The Sixers will drag a four-game losing streak with them to Houston tonight to play the second night of a back-to-back against the 19-14 Houston Rockets. With Elton Brand sidelined again, is there any chance the Sixers can salvage a modicum of momentum heading into the All-Star break?
In the loss to the Grizzlies last night, Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday did a pretty good job on their men. Gay had 14 points (3/10 from the floor, 6/9 from the line), Conley only had 9 points (4/14 from the floor, 1/1 from the line). If they're going to have any hope against the Rockets tonight, they need to repeat those results against Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin.
Luis Scola has taken a giant leap backward as a productive offensive player, meaning he's gone from being uber-efficient to below average. He's an undersized, crafty PF who doesn't play a lick of defense, but he's also more than capable of getting healthy against the Sixers' front line. We all know Dalembert, and I certainly wouldn't be shocked to see him to pull a 20/20 game out against his former mates tonight. The Rockets have four threats from deep in their regular rotation (Lowry, Martin, Budinger and Courtney Lee). With Scola's regression, though, they don't have anyone down low who you need to worry about doubling. Lowry has really been their engine this season, though his numbers have dropped off recently.
The key matchup is probably going to be Jrue vs. Lowry. He needs to keep Lowry out of the paint, and maybe even more importantly, he needs to keep Lowry off the glass. Houston's PG is a very, very physical player. Jrue is one of the few PGs in the league w/ the strength to stand up to that. I hope Jrue got some sleep on the plane. At no point in this game do I want to see Lou covering Lowry.
What more can you say besides get this win at all costs. You've got five full off days to rest, recuperate and hopefully iron some things out in practice. Leave it all out on the floor, because the last thing Andre Iguodala wants to take with him to Orlando is a five-game losing streak.
Houston was off last night, Iguodala (41) and Jrue (36) both played heavy minutes for the Sixers last night. Thad was the only other guy over 30 minutes played, with 32.
No word yet on whether the Nocioni-as-starter experiment has officially been scrapped. I wouldn't put it past Collins to match Nocioni up with Scola, but after last night's results, I'd say the smart money is on Battie starting at the five, or maybe Thad at the four. We'll have to wait and see.
The tip is at 8pm, Eastern. This is your game thread/preview all wrapped up into one. I'll be here throughout. Join me if you're hoping watching basketball can be fun again heading into the break.
Prediction: Abstain.
Anyone in Philly area know what channel it's on TV tonight? Not on CSN. I want to DVR it and I can't find it.
its on CSN according to my guide
Mine shows Flyers starting at 9:30. O well, I'll just record CSN. OK thanks, SF1220.
I believe when there is a scheduling conflict, the sixers are on Channel 8 as the alternative channel
Last few games have been on what once was CN8. Unfortunately not available in hi-def on FIOS (channel 99).
Joe Johnson is out for the all star game, so I am assuming he will also be out for the 3 point shootout. I'm really hoping Meeks gets in despite his recent shooting slump. I actually think he has a really good shot at getting in. I could see Korver getting the nod also if they feel like taking the success of the team into acount. They are both shooting the 3 at around 41%.
Probably Korver, or Bonner. Doubt the Sixers get any further recognition at AS Weekend considering their play since the teams were announced.
My money is on Steve Novak ... of course.
Any word on if Meeks or Turner will be starting tonight?
If I was a betting man, I wouldn't put money on Turner.
I know we still have the entire 2nd half of the season to go, but it is worth noting that as of now we no longer have homecourt advantage in the 1st round.
We're in 4th place. We'll have home court advantage in the 1st round as long as we win the division.
That's not correct, we were talking about this last night. #4 doesn't have home court if #5 has a better record.
If you told me at the beginning of the season that we'd be 20-13 at the halfway point, I'd be thrilled. But 'thrilled' is the antonym of how I feel about this team right now. 33-33 seems ominously possible.
