 Iguodala Won't Settle For A Loss I'm going to keep the post mortem short and sweet for this one. The Sixers played an uninspired game against the Memphis Grizzlies tonight. They allowed the Grizzlies to humiliate them on the boards, hang around through three quarters and actually take the lead late in the fourth. Then Andre Iguodala happened. In the final 2:14, Iggy put the team on his back. He scored 9 points and absolutely locked down O.J. Mayo on the most-important defensive possession of the game.
Andre Miller kept them in the game throughout, but when Iguodala realized the game was in question at the end, he would not be denied. This was a superstar effort. We shouldn't overlook Sammy's fourth quarter either. He was all over the floor on defense, and absolutely would not allow Memphis to convert any easy layups. He gave hard fouls on consecutive plays, and had a key block on a Warrick drive. Royal Ivey also made his presence felt on the defensive end down the stretch. Thanks to the Andres, the Sixers will head into the break riding high on a four-game win streak, and also with the tiebreaker edge for the #5 seed. All's well that ends well. Player of The Game: Iguodala Team Record: 27-24 Up Next: @ Indy, after the break Check back later for Mike's first-person report. 
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Iggy is my MAN!
Huge finish for Iggy. Of course, there will be people who'll say he should've done it sooner. They'll probably be the same people who usually say he doesn't do it when it matters, but you can't please everyone, I guess.
Excellent game when it counted for Iggy. He was lebron-esque with his clutch shots down the stretch and was Koby-esque on the defensive end when it came down to locking down OJ. VERY impressive. Nice to see Sammy step up as well.
One of my favorite simmons columns, the trade value column, just came out today and Iggy didn't even make honorable mention. He must be crazy because he has rajon rondo at 26, talk about a homer. There is no way in hell that Andre Iguodala isn't a top 20 player in the nba let alone top 40 in trade value.
I saw that too. Bullshit.
My best guess is that he was left off because of the contract. Still B.S.
I notice he spent a full paragraph making fun of Josh Smith's career 25% three-point percentage, but nowhere in his verbal blow job of Rajon Rondo does he mention the identical 25% three-point percentage.
There are very few people with credibility and intelligent discourse working at ESPN - Bill Simmons doesn't even make the honorable mention to make the alternates of the 3rd team of said list.
BTW - this rebounding nonsense HAS TO STOP - against a bad team it makes too close a game, against a good team you will get waxed
There aren't too many teams in the league you're going to beat with rebounding like last night's. That was easily the worst they've looked all season on the glass, I hope someone addresses that in the next 6 days. They were already mentally on break.
I do love Simmons..hes hysterical and I think he is a fairly knowledgeable guy about basketball and a lot of other sports. Lets be honest here guys..Iggys playing like an all-star..NOW...1st half of the season he was pretty bad.
I watch sixer games whenever I can but let me ask you...is this scoring in the clutch that Iggys been doing a new thing ? I mean was he doing this at the end of games last year too ?
I can think of one game he won at the buzzer last season, in Memphis. Otherwise, I don't really recall too many opportunities either way. They had 9 games decided by 3 points or less all of last season, so I'm not sure how many opportunities he got.
They've had 9 already this season, so he's had more opportunities. Without looking it up, I'd say he's been much better in the role this year. I know I feel a lot more comfortable when the ball is in his hands at the end of games now.
Oh goody - the clutch discussion - it's so much fun in baseball
Much like baseball, it's a confidence thing, IMO. I'm not a big fan of "clutch" doesn't exist arguments.
Someone at 82 game tried to do 'clutch' research and came up with Iguodala being one of the msot clutch players in the game - they used actual statistics. There's no way to measure 'clutchitude' - it's like 'gritty' or 'veteran' or my other favorite 'plays the game the right way' that makes people over value the career of a guy like Robert Horry or in baseball David Eckstein.
The best player on the team more often than not is the guy you want to go to in the 'clutch' situation - he's more likely to score, or draw the foul, or whatever, clutch is a nebulous idea that can't really be proven to any certainty or accetability due to not only a small sample size but the decision on what is and isn't clutch and when.
Why can't an assist be clutch? The shooter gets the credit but if chris paul makes a pass no one else would have seen to FIND the open shooter WAITING in his ideal spot to shoot - why isn't Chris Paul the clutch passer.
But - there's already a discussion about it on LB - no need to get into it again - I don't debate it exists - to a point - but i dion't think it's measurable or consistent - if kobe bryant is 0 for his first 25 and lamar odom is 25 for 25 in a game - do you go with who is more clutch historically (bryant) or the guy who hasn't missed all night?
In baseball it's more ridiculous because it's used to decide things like player value and contract :)
Completely agree on assists. To be honest with you, I think the best "clutch" play Iguodala has made over the past several weeks came against New Jersey when he hit Andre Miller right under the hoop for a point-black layup. He drew the defense and delivered a tough pass which should've won the game for them, but Miller hesitated and had it blocked.