pt line then stop once a defender picks him up.
Hawesome...
eric snow trying to give color commentary is pretty comical. not ed pinckney comical, but still pretty hilarious.
Wonder what kind of bud ESnow is toking he laughs hysterically several times a game its a laughfest for him it seems
If they can get Meeks going he could really blow up given how LA is daring him to shoot.
Not a good shot by AI9.
Kobe was probably trash talking and baiting him. That's the shot the Lakers want Philly to take.
We're still up 2 w/ 4 left, if they could just make a jumper.
Jrue and Iggy with two awful step backs. Not good shots.
Man good defense by Jrue on Kobe after we turned it over.
Battie in for the rare Hawes/TB front court. Hawes with a huge O-Board, and a trip tot he line!
Come on, now finish this fucking quarter.
Boy Jrue is having a bad night.
Dammit stop turning it over before you get ACROSS the line
Whew we dodged one there.
Bad O possession. Shitty.
how in the hell are they tied w/ JM + JH shooting 1/18?
Gotta start running again. I have a feeling that this stretch is what we'll look at as a turning point. They haven't had many good shots, and Jrue and Jodie can't buy one when they get it.
If they would just come out of that shell they're in, the shell that makes you miss jumpers. Just knock down a 1/4 of them and they're winning sort of handily. aarrrgghhh
OK, tie game with 2:15 to go. Iguodala should be running the point with this unit out there, run Lou off screens.
OK, let's survive the Lou run, please.
Shit, that was halfway down.
Hawes has been an animal tonight.
BIG THREE FOR AI9!!!!11
I wish our crowd would cheer for us collectively like they just did for Vick.
Dre for 3!
MICHAEL VICK!!!!
Yeah Lou. Just get your ass to the line. You can't screw it up there.
Hit the freebies, please.
The Lakers are shooting bad, but how good of a defensive coach is DC? This is miracle worker type of stuff.
He's damn good, enough said.
Ugh. Not a fan of that foul.
DRE!!!!!!
Dre for 3! Up 7.
great thread guys - keep it up!
That was a fucking great quarter. Sixers win the third by 10.
PHI 63, LAL 58 heading into the fourth.
Two HUGE threes for Iguodala there in the final two minutes. Let's go. Bring this shit home. 12 more minutes of hell.
I better not miss any game action for this interview.
I love Vick, but there's a hoops game here.
vick is smaller than meredith marakovits
Terrible lineup to start the fourth. Shit.
They took a point away, too. Fuck me.
Ugh, rimmed out. sheesh. good d battie he still got it ugh
Oh man, Doug. Awful unit.
Just roll with what he's doing. Jodie please make these.
Don't blow this lead. Collins, you better not let this get away from you with this shit lineup on the floor.
I could care less about tomorrow's game, you've got a win right in front of you. Extend the minutes, trim the rotation.
Wow. I can't see it but I'm really pleased with this. A great 3rd qtr from the Sixers!! That's a change.
Collins has gradually become a better & better defensive strategist over the years.
Why was that a foul? and it fell
Come on, man. These aren't the guys that got you here.
God damnit Doug.
Shit Lou with that brick shit. get his ass our of there. Jrue is 20 yrs old for crying out loud. put him in...
Fuck me. Get this fucking lineup out of there.
Another missed open 3, Hawes hustling his ass off
They aren't getting any rolls.
Sheesh, everyone of our shots is rimming out....
Come on. These have to fucking drop. Sit Nocioni down.
0/24 to start the first, second and fourth combined for the Sixers.
Man, we're down by 2 now. Some awesome looks there but none went down, unfortunately, as usual tonight. ugh
The plus/minus stats are laughable. Jrue's still a plus-four.
They don't make 'em easy on the heart, that's for sure....
25 for 74 on the game. Yikes.
Jrue's back in. Down 4, we need something here.
Fuck me, down 7.
11-0 run for LAL.