Playing at Houston in a big turnaround game is fitting, wasn't this where a couple years ago our team had a big moment or two. I can't wait to see our 2 young guys against Sam tonight.
ughhhh
@jrfingerCSN: Violet Palmer is working the game tonight
I think I'd rather have Brand out than Violet P reffing...now we have both.
Rockets 91-Sixers 84.
Sixers officially out of gas at this point. Anticipating much trade speculation over the break.
sounds like kevin durant is replacing joe johnson in the 3pt contest
Rajon Rondo was selected to replace him in the game itself.
I'm actually feeling good about this one. I think this team has enough fight in them to scrap together an all out effort win heading into the break. I expect them to make Houston play their style of ugly basketball with Iggy shutting down Martin and Jrue slowing down Lowry. If we can get Thad some looks on Scola and get good Lou tonight the bench should give us just enough offense. Just please don't let Sammy own the paint and for the sake of every Sixer's fans blood pressure, DO NOT play Nocioni 1 single minute. Sixers 85 Rockets 79
The only, and I mean only, reason I see a glimmer of hope is that for whatever reason we always seem to win in Houston. That's just based off of my memory. But no Brand/Hawes + Violet P should equal a loss.
Celts getting hammered by OKC. Knicks and Hawks tied early. Nice drive and dish by Lin when I turned it on.
Houston feed on LP for me. They have a really bad homer on their broadcasts, right? Is it Drexler?
yes, either him or Calvin Murphy
Ugh, and my feed is screwed up. It's like the camera lens is streaky or something. I'm going to get motion sickness watching this.
Bullard.
That's fucking Time Warner for you.
Haven't known Bullard to be a homer though, only heard him one or two times.
Had the technician over here for a couple of hours yesterday. Two new boxes, checked the lines. Pretty much the same shitty service. Going w/ DirecTV when I move this summer.
Knicks making a end of 1st quarter run. Up big.
Aaaaaaaaand we're offf....Lavoy loses the tip.
Nocioni is, mercifully, not in the starting lineup.
Jrue fouls Lowry on the first play. Last thing we need is foul trouble for Jrue.
BS call. Jrue had all ball.
Ball don't lie. Lowry misses the first
Iguodala running the point to start.
jodie off a screen
Jodie off a curl. Good sign, finally.
Meeks off the curl. Nice.
Jrue 0/2. Don't get gun shy, just get in the line next time.
Scola to the line.
Jrue, needs to use that move to get into the paint rather than settling for the jumper. Jrue missing the corner 3 again. 0-2 early.
Battie saves the ball from out of bounds to Meeks falling out of bounds who saves it to nobody.
Dre long jumper. No offense being run at all on that one.
Bad shot, Andre.
Jrue deflects a Lowry pass. Saved the Sixers from a free Dalembert dunk
Meeks gets stuck on Martin in transition. Two points.
Come on Jodie, good pass back out from Dre.
Meeks, gotta hit that.
Lavoy has missed two very badly.
Lavoy, starting on the foundation of his house. geez
Meeks misses the open three, Scola tries to pull down Battie (who can't jump anyway)
0/3 for Jrue, good shot there, though. I'd say get to the line, but that's understood.
long 2, long 2, long 2....mixed in with an occassional 3. great offense.
Some of these are pretty good shots though. Just can't buy one.
Shooting starting out just like last night, terrible.
Jrue sinks one.
Jrue finally connects.
lowry to the locker room
Lowry's hurt. Looks like the right ankle.
Jrue abused Dragic when he was with the Suns. He's got some offensive talent, though.
As weird as that says, can they exploit Lavoy on the block with Scola guarding him? I'd much rather see him shoot that jump hook than a 15 footer right now.
Lowry should be back. Didn't look like he even rolled it.
Sammy, with hands of stone. heh
Two on Scola. Not sure if that helps the Sixers, though.
2 on jrue
Two on Jrue. Thanks, Violet.
Jrue w/ his second. bad foul there, 30 ft from the basket
Damn, Jrue.
