Fresh off a successful stretch of seven games against teams with a combined winning percentage of .683 the Sixers have no rest as they head on the road to face the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's time to put last night's tough loss behind them and put a couple of W's on the board.
Make no mistake, finishing that stretch of games above .500 is impressive. It stings that they were a couple made free throws or even one missed prayer of shot (The Clips' last two made shots in that game were heavily contested, tough looks) away from being 5-2, but don't lose perspective. In years past, they don't come out of that stretch of games above .500 and there are very few teams in the league today who would've emerged with their head above water.
Tonight, they'll face a team that was everyone's darling when they were surprisingly at the bottom of the playoff ladder in the Eastern Conference, led by #1 pick Kyrie Irving's inspired play. The team fell on hard times prior to Irving's injury, though, and they'll be without him again tonight, though it's unclear whether his absence is as huge of an advantage as you'd think.
In the two games Irving has missed, Ramon Sessions has scored a combined 36 points and handed out 29 assists. The Cavs beat the Clippers and lost to the Bucks by 1 point, in overtime. Sessions is more than a capable PG when he gets minutes, always has been. Even if he fills Irving's shows perfectly, though, the Cavs still are not a good team. They're 20th in offensive efficiency, 22nd on the defensive side. They're a "rebuilding" team that leans on veterans to keep their numbers near 33rd percentile of the league, instead of at the very bottom.
It's important for the Sixers to get back to punishing the bad teams in the league. There's no shame in losing back-to-back games to the Spurs and the Clippers. The Sixers won't be the only team to drop games to quality opponents. The thing that's going to define whether they're a legit top seed in the East is how they respond to those losses.
The Sixers need to avoid reacting like their fan base has to the Clippers loss. It hurts, it stings, they should've won the game, but it's just one loss. Two in a row isn't even a streak, it's a blip. Go out there tonight, put the Cavs in their place, and the season keeps rolling.
Two matchups worry me, and it's no surprise they're both up front. Varejao is a pure energy guy, the Sixers bigs are mostly the opposite of that. Jamison is a stretch four (who's been hitting his threes this year). Brand is just terrible at covering those guys. Figure out a way to keep Varejao off the offensive glass, and stick with Jamison on the defensive end. When you have the ball whoever Jamison is guarding is going to have a huge advantage, ride that. Just in general, attack the mismatches that present themselves throughout the game. Last night, they left a ton of points on the table going one-on-one on the perimeter while mismatches on the blocks were right there to be exposed. None of that tonight.
The tip is at 7:30pm tonight. This is your game thread. I'm going to have to watch this one on the DVR (early Valentine's day dinner for the wife who has been a saint throughout this hectic lockout season and deserves much more). You guys are on your own, keep it civil and I'll check back in the wee hours.
Prediction: PHI 97, CLE 87
Varejao is a game-time decision
Completely unrelated, but I just wanted to get an idea of what guys on this site think of the Jeremy Lin craze going around. I'm an Asian currently in Palo Alto so it's particularly strong around me. What do you guys think is sustainable and what isn't? In the Nets game I saw several schematic things you could do to limit him (i.e., he never drove left or consistently hit jumpers) but he's answered more questions as we've gone forward. Is this week-long dominance a fluke? Or should we be worried that he's turning a bunch of scrubs (Knicks minus Amare, Carmelo) into a winning ballclub?
Can't comment on his play as I haven't seen him in action yet, but it's a great story. Hope it continues. To me, the NBA is stronger as an entity when the Knicks are strong.
"Linsanity Drives Lakers Crazy" - NY Daily Times, today
"The Linderella Story Rolls On" - NY Post, today
Not sure. It's too hard to tell. D'Antoni's system favors PGs and I wonder how Melo will fit in once he comes back. That being said, I think he is a legit starting PG.
Time will tell if he's the next Steve Nash or the next Mo Williams.
33rd percentile you mean
Yes.