Don't hold the ball, move it and create, make them defend. a late in the clock three. missed. Barnes sinks one...wtf they're on a 11-0 run...man.....................
I have no idea why he subbed those guys out. The starters have no room for error.
This was so winnable, just hope it still is.....come on, it's time left. just stop slowing down on offense. they have to attack now don't they, they're losing?
Good shot Dre. Get a stop.
Iguodala tweaked the achilles. He's limping again.
They gotta roll with this unit. Thad can play the 3 against the Lakers, they are so big.
Agreed.
Spencer Hawes is the reason we're in this game right now. He really is.
Jrue's gun shy. Had a layup there.
Go back to that, huh?
Jesus Thad, botched rotation.
Stops are the key on offense more than D.
Yeah, Jrue. Something has to fall don't it?
Odom for three....shit.
That's it. Fuck me.
why is Dre stepping back for that? and it bricked. it's 5 min left. we can get that shot later in the clock. damn.....
Fuck me. Offense has been brutal tonight.
Man..............to and it doesnt mean out shoot.....
Starters are getting shredded now too. Thus is life.
25-6 run, now.
Wow. We're down 13 pts now. That was a blur. Make it 15
Should've turned it off after the third.
We're gonna smoke their ass in LA, if we don't have the slow starts, as alarming as they were tonight. Doug seems to be on to something.
So bad that vick could only watch a half of a quarter.
I mean, we've played a hell of a defensive game tonight. Especially Hawes on their bigs, and EB too. We have good schemes on D, just wish we could figure it out on O.
Well, to paraphrase you, talent is the ticket.
No, rotations, combinations, and minute distribution are.
You can't rotate your way to a good offense. Or even coach your way there. I mean, try to think of a team that scores primarily on the back of smart offensive schemes and good rotations. That's just the stuff that makes teams that would be good on talent alone elite.
We need to make open shots against these guys. Didn't do that one bit outside of Hawes. Iguodala made his share of contested looks. Guys like EB and Thad are negated by these guys.
Arenas to Orlando is BACK ON. Crazy. It's not just a Magic blog that's reporting it, it's the obnoxiously moralizing but legit-on-news Wojnarowski.
I looked this up, Arenas is the fourth-least productive player in the league with more than 600 minutes. He's just atrocious.
By which measure? That sounds right; I'm just curious as to what stat (and where I can look stuff like that up).
WS48, here's the link.
You think win-shares might be too team W-L dependent? Like there's no way Griffin's really the 70th least productive player in the NBA. Defensively he's lousy and he's really not too efficient, but he can't be in the bottom quarter of NBA players.
That's players w/ 600 minutes or more. When you get down to #70, you're talking almost exactly average.
Well even Darko, at #2. I mean, he leads the league in blocked shots, he's an okay rebounder. Inefficient offense but he's not being used all that much.
DNPCD for Turner, huh? Need to get these minutes to Nocioni.
If ET brings his parents to every game will he get more minutes.
Heh, just realized they showed Nocioni's parents. I bet that does have something to do w/ the minutes he got tonight.
He could not have been worse than ANY one of our bench guys. It's impossible.
apologies if this has been pointed out already, but the sixers are +1 when hawes is on the floor and -15 when he isn't.
Hawes was great tonight, obvious POTG. But they were only -13 when he was off the floor :)
I hope people aren't hoping he gets a deal from the sixers this off-season.
If he plays consistently like this, why wouldn't you want Hawes on this team?
He ran the floor. He contested shots on D. He rebounded the basketball. He was the ONLY guy who had a consistent clue offensively.
If he is still playing like this in March, I am OK with them re-signing him - as long as it is for a reasonable nut (i.e. no more than the MLE).
Jrue stepping up consistently could be huge, the kid might have it in him this soon to make the leap, he just needs to settle himself and look for his own shot more.
But settling the team when needed is crucial too. He has to be the orchestrator.