That's a shame. The first foul should have been on Jodie.
Feel like we need Vuc in for offense (yikes)
Ugh, Meeks.
Come on Jodie!! No one-dribble pull-ups please!!
the Sixers can't buy a foul here. Lots of contact on Iguodala drives.
That was a nice drive by Iguodala, could have gotten a call. Like that aggressiveness.
Turnover. Lavoy lost concentration earlier in that play, couldn't see if the pass was the problem on the TO.
6 points?? My god
Same damn shooting as last night in this 1st quarter.
the offense is a joke
Normally I'd be happy with that timeout but Doug Collins hasn't really drawn up any good plays coming out of the timeout this year..
Ugh, come on. This offense is getting to be really embarrassing. Don't get good shots and when they do, they hardly go in.
Doug being very quick with his substitutions tonight, and I kind of like it
Zero trips to the line too. ugh
this team desperately needs a player who can create a shot, other than a long, on their own.
Jrue is 1/4 from the floor, and he's actually raising their overall FG%.
voose
Don't need that Evan. Unnecessary.
I'd go to Voose in the post repeatedly, especially over that Turner shot early in the clock.
Turner back-rims all of his jumpers. It's automatic.
Except when he front rims them. The only thing they all have in common is they don't go through the cylinder.
Voose again. Jesus, keep going to that.
Nice move Vuc. Quick move in the post.
Turner continues work on his house.
voose again
Good feed Lou, Vuc.
thad to voose
Good look Thad, Vuc!
Voose again. Scola is so unbelievably bad on the defensive end.
THAD DRAWS CONTACT AND FINISHES!
Vuc, soft touch around the rim. Hawes-esque!
Thad bounced off contact, and got to the line? what do you know, after replay it was incidental, not initiated though
PHI 16, HOU 19 after one.
Good D, bad O. Nothing new. Lot of burn for the bench in that first quarter. Jrue needs to make sure he doesn't pick up his third in the second quarter.
Keep giving the ball to Voose on the blocks.
Great shot Turner
He dribbled right into his discomfort zone.
He should have just went straight for the rim, try to get the contact. He had plenty of time to do that. His basketball instincts are as bad as his shooting right now.
Vuce playing like he is scared of the bench.
Turner is playing offense like eddy's heady thinks he's capable of.
We actually made one more shot than the Rockets that quarter? Never would have thought it.....
1 turnover for the Sixers, 0 o-boards for Houston.
Voose could get 30 on Scola.
voose to the line
Jrue, go stand in the corner.
Voose to the line, nice.
Nice D, Lou. He fucking went to double Dalembert, I think. Or he just sucks.
loving voose tonight
Vuc again!! Lefty hook over Sammy.
Lou fell asleep on that. Ugh.
Voose again!
Voose is unstoppable tonight
Believe that lost jump goes as a TO for Jrue.
Dalembert turns it back.
Evan, just stop shooting it please man.
Bleh.
Why would you post a taller, more athletic player, Turner?
Turner is taking years off my life right now.
Evan's court awareness and vision is nil.
bad foul jrue
Jrue with a nice block.
ANd then he picks up his fucking third foul. Please change that call, damnit.
Turner's fault on the TO
meen Turner should just sit till the AllStar break is over. He can work on his 5ft jumpshots.
Turner is really really depressing. Where the hell is the scong ability and the mid-range game
Jrue gets the block, Turner gets the board.... and jogs the ball up while Jrue makes the run. Then Turner turns it over.
Will the real ET please stand up??
This is the real ET...at least the current one
Anyone who blames Turner's struggles on Collins is a moron. He hasn't made a shot in a week. He's lucky to be getting any minutes at all.
Why reach in there Jrue? Why?
They called that a fucking clear path? You've got to be kidding me.
Clear path??
Terrible.
Vucevic rushed that jumper for no reason.
Come on, Lou. That's fucking sloppy.