I guarantee I am the biggest Ivy League basketball fan on this board, and let me promise you, this won't last. Lin was a very very good Ivy League player, and nothing more. He never won conference player of the year, he never even won a conference championship for Harvard. In his best season he scored 16 a game. I love watching the guy play, and I'm pumped that an Ivy Leaguer is becoming successful (in basketball), but this absolutely won't last.
It's been 2 years since he left college. You don't think he could have gotten better since then?
If he was playing for any other team besides NYK, BOS, or LAL, I would be rooting for him :(
I hope you're right. All of his points last night came off of jumpers, mainly long twos.
Few interesting info about Lin-
"the Rockets waived Lin to clear payroll to sign center Samuel Dalembert"
"He scored 89 points in his first three career starts, the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–77."
Of course he could've gotten better, but the talent level isn't extremely high. Yes, I know the rare few can be special players even without the best talent, but if Ivy League coaches figured out how to stop Lin, NBA coaches will too. After the Knicks-Wiz game, Ryan Wittman (former Cornell star, still plays summer league games) called his dad (Wiz coach) and said "Dad, we defended him so much better than you guys did." That being said, Lin might just be in the perfect system for him right now as well.
Varejao out tonight, MRI showed he has a non-displaced fracture in his right wrist and will be out indefinitely.
Tristan Thompson gets his chance to start, I guess. He had 13 boards last night, but only 2/8 from the floor.
I think it's time to put my entire gambling account on Sixers -7.
"There's no shame in losing back-to-back games to the Spurs and the Clippers. The Sixers won't be the only team to drop games to quality opponents.... The Sixers need to avoid reacting like their fan base has to the Clippers loss. It hurts, it stings, they should've won the game, but it's just one loss. Two in a row isn't even a streak, it's a blip."
If I'm not mistaken, they were a combined 9-13 on the road going into the games they played against us, and you expected both games to not even be that close. In the last ten games, the most we've scored is 98, and we've been held under 80 in three out of the last seven. I would say that the long-awaited regression to the mean for an offense that was 17th in the league last year with identical personnel has arrived. (By the way, we had the lowest turnover percentage in the league last year too; our making shots at an unsustainably high rate, not our care with the ball, has been what' fueled this offense.)
And since you've shockingly taken the pessimist's viewpoint, why don't we look at what they did to the league's 2nd-best offense last night. The offense may be suffering from a bit of regression, but the defense is not.
I mean, what's the worst case scenario? If they wind up with the #17 offense, they'll still have a better offense than your beloved Pacers.
And your insistence that they're shooting above their heads doesn't hold a whole lot of water. Their eFg last season was .494. To this point this season, it's .497. They've actually improved their turnover rate by about three times as much as their eFg. Using the league ranks in stats is a cute way to obscure the improvement when things look much differently when you focus on the actual numbers.
Here's another funny stat. Their OFR last season (which ranked 17th) was 106.6. This season they do rank 7th, with a 106.0 OFR. So the team that returned all its players is pretty much right where they were last season offensively, or even a little below. They aren't playing over their heads offensively, they're playing pretty much exactly to the same level they did last season on the offensive end, but their defense has improved greatly.
@pdcavsinsider: Semih Erden will start at center tonight for #Cavs
lavoy starting for the voose who will come off the bench
that's deserved.
Didn't hear anything during the rebroadcast last night, but does anyone know what happened to V8 relatively early in the game that the medical team was checking him out for? Looked like he had some sort of tubes or paper in his nose, did he take a hand to the face at some point early on? Sure would've been nice to have had a real center out there at some point in that game...
looked like a bloody nose
lavoy allen the latest to lose the tip
Jrue got to the line!
Lavoy getting beat to a couple loose balls and boards. Pulled early for Thad.
Horrible energy so far. Two 50/50 plays and they just didn't hustle.
I think both were "on" Lavoy. So he goes out.
why is rebounding still an issue against the Cavs?
Sweet wrap-around pass by Dre to THad.
good pass jrue
Jo-3!
Come on Dre, you had the baseline J.
