The
Sixers have been talking about bad calls, non-calls and officiating since last night's loss. They've been delicate in choosing their words, and I don't really know if they should be. I do know that Detroit didn't commit one defensive foul in the entire fourth quarter, so draw whatever conclusions you will from that. I'm not going to worry myself with poor officiating. To be honest, I'm more shocked when the refs do a good job these days, and I count myself lucky whenever I'm lucky enough to turn the TV on and see that Violet Palmer is not on the floor. After the jump, we'll look at the stretch that cost the Sixers the game.
OK, let's forget the whistles. This 4:53 period in the fourth quarter sunk the Sixers, and I don't really think bad calls had a whole lot to do with it.
Andre Iguodala made two spectacular plays in a row, first taking a defensive rebound coast-to-coast for a layup, then picking off a pass and driving right down the court for a dunk. At that point (9:56 to go) the Sixers were up 89-83 and the Pistons took a 20-second timeout to regroup.
Here are the offensive possessions the Sixers had following Iguodala's dunk:
- Reggie Evans comes off a down screen for a 17-foot jumper from just beyond the foul line. He misses.
- Marreese Speights passes on an open 15-footer, dribbles into the lane and takes an off balance lefty scoop from about 8 feet away. He misses.
- Lou misses an 18-foot jumper
- Iguodala gets called for a travel, then gets a technical called on him.
- Lou misses a layup in traffic.
- DiLeo calls a timeout with the Sixers now trailing 89-91. Out of the timeout, Andre Miller dribbles into a three-point attempt with 3 seconds left on the shot clock, he misses.
Over that stretch, Detroit went to the line 5 times, grabbed three offensive rebounds and outscored the Sixers 10-0. That was the ballgame.
The mistakes didn't end there, but when Iguodala slammed home that dunk you saw some celebration going on out there. You saw the Sixers relax, thinking they had the game in the bag. The following possessions were lazy. They didn't work for good shots. When they finally got their act together, it was too late. The refs didn't help, but the Sixers really have no one to blame but themselves for this loss. It's never easy to win on the road, but you make it very easy for refs to give calls to the home team when you stop forcing the issue down the stretch.
Here's a link to the gameflow: http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20090329&game=PHIDET
Not to beat a dead horse, but Evans and Ivey cannot be on the floor for 6+ minutes to close the 3rd and open the 4th. That's asking too much of Lou, Iguodala and Speights. maybe when Speights was on his game that would constitute enough offense- but not now. Not in a close game with huge playoff implications.
I'm not saying never use those two... just be more creative so that they are used separately, or at least alongside veteran offensively gifted teammates.
Another option is to stop passing the ball to reggie on offense. It's the coach's fault he's out there. I blame the other guys for giving him the ball to some extent, though, as well.
Lou has questionable PG skills to start with. Now you team him with Evans (can't give him the ball) and two guys who can't shoot (Ivey and Iguodala) and you are putting him in a bad spot. When the two man game with Speights is going you can get away with it for a few possessions, but overall not a great line-up.
On the flip side, its good for Lou to be with two guys in Ivey and Iguodala who have good handles.
To be fair to DiLeo, its hard to find decent bench combos to hide their lack of shooting and professional scorers. Next year should be much easier with Brand back, along with Thad, Iguodala, Speights and Smith progressing as shooters/scorers. This should help the coach and Lou.
Yeah, when you try to work the minutes, you can obviously make it so you always have at least one Andre on the floor, but that's going to drastically limit the number of minutes you can have both Andres on the floor.
If only Speights was still hot, they could get away with Speights, Lou and Thad carrying the load on offense for stretches. But Speights is lost right now.
Assuming he is healthy, I would go with some stretches of Speights, Sam, Thad, Lou and Ivey. It might not be a great offensive team, but should rebound and generate fast break chances. It also should open some things up for lobs and post scoring give Speights, Thad and Sam all can finish either lobs or around the rim. It would least put more pressure on the opponent then when Evans is out there.
I have a gut feeling sam will be back tomorrow.
I like this lineup, I like any big lineup as a change of pace off the bench. I really don't consider a lineup w/ reggie at the four to be big, and any lineup w/ reggie at the 5 is laughable, in my opinion.
With Thad as the starting 4, a lineup with Reggie at the 4 is pretty big. :)
It's all relative :)
Speights, Sam, Thad, Lou and Ivey.
Who is throwing the lobs? Sixers have 2 guys that can do this... both are named Andre.
The team is simply running out of talent if Miller and/or Sammy can't play and Speights being lost.