Dammit Lou! Get it together here. Bad bad pass Lou.
Don't like taking Vuc out there.
What was Lou looking at?
Turner moved. Lou's fault i guess.
If the Sixers can hold Houston under 60 for the game, they've got a chance.
Good fake Dre, to the line. May be not so good though, heh
I didnt see the foul there
Iguodala on the post, to the line. Don't go back to that.
Why is Voose coming out? Come on.
I feel like a 10 pt deficit is insurmountable with this offense
i feel the same way.
Nice move Iguodala. Please make 2.
he made both; yay
everyone drink!
Gotta get up after you flop. Luckily, Lee missed the wide open three.
lou to the line
Now, that is how you pass ahead Lou.
Lou to the line.
Splits 'em.
Lou holding the shot til the last second for the whistle. Good job.
Lou w/ the turnover. Didn't see what he did.
Pushed off with his arm
oh did he push off? must have missed it.
it could have been what you said below, i didn't clearly see it, know he pushed off with something, but Lowry did add to it
looked like he kinda lowered the shoulder in that herky jerky dribbling style he did. There was some contact, Lowry bounced off it into the screener, flopped, and the whistle blows.
Lowry flops and the refs gobble it up.
thad fade-away
Evan, just let your man go to the other side of the floor and don't pursue him, Dragic, ugh
Lou lost Dragic there, Iguodala trying to cover two men.
Don't know what to do w/ the lineup right now.
My bad, that was Turner. Meeks came in for Lou.
Dammit Turner, are you gonna stay with and try to guard Dragic or what?????? sit his ass Doug....
what will DC say to ET in that timeout?
Wait, who was guarding Dragic on that 3? Was that Jodie? Fell asleep there. Again.
Is Turner serious? He shouldn't play the rest of the night. Play Noce.
where is Craig Brackins when you need him?
Any interest in the D-league?
Turner benched after the timeout.
Now that Martin foul on Dre should be a clear path. it was same situation and position as Jrue's
Heh. I think Violet gave us one. HOO-RAY!
Lou Brick.
Come on Lou, too early in the clock for that
Meeks brick.
Lou to the line.
Lost in how bad Turner has been is Jodie Meeks not being able to make open threes anymore.
Lowry eating Jodie's lunch now.
2 min, close hard here, not fadeaways like that Lou, move the ball around dammit
Lou Brick.
Yep. No defense at the point of attack, easy pickings for Houston.
No fight in this team.
Lowry is destroying meeks, but who do we put in to guard him?
voose!!!
Good anticipated steal Dre.
Vuc follow. One more stop!
6-0 run, and Thad to the line now? Nice.
Nope, Lou to the line.
Was getting ready to say they completely shit the bed in that last 3+ min, but they redeemed themselves with a last minute flurry.
boss call
PHI 41, HOU 45 at the half.
Big run at the end spared them from a disastrous quarter. You could really see what happens to the defense when Jrue isn't in the game there. Tough to watch. He needs to avoid picking up his fourth in the third quarter. Going to be tough to do when he's guarding Lowry.
It may sound crazy, but they can easily win this game tonight.
Start Vuc coming out the half, or at least give him some more run. He was really good, even going against Sammy.
this team desperately needs a player who can create a shot, other than a long, on their own.
Sixers w/ a 100% DREB rate in the first half. Unprecedented for this team.
I'm generally a Jrue fan but this season has led me to conclude that Jrue is not a PG or his coach does not want him to be one.
I used to think this team only needed an athletic P&R finisher... but add to their list of needs a PG.
I'm confident it's the latter of your reasons, and PG is not an area of need for the team.
Dis-a-gree.
You don't think there is a chance he ends up being a very good combo guard offensively?
Sure he can be your PG- and really helps you defensively and with his shooting. But I'm not convinced he has a pure PG in him- otherwise the tem's offense would not be so stagnant.