Come on guys, wake up...
lou and jodie together
Thad blows by Jamison for lay-in.
Good establishing position Thad. Charge taken out top.
Ugh Evan, that's twice you've been loose w/ your dribble. Turnover that time.
Thad w/ a not so good shot.
Sixers turning down opportunities in the post so that they can take contested 28 footers. Getting to be to common a theme.
Very lackluster effort so far. Bench came in and has resorted to a bunch of one on one. Hangover from last night to this point. They look lifeless, tired almost, just spent.
Lazy dribbles, bad shots & defense right now. Why is Dre and Jrue out?
They played alot of minutes last night
Lou w/ a good cut backdoor, his defender overplaying. To the line.
thad had voose or a hook shot but saved the ball
Thad's in the building, if no one else is so far. He's hustling.
I don't mind Lou missing that shot. Good drive that he'll convert most of the time.
The offense has been terrible for a while now.
Still not boxing out, giving up too many o-boards already. Really need to go harder, just being out-hustled and out-efforted so far.
PHI up 2. End of 1st.
Thad w/ the floor board, and alley to Vuc!
great job thad and lou for not settling for the jumper
THAD is the early leader for POTG, sweet toss to V8!
Thad w/ the putback on Jrue's missed bunny.
Lou to the line, initiating and absorbing contact.
Thad, right on cue, with the hustle and 2 offensive boards early in the 2nd, leads to scores.
great d by thad on gibson
Good start to the 2nd quarter for just the first minute and a half.
Lou for 3!
Thad FTW
Everybody on this friggin team except for Thad look like they need about a week off...I wonder if DC will start giving these guys "maintenance days" during easy games like this one (should be) so they can take a day off...er, for phantom injuries like Laviolette does for the Flyers?
I think EB is way ahead of you on this.
12-0 run. Keep this up, whatever Doug yelled between quarters.
Good start to the 3rd. Energy not completely there yet, but Sixers starting to pick up their (!) game.
20-0 bench points. That'll work.
Young draws the foul. I've seen everything tonight.
Dre 4 3! didn't particularly like the shot though.
Jrue on a runout, to the line.
There you go Jrue, they open the lane for you like that, take it hard just as you did. Lefty finish rolled in.
Third straight game giving up way too many points in the paint. 20 of their 29 so far.
Sixers really picked it up this quarter. Nice. Everybody looks into it now.
Still giving up too many points in the paint.
Lou's passing the ball really well to this point. Setting guys up, and making the pass before the pass to set someone up.
good work eb
Nice touch pass Jrue to Thad.
thad to jodie
Jodie on the baseline screen. Thad w/ the pass, Jodie off the glass.
Man, we're shooting the ball quick, just pressuring them when we're on offense.
Finish this last 2:30 now, keep this lead at or around 20. Very, very good quarter. Just excellent.
Bad shot Jodie.
Forced shot Dre, got fouled though, no need to force it like that.
he made both!!!!
Annnndddd...he makes both freebies!! yippee!!!! hooray
IGUODALA MADE BOTH!!!
Nice solid ass-kicking in that Q...do it for one more and then bring in the graveyard shift, eh guys?
A solid TWO minutes for Turner in he first half.
Nice.
Yeah, and it really killed the Sixers. Fire Collins ;)
I want ET to get some more minutes, but I really never give it so much thought that it is my main thought when the team is up 20 at the half.
He played 9
nba.com says 09:26
espn says 2:00
If you're looking at a boxscore that's not accurate, he played way more than that.
My bad. I stand corrected. I came down midway through the 2nd quarter...saw that he wasn't on the floor...went to ESPN and it said 2 minutes.
Whew.
58-41. Two more like that last one and we'll all be pleased.
Thad and Lou's shoulders feel very heavy, Jrue's too.
They actually got to the line 16 times that half. That has to be a record for this year, no?
14/16 free throws first half. that's nice also.
Bad start here. Get it together. Cavs have more energy just like the 1st quarter start.
Good pass from Lavoy to EB, Brand misses it.