Not perfect, but far preferable to Evans, Speights, Thad, Ivey, Lou or Ratliff, Evans, Thad, Ivey, Lou when you have both Andres on the bench, I think.
I'm not really disagreeing. I was just being an ass. Tough habit to break.
I think that keeping 2 of Andre, Miller, Sammy, and Thad on the court at all times should be pretty much mandatory. Those are your best 4 players pretty much.(and Brand)
I wish I could see more Spurs games to see their substitution patterns. See a master at work...
He's been resting duncan big time this season.
Thad can drive and throw the lob. Lou can run the pick and roll with Speights, then pass to Sam if he draws his defender. Much better than when Evans is the other big. Evan's man closes on Lou and what can he do? certainly not look for Evans to finish.
I would run this play: Thad top of key, Ivey weakside at 3pt line. Sam weakside baseline... Pick and roll Lou/Speights. then you get a jumper for Speights, and land for Lou, with Thad and Ivey spot up for 3 pts. if defenders rotate that opens an easy dunk or OBoard for Sam, and a driving lane for Thad off the pass.
Stop using the "p" word, we're talking about the Sixers :)
I still think that merely starting Iguodala at the 2 and relegating Lou/Willie/Ivey to 35 minutes combined a night would solve more problems than just about anything else.
It won't ever happen though it seems. So thinking about the merits of playing Speights 5 more minutes with the starting group at the expense of Reggie really doesn't do much for me.
Running more plays? That would be cool.
OT: http://busersports.com/ look at the poll. Speights getting some love.
also, tk, you think you will win that realgm fantasy basketball league?
I was told not to mention any more plays... esp not for Thad. it would go against company policy.
It would be great to see Iguodala at Sg, but if they have not gone to that yet, there's little chance we will see that until next year. So I guess for now I say give Sammy some of Evan's minutes with the 2nd team. you know, the whole lesser of two evil thing.
As for the realGM league, It would be better to be a few points back and make a late run. I'm pretty much peaked in the individual cat standings, so I'm guessing someone will pass me in the last week. Lou's the Man would be running away with it if he actually was playing. He has some positions with 25 games unused. Joe, what team is yours?
BTW, I'm 10th in the Philaphan board league. I need to learn how to play better at H2H.
No worse feeling than running out of games. I'm in the lead in the blogs by fans league, but went over the game max the other night. Just sitting there waiting for someone to catch and pass me.
I'm the team .5 back from you.(jmon from realgm board)
Philasfinest would have run away with the title I think. He hasn't put his lineup in all year and is right there.
I'm pretty surprised I am competing. I made a ton of poor decisions. Picking up Thabo was not one of them though.
I don't like having so many teams. Much harder to get productive FA pick-ups (but there are some) and too much competition.
I'm happy with my trades (getting Howard and Thornton. Otherwise I tried to draft extra C's and PG's knowing there would be shortages. Overall I think I missed out on some chances to do better.
BTW, I always get too many TO's. Didi you intentionally draft to try and be good at that cat?
Also, I'd say you have a great shot, but given you just went +3 today, that probably means you have some risk of falling back.
Did I intentionally go after TOs? No, but I did treat them as though they were a category as much as points are a category. As the draft progressed, I found that turnovers weren't being respected enough, so they kind of grew into a strength and allowed me to not go after points, which are so competitive.
Brian,
You ran out of games? Don't you have Lebron? Is Lebron sitting on your bench right now? Please don't tell me that...
they're all rotting on my bench right now.
I wonder if Lou would look alot better if he did not have Reggie on the floor with him?
I think most offensive players would look better if they didn't have to share the floor w/ Reggie.
I wonder if Reggie's defensive rating is hurt by sharing the floor with Lou so much, though.
Reggie's team defensive rebound rate is not great- and I know that playing all those minutes next to Speights has a lot to do with it.
Than again Sam plays next to Young, and yet the team rebound rate when Sam is on the floor is good (per 82games.)
Notice one other thing about that series of possessions Brian highlighted? No shots (or touches) for Thad. If you read Michael Curry's response about the game (where he talked about Thad being like Marion - an impossible match up), Thad was the one he was the most worried about and the Sixers defused that themselves (by not giving him the ball in crunch time). If he were having an off game, then it is understandable (maybe) not going to him but when he's hot and they don't go to him it doesn't make sense.
On the positive note, it appears Thad is starting to round out his game. He's been rebounding and passing better (especially passing) lately. When Brand (someone who can convert) comes back, I'd not be surprised to see Thad average 3-5 assists a game.