I know people want to blame the coach or teammates- but a pure PG would make this offense look less ugly. And there is a big difference between a pure PG and a guy who can play PG... and I think Jrue is the latter.
I tend to agree with your last statement, well said.
Yeah, there's a chance he could wind up a very good combo guard. That wasn't the statement you made. I think there's a better chance he winds up a very good point guard.
Sorry, I did not mean for my statements to seem incompatatble. I think it goes without saying that I am a huge proponent of Jrue. He has a remarkably complete game- but I'm not sure he is a pure PG or ever will be one.
Sort of like playing great hitter a SS who can play the position but not like a "real SS." It comes with its positives and negatives.
Oh sorry I misunderstood. I still don't really agree, but that's a fair point.
Eh, I've been sort of leaning to feeling like that on occasion, but still think I need to give it some more time before going all in. Something's amiss though, just can't gauge what it is.
I feel that way with a lot of the young players, especially jrue and turner. We've seen glimpses, although not many (especially from turner), that they can play at a high level and take over games, but its so inconsistent, you wonder what happens sometimes.
Good news: for long stretches of the past 2 games Vuc has looked like the best offensive player for the Sixers.
Unfortunately that is also the bad news.
Turner just doesn't seem to give a fuck, or he's a pouter one. No excuse for the piss poor effort on two consecutive plays being so lax at trying to stay with Dragic. As much as I have no use for his game, he's just become downright sad, and I say that kindly. He's got to fit in no matter the role. The fit ain't gonna find him, he's got to settle into it and find it.
Knicks blowing out Willie Green. Lin w/ a sick line, so far.
ORL blowing out NJ, IND blowing out CHA and BOS down 14 to OKC.
So a loss and they lose a game to everyone but the Magic and the Celts, probably.
Hawks and Celts, that should read.
Hard to believe the Sixers actually scored 25 in that second quarter.
Bad start Dre.
Dre with two bad shots in a row
ANother bad contested shot Dre. come on
Andre I like that you'v attacked the paint twice, but the shots are horrible. Dag.....
4 on jrue
Great start to the third.
Jrue turns it over and picks up his fourth in the process. We're fucked.
Jrue, come on... sheesh man
dribble the air out of the ball, then you get your 4th...fuck Jrue
Lou and-one. Get it together on defense and offense here.
Lou +1. Maybe he gets hot.
Shouldn't we post Dre on Parsons?
Battie falls down, 4-point swing.
I think the gameplan coming out the locker room was to have Iguodala attack. He's been attacking, just terrible shots.
It's really not that hard to post up Scola.
good take, Lavoy
Dammit Jodie, no need for you to sag down into the lane and leave parsons like that. geez the guy was under the hoop falling out of bounds, no need for you to be down there
Wide-open corner three. He's Meeks' man, right?
I mean, Lowry and Martin aren't hurting us at all, yet we're down 8...
meeks to the line
Jodie to the line. OK, hit 'em both and we're at 2.
Get it back to 2 here. Now don't let them extend the lead back out though. D the eff up!!
Tie game.
Untied on the Meeks dunk. Nice.
Good to see Lavoy attack twice on Scola.
Andre to Jodie for the standing-jump slam!!! Let's go....
Iguodala has 5 steals, and Kevin Martin has been absolutely invisible.
Don't give up this lead.
Good ass defense there by Lavoy and Lou cheating down.
Meeks draws the charge in the 1-on-2. Nice.
Good effort Battie on o-board.
SHit. Lou guns a three. Charge on other end, turnover our way, whew
im surprised she didnt blow that charge call
Violet w/ a call our way? wow
4 on Scola, hurts the Sixers.
Voilet special.
Hell of an effort there Lou with the contest. Good job.
Shocking to see the Sixers at the FT line. I though all of there shots came from beyond 17 feet.
Of course 1 of two..
Dre to the line is painful. Clanks one, swishes the next. Weird.