Jrue w/ the backdown.
bad shot lavoy
Vuc J.
nice pick and pop
Ugh Dre, too hard of a pass. Offline too.
Jrue to the line again, attacking the paint.
meeks 3!!!
Meeks 3! Good find Dre.
Lou for 3!
Dre attacking, to the line. Chances he makes both again? 40%
Yep, 1 out of 2, heavy on the second one, backrim
hmmm this team sure does appear to be making more of their free throws...except for that last one by AI9...
voose
lou to the line
Lou absorbing contact, to the line.
Dammit Thad, ugh, didn't matter anyway.
So-so quarter there, kind of but not really reminiscent of the 1st quarter, at least offensive wise.
Won it by 2, up 79-60. Close this out early so Noc can work the cobwebs out.
Should try to sit Brand the rest of the way. No point having him playing hurt if we're up 17.
so how far ahead do they have to be for this game to be Nocioni-proof?
...why Lou why would you take that shot so damn early in the shot clock?? Pound the air out of the ball so this game ends faster...
Nice Thad and Jrue screen and pass. Thad converts.
Vuc had to pull something on that one. Ouch
voose is hurt, twisted his ankle
looks ok
I wanted to share my Historical BOSS Index. 3 or tp 4 are Sixers.
Usage>25%
Ht under 6'3
Asst/g Min/g>23
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=total&type=totals&per_minute_base=36&lg_id=NBA&is_playoffs=N&year_min=&year_max=&franch_id=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&height_min=0&height_max=74&birth_country_is=Y&birth_country=&is_active=&is_hof=&is_as=&as_comp=gt&as_val=0&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&qual=&c1stat=usg_pct&c1comp=gt&c1val=25&c2stat=ast_per_g&c2comp=lt&c2val=5&c3stat=mp_per_g&c3comp=gt&c3val=23&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&c5stat=&c5comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=season#stats::none
Eyenga had his hands in ET's shorts right there and they didn't blow the whistle.
Lou and-one, after he walked I think.
ahahahaha could that Cavs mascot look any more depressed??
get brand out dont wont him to get hurt anymore
if Brian is watching this thread, PLEASE screengrab that guy/thing sitting in the stands so we can have a caption contest during the off day tomorrow!
haha, Jrue got the o-board, then foolishly chucked it back up at the rim.
Jrue weaving thru traffic, after collecting his dribble. to the line again.
Lou right before the shot clock expires.
That was lazy Turner. ugh
Jrue splitting the pick. Layup.
Why didn't ET try to dunk that?
He probably didn't realize how close that guy was. Got lazy on it
Jrue/Lou/Meeks/Turner/Vuc? Smallest lineup ever?
Dunk that ball, what a pussy
Ha, said the same exact thing above, just more politely phrased question, but I was silently saying the same thing you were.
Get Jrue and Lou out of the game Doug. No need for them to be in.
Meeks dribble pull-up.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz that's more like it...nice win fellas, now on to the next one!
30 FT attempts. Most this year?
Lou, Jrue, or Thad for POTG.
POTG? I'd say Thad, for his early hustle and overall good, efficient play. Although Jrue played well too: 20pts on 13 shots, 4 boards, 5 dimes, 1 steal, 1 block and 0 TOV.
Hm, tough call.
Jrue's best game of the year (based on style of play.) But Thad gets POTG because single handedly put away the Cav's when it counted.
eh, Lou was just as good as Thad in that 2nd, sans the scrappy hustle. He was setting guys up, think 4 dimes and several buckets.
Lou and Jrue combined:
12-17 fg
3-6 3 pt
12-15 ft
10 dimes
2 steals ......
.....wait for it ...... ZERO (0!) turnovers
whoops - correction 12-27 fg's - sorry typo
Come on Wolves, you're just giving it away.
They gave it away. Linsanity continues despite the fact that he took 24 shots to get 20 points, had 4 shots blocked and had 6 turnovers.
Just finished the game. Jrue is POTG. Writing my wrap now.