On the last note, the Sixers need to go back to the basics on defense as whatever they are doing isn't working and it isn't as they aren't quick enough to stick with their man. They are letting the opposition shot a really high percentage. If this problem doesn't get fixed they'll be one and done in the playoffs for sure.
This post just makes me wonder whta we will be saying 9 months from now...
I'm guessing it will be something along the lines of...
"We really need a point guard that can drill 3s(and defend?) and some additional shooting from a wing(and defense?) off the bench."
With Brand, Iguodala, and Thad,(and Speights) I don't think "playmaking" will be too big of a deal, especially once Thad (and Speights) learn how to play more.
The team is one Chris Paul away from a championship. :)
If Ed could con the Hornets to give us Chris Paul or one of the PGs coming out is Chris Paul's doppelganger I'd say we'd be on our way for sure. I'm surprised Miller isn't averaging a lot more assists as this team has a lot of finishers.
Speaking of defense, or lack there of, have ya'll noticed how Miller defends these days. He stands there and looks as the guy shoots. He is not really even near the guy anymore. He does not even raise his hands to block it. It is pathetic IMO. There is definitely something wrong w/ him.
Yup, he really isn't doing a lot of things he did earlier in the year on either side of the ball.
Yeah, he is injured. I think it just is what it is and he is still better than the other options.
Yeah, they have no prayer w/ out him. Do your best to hide him on defense and hope he can hold out for the rest of the year. Still hopeful that they can somehow get him some rest in the last couple games, but that's doubtful.
Joe,
sadly you are correct at this time. But I do wonder if the coach should try cutting his minutes and run Rush some to see if it works out better for all. We really have a weak bench, don't we?
This won't help for this year but this is the guy the Sixers could use (draft):
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/9398010/Florida-guard-Calathes-to-test-NBA-waters
Jeff Teague, Stephon Curry, Darren Collison are the 3 point guards who's names I'm going to be following throughout the predraft process most. They all intrigue me for different reasons.
Good luck on Teague. He's subject not to come out with his 2nd half of season. I watched all but 5-7 of their games this year. He freezes up when Ish Smith (their other point) comes in the game as if he doesn't know how to operate if he isn't dominating the ball. As with most of these points, he will need a lot of seasoning.
Looks like he'd be there at 15-17, where the Sixers will be picking. While this draft looks pretty weak, there is depth at the point and it looks like there are some points who can shoot as well. I like Maynor, and I think I like Collison as well as Calathes.
Anyone know much about Willie Warren? http://www.nbadraft.net/players/willie-warren
Could Elington be a PG at the NBA level?
As you can tell, don't watch much college ball anymore.
I think Ellington seems pretty much like a straight shooting guard. He outmeasured OJ Mayo a little bit. I'd say he projects like a Courtney Lee type of player without the defense and "toughness."
Why didn't we draft Courtney in the first place? It was kinda obvious from last season that we needed some shooting.
Did Orlando get him in the second round? I don't think we had a second rounder, that may explain it, somewhat.
Warren said recently that he was staying b/c he wanted to see how good he is w/o Blake Griffin and that he never wanted to be 'a one and done' player.
Coming around a l'il bit on Maynor, huh? He is a gamer.
D-Wade show in Miami. Heat are up 87-85 against Orlando with 4:33 remaining.
Nice to see they actually want the #5 spot.
Things have taken a turn for the worse down there. Orlando up 5 with less than a minute to go.
The doors keep opening for the Sixers. And each time they give an opportunity away I get more upset.
B,
Iggy got a T for chirping at a ref about a what? travel call?
Reggie Evans got a T for what? pushing Maxiell after Evans got called for a travel after catching his own airballed layup attempt.
and they're still complaining about the officials? there's a time and place to complain about officials but when your team leader gets a T for arguing a stupid traveling call, he loses all credibility to complain about the refs in the postgame press session. there were plenty of times to put the Pistons away but the team gave away possessions. You commented on it, I saw it, it happened.
Until this team stops giving away possessions, they will not be in a position where any contender fears them.
Yeah, that was pretty much the point of this post. Not the turnovers so much, because they haven't really been a problem, but more the fact that they threw away five minutes in the fourth quarter with poor decisions and laziness. The calls didn't help, but blaming the zebras is a convenient way of ignoring your own culpability.
As for the playoffs, I kind of hope no one is afraid of us. That's when they play their best ball, with their backs against the wall and something to prove. Now why don't you guys take care of Orlando, we'll handle Boston and we'll see you in the second round :)