First o-board of the game right there, Scola puts it back.
voose tip in
1st o-board for Rockets and putback off of it.
Vuc follow!! Come on.....
Voose returns the favor.
is Jrue hurt?
4 fouls.
Thad blows the damn bunny!!!
Got it back on turnover, whew
Scola and Dragic are the only reasons they're in this game right now.
Wow, a guy can land on you and no foul? Thad need to learn to act like he is hurt.
voose again
Vuc follow again.
Thad's really been going for more blocks this year. Good to see.
and they're of the spectacular variety; shows his tremendous athleticism.
I would rather instead of knocking them into the stands he learns to control them to turn into a possession change
I think once Vuce learns when he can push a post player out of the lane he will be a really effective player on both ends.
Good attack of the open lane Jodie!!
Jodie to the hoop. He's found a way to contribute w/out his threes falling.
nice move thad
Good pass ahead Lou!! Thad.
Really good quarter, considering Jrue went out early. 12 minutes to glory.
PHI 65, HOU 61 after three.
That's more like it. Great job by the bench after Jrue picked up his fourth. Thought it was going to go the other way. Just give me 12 more solid minutes. Is that too much to ask?
I'd play Vuc the whole quarter here.
meeks on martin
Evan still forcing.
That was a nice move, only nice thing he's done all night
Wasn't saying it wasn't, it was forced though. One on one.
Argh. Nice move, Turner.
voose!!!!!
Voose again, breaking up the Meeks on Martin run.
Vuc lefty scoop.
turner scored
Evan, welcome to the game.
Turner makes sure of that one. Good job. Thought Voose should've given it to Jrue, gives it to Turner instead and he gets the dunk. Nice.
wow Turner made a FG!
Yep, I thought Vuc should have handed off to Jrue too.
Turner needed the confidence.
Good take Dre!!! Stops!
Iguodala breaks his fourth quarter seal. Been a while since he had a hoop in the fourth.
Turner on Martin that time. Don't let him get hot.
Steps on Voose.
Turner loses K Mart. ugh. can't be lax like that
Dre loses Martin and then Turner does
And a Thad charge, after he double dribbles.
This was their chance to get some separation. Just didn't' get it though. 3 pt lead
Iguodala loses the jump to Martin. It's contagious.
How does Dre lose that tip to K Mart?? sheesh
great job jrue
Good o-board Jodie.
Jrue to Thad!! Stop please.
Meeks w/ a big o-board.
Jrue with the drive and dish to Thad for a deuce. Nice.
Put Iguodala on Martin and don't change that, please.
Why isn't Dre glued to Martin? he's been on Courtney Lee
No idea.
We're switching screens? Jrue and Dre there....
jrue
Now Jrue's on Martin. Got the stop that time, get a hoop here.
Jrue stands in the corner, then hits a long two.
I thought meeks was playing well. Wish collins wouldve left him in.
Box out Thad!!!!
thad to the line
Good pass Lou. oh shit, Vuc was being held
What a defensive play by Jrue, wow.
Voose was raped on the previous trip.
No Doug, dont' bring back lavoy for Vuc. come on
Iguodala - just DUNK THAT ONE
why is vucevic sitting???
F me!! Parsons 3 as clock was expiring.
Fuck me. Fuck. Great D, and that garbage against the shot clock. Come on.
boss call
The other refs are trying to overturn a Violet special.
No idea why he pulled Vuc for Lavoy, no idea....
offense defense i guess
Great follow, Thad.
Vuc back, Doug just wanted to give him a rest I guess
Thad follow!
This shit better not come down to a Violet Palmer call either.
Thad, just give a head/pump fake and get him in the air. Screw all the slithery shit. man.....
Thad forcing it.
better than a Lou pump fake heave.
jrue!!!
Jrue in the paint, think that play was called for him. Good job.
Lowry w/ the +1 on the other end. Voose w/ the foul.
