Tonight's
115-99 loss to the Orlando Magic came down to two things:
- The Sixers are not very good at defending the three
- The Orlando Magic got especially hot from downtown.
Beyond that, not much analysis is needed. Orlando shot 15/33 beyond the arc. I really don't know what you can do about that. If a team is willing to take better than 40% of its shots from deep when they have a weapon like Dwight Howard down low, I guess you just take your hat off to them when they hit 45% of them. I would've liked to have seen better rotation to the better shooters, but many of the shots were contested. Take your hat off and be grateful that tomorrow night they face a team who shoots the three almost as badly as the Sixers do, the Miami Heat.
Tonight was Thad's first really bad night on the offensive side, but he made up for it by locking down Rashard Lewis. When Thad was on the bench in the fourth Lewis got hot, hitting 4 consecutive shots. The rest of the game he was only 2/12. Iguodala and Miller led the Sixers in scoring with 25 and Lou chipped in with a solid 18 off the bench.
Tomorrow night is a must-win. Can't let games slip away against the dregs of the league and expect to make the playoffs. The Nets and Wizards lost tonight, the Hawks are playing a late game in Golden State and leading early.
One final thought that I hope the Sixers will take to heart. Missed free throws make me want to cry. Please, please, please concentrate.
Player of The Game: Andre Iguodala
Team Record: 24-32
Down by 6 yesterday with 8 minutes to go in the 4th, what does the sixers beautifil offence do? They hold the ball for the first 15 seconds, make one pass then it's the sound of one of the sixers assistants shouting 5,4,3,2,1, What kind of an offense is this? Hey I love Mo, as a former sixers player and as the coach who gets this team to run through a wall for him but someone needs to take the bullet for this horse-shit style half court offense that they run. It took you 40 games to realize that Thad should be starting Mo, will it take you another 40 games to figure out that he should have more plays called for him because even at the tender young age of 19 he is easily your most skilled inside the paint scorer.
Hard to argue with that. They look completely lost in the half court, and they didn't even use their most reliable weapon in the half court (Miller in the post, especially with Nelson on him) at all.
Against the T-Wolves they ran a couple sets with Thad flashing to the foul line, catching and facing the hoop there with guys cutting off him. Try that once in a while. Try him in the post with Rashard Lewis or Hedo on him. Post up Iguodala, run a pick and roll w/ Thad. Do something, it's mass confusion in the half court, just put some structure in, it can't be any less productive.
Maybe this is what happens when your ballyhooed franchise player "shooting guard" can't score in the halfcourt.
I'm more offended by the use of the word ballyhooed than the quotes around shooting guard :)
As constructed, they are garbage in the half court, that's pretty well established. With some kind of offensive weapon at the 4, Thad at the 3 and Iguodala at the 2, it should be a different story, especially if Iguodala goes from being the #1 option on offense to number 2 or even number 2A if Thad steps up on the offensive side of the ball.
Right now, as you saw in the 4th quarter tonight (against Miami), teams can double Iguodala anywhere he gets the ball. He isn't Iverson, he can't split double teams and wreak havoc with regularity. They need another weapon and someone else to step up, probably Thad.
I've been trying to keep track of how the team performs with Iguodala at the 2, but they hardly ever use that lineup. They used it against the Knicks for about 2:30 in the first quarter the other night, the Sixers went on a 12-4 run. Of course there were about 10 different stretches of time where they went on a 12-4 run in that game, so it doesn't really mean anything.
By the way, I enjoy your comments immensely. Keep them coming, they keep me honest and make me look at things from a different perspective. Great job.