This game was one of the most frustrating that's for sure.
93-81, Odom w/ 28. that matchup was mentioned by others....and it bit - hard.
Sad that for a big number of "casual Sixer fans" this will be one of the only games they watch this year. Same thing with some of the lazier media- like the radio personalities. I bet they jump to the conclusion that Jrue is a bum based on this one lousy game.
As long as they don't think Hawes is a stud it's ok.
It is way way way too early to say we should either be hoping to sign hawes, or not to sign him. honestly he is worth consideration.
Why so much concern with Hawes? Let's all just keep evaluating.
What's there to learn about Hawes?
Guy is a jump shooting big. God if he's here next year i'm going to die.
To Rich, does having Spencer hawes 20 feet from the rim mess up the spacing and fluidity of this offense or offenses in general? Is it possible to create an offense where your center plays 15-20 feet from the rim that doesn't include Lebron?
I'm not saying learn anything about Hawes, I'm focusing on the role he's playing within this team. And it's makeup right now. That's all.
I can't really answer that definitively,it's a matter of situation and personal preference. Who really knows what's right or what's wrong either?
Different coaches use guys different ways. Amare takes a lot of perimeter jumpers for example, but he's a threat of the dribble. You can see why you would want a guy to stretch the floor with a power driver like LBJ, which the Sixers don't have. The problem with Cleveland last year to me was that they had Jamison as a 'stretch four' and Z floating on the perimeter. Spacing involves guys close to the rim too. I personally think what Hawes is doing is alright with EB, who kind of hangs around the rim, or about 10 feet and in. With a guy like Thad at the 4 though, that's a lot of guys on the perimeter. I think a guy like Gasol finds open spots well if he's not posting.
Of course, Hawes playing like this really isn't sustainable, so when he starts missing shots, then we are in trouble.
This game was a gut-wrencher, in the worst way.
We all want the same thing, and it's not crazy to say we should have won this game. Easily. What a sudden change from the way it had went, up to the point when it turned. It was so quick. Like zzzzip....
Yikes, Jodie and Nocioni were 3-15, and they were all wide open. Jrue started out cold and never got it going, 3-15 by himself. These were not bad looks either. They are gonna have to make threes to beat them, and everyone was cold, maybe they had the yips or something.
Hawes was great, even though he gave up a few too many D boards to Gasol. That's probably to be expected though.
Guys like Thad and EB are going to struggle offensively against length that can move like that. Odom's a lefty too, he knows what Thad wants to do. Thad was brutal defensively tonight, he lost Odom and different guys too many times.
I kind of wish the starters started the 4th, maybe things go different. Effort was there tonight from mostly everyone, frustrating they couldn't shoot.
Just scanned back thru the game thread....and wow...good spur-of-the-moment emotion. Great thread
Glad the spur-of-the-moment emotion met with your approval.
Personal problem? Or vendetta?
Odom and Barnes - 43 pts
Kobe and Pau - 28
but we lost.......go figure....had to be us, we're the 76ers
It's not because they're the sixers, it's because the lakers can play half court offense and that's what wins close games.
true, but that game shouldn't have been close. by far...
Odom and Barnes - 43 pts
Kobe and Pau - 28
but we lost.......go figure....had to be us, we're the 76ers
By the way, I resent Collins coaching this team like it's so desperately vital to win the big match-ups that he's sitting our #2 pick. He's not Darko or Hasheem Thabeet, he really isn't raw at all. I don't know if I've ever seen a DNP-CD on a draft pick that high who wasn't some hopelessly confused project big man.
Video: Elton Brand on the Sixers' loss to the Lakers and the upcoming eight-game road trip:
http://ow.ly/3rbn8
Video: Andre Iguodala on the Sixers' home loss to the Lakers:
http://ow.ly/3rbpU
Great thread guys
Sixers take to road for tough eight-game trip:
http://ow.ly/3rda0