Pretty much can't have any empty possessions here
Lou to the line, he's live there tonight. Make em please Louis
Alright, Lou. Hit 'em both.
Need a hoop here. Lowry flops, Violet blows.
Thad charge. Lowry is a flopping bitch.
Regardless of the flop, Thaddeus Young committed the foul trying to use his arm to create space
Thanks bitch.
If a male had made that call, would you have said Thanks bastard? Or are you just a sexist?
If by sexist you mean that I believe Violet Palmer has no business officiating a game of basketball, and she just so happens to be a woman, then yes, yes I am.
If a male had made the call and someone said Thanks Bastard, would you have responded, or are you just a sexist?
No - I would have asked him if he knew the officials parentage that justifies the use of the word. Cursing to me is just a sign of a weak mind incapable of intelligent articulation.
Calling Violet Palmer a name reserved purely for insulting women weakens the argument. It is not that she is a woman who is a bad referee. She is a bad referee who happens to be a woman.
I used my example because usually all other refs are referred to in non gender specific pejoratives, usually in regards to the anus.
I agree with this. Stick to the anus.
That is a personal preference each person has to make for themselves.
If male refs had something as good as BITCH! to call them when they fuck up then we would use that as well. You're looking at this too deeply. It's a sports blog...lighten up and get off your high horse.
I am on a high horse because I think juvenile name calling is for the unintelligent and ignorant? Then so be it. I understand that for some small minded people the internet is a chance to behave in a way they never would in a public forum, call people names they never would to their faces but I do not see why that should be so. If you are an ignorant child online you are probably an ignorant child in real life.
You're hilarious. If you think calling refs names when you're angry with them is childish and stupid then maybe sports isn't for you?
We're trying hard to lose this game
Got to have a stop here. Got to.
That was a charge. Fuck me. FUCK ME.
Fuck you Violet!!!! same exact play and you call block... bullshit
Thanks again bitch.
BITCH...did it again
tough call.
WOW REALLY VIOLET PALMER GOD FUCKING DAMMIT
man dan gilbert is right. typing in caps does make you feel better.
Think that was the right call, looking at the replay
The officials are not to blame for awful offensive execution tonight, or any other night.
The sixers had a hot hand in the first half, and as is typical, ignored him in the second half, even if he is a bench player. At this point it is a conscious coaching decision by Collins that I can not endorse. It makes no sense.
Win or lose, poor offensive execution is why
Great, Lou iso and he turns it over. That's fucking great.
Well I'll be damn......................somebody want to clean the floor after that timeout or what??? shit
Much like the TWolves game, it's really messed up when the refs decide to take the game into their hands. Same play, different calls.
Notice how the out of bound line doesn't apply to Scola?
If the seventy-sixers had played better tonight or against the Timberwolves offensively, the referees would not be in a position to, as you say, decide it.
There is no one to blame but the players on the roster, the coaching staff, and the front office for the roster. They bear the blame as a whole. Not the officials, not luck, not destiny.
Each player and coach needs to take a look in the mirror and make a commitment over the break to be offensively, to be more intelligent offensively
Personally, I would prefer the various players involve take this weekend off and focus on not being terrible
hehe home court advantage
Lou, what the fuck are you doing? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?
referring to what? i'm lost
Letting the ball go out of bounds
Standing there and watching the ball go out of bounds when it was clearly off Thad.
philly ball; cmon zebras
Ru kidding me???!!!! The all star break couldnt come any sooner. Wow!!!!!
Well that was a dumb foul.
Still can't get over that and one for Lowry. After calling a flop charge for him on the other end...
Man.
Sixers enter All-Star break with 5 game losing streak.
Goat of the game: Evan Turner; his ineptitude allowed the boss (and Meeks) to play a record 33+ MINUTES EACH!!! to comp for Jrue's foul trouble.
Rockets 91-Sixers 84.
Sixers officially out of gas at this point. Anticipating much trade speculation over the break.
Differential was close
Wish I was wrong.
So Brian James is the offensive mastermind? He's calling the play in the huddle.
PHI 87, HOU 93 Final.
Five days to think about this mess. Collins better install some fucking plays.
Vucevic is better than I expected him to be. POTG
Yep, he outplayed Sam by a mile. Had more blocks than Dalembert.
I think we're going to see a different team after the All-Star break....a move is coming after this 5 game skid. I really think / hope so. Just hope we come out on the better end, whatever it is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Palmer Read the last sentence in her Referee career
1. i do think this is bad stretch, we were hot for most of the season now were cold, every team has this I think the break will do us fine.
2. Spencer Hawes if and when he comes back this season will be a plus, funny how a guy we hoped would not accept his 1 year deal is going to be a major plus when he comes back.
3. The team seemed to play cold after the alleged evan turner/collins dispute. I keep reading comments about et squandering major opportunities is the previous games. Evan Turner knows what he is capable of, his major opportunity came last year when he showed he was the future in the heat playoff series. Collins likes his rotation, i dont blame collins, its working, Turner looks like he doesn't want to play collins.
4. That leaves me to my last, Collins I think has done irreversible damage to turner and it has hurt his coaching because playing turner 15-20 minutes a game has forced him to play a nbdl player 30+ minutes and forced to play lou more minutes and making lou work harder on both ends of the floor which i think is causing lou to play like bad lou for this long. The sixers will be better at some point especially with hawes coming back.
If we make a trade i do believe turner will be involved, you can see him and collins don't get along and at this point collins has more power in the front office and the locker room.
Ugly first 30+ minutes of this game. I enjoyed watch most of the final qtr. Though that part was intense and well played by both teams. That the ending was so influenced by 50/50 calls going the wrong way was unfortunate- but that is the risk you take being in a tight game on the road.
Short term I think this team is not really headed for anything. maybe a first round playoff win, maybe not. Long term I'm hoping Vuce is becoming a reasonably good staring NBA center- although he has a lot to learn in terms of how to use his size defensively. But even with Voose showing signs of turning into something- they still need to find some kind of high flying athletic PF. And I have mentioned how I am not sure Jrue will display pure PG skills if/wen they have the right weapons.
I guess if you need something to hang your hat on, it's that the defense is legit with more than a few weak links in the rotation. If that holds in the long run, then maybe you don't have to land a super-duper star to boost the offensive end. You can get a one-way offensive player or two to fix the offense. I guess that qualifies as a silver lining, though the team described probably isn't going to be a contender anyway.
Yeah, the defense has been impressive- especially considering their bigs (as in lack of.)
I guess it is part of being a fan that solid structural defense is just not all that exciting. Especially when it is not anchored by great bigs who close down the lane (like back when the Wallaces played for the Pistons.) But you cannot argue with the overall effectiveness of the Sixers D.
Of these five losses, I'm not sure how many of them they "should" have won. Probably 2 or 3. It's not as bad as it seems or feels right now, they just need to get healthy and figure some stuff out.
I guess the thing that bothers me so much is that w/ a team like this, with no one guy you can count on night in, night out, you kind have to hope to catch lightning in a bottle, right? Like you hope each night one of your eight or nine guys can catch fire and be your "superstar" for that night if you need one. Well, that's happened the past two games with Jrue and then Voose, but they stopped riding them. It's just frustrating, I guess.
Inability to ride the hot hand is one of DC's greatest flaws
totally
I understan the star by comittee idea- and it works to an extent given how many guys they have with the talent to step up.
The problem is that "real stars" have at least the potential to play like that for an entire game. While the "Sixers" stars tend to only rise up to that level for 1-2 qtrs- leaving it up to Collins to find the next available hero once the previous one peters out.
Also, when a real star is struggling you can usually keep going to them and be confident they will eventually get theirs. No such luxury for the Sixews. Many of there guys stay cold for entire games and longer
Will ET even be in the league after his rookie deal is up?