Not Nearly Enough At this time of year, 24 minutes of effort and desire is never, ever going to cut it. Not when you have pipe dreams of finishing with the #5 seed. The Sixers really shouldn't be patting themselves on the back for almost coming back from 20 down tonight, they should be embarrassed that they fell that far behind in such an important game. Well, my anger has subsided greatly after watching Dwyane Wade single-handedly give the Miami game to New Orleans. You can forget about the #4 seed, Atlanta beat Toronto tonight, but the Sixers are still very much alive for the #5 seed. Although it doesn't really look like they want it. OK, back to tonight's game. The first half was an epic disaster. No other way to say it. The Sixers showed no life, no game plan, no execution. Honestly, they looked like they were happy with their 40 wins and they'll just take them into the playoffs. The only player who showed me anything in the first half was Lou. He kept the team afloat for the entire second quarter, and by afloat, I mean he was keeping them within 20. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the second half, so before we move on, let's take a look at the rotations.  OK, now I tried to keep track of Andre Miller's defensive troubles throughout the game. I came up with three examples. Early in the first, he had Felton, Willie was on Radmanovic in the post. He moved around to front him, Felton immediately dribbled Miller into a Vlad screen, Willie was caught up top, Miller didn't fight over and it was an uncontested layup before the weak side help could react. Miller's fault? Probably. The other two I noticed were identical plays in the second half. On both occassions, Miller was on Augustin, he sucked down into the lane to help, and the Bobcats quickly set a screen on him, leaving Augustin wide open for threes. Miraculously, he missed both, but Miller shouldn't have been that far away from a shooter. Willie Green was unbelievable in the third quarter. He left the game to get stitches with 4:28 left in the first quarter and didn't return until the third. He came back with a vengence, though. I have never seen Willie Green play basketball like he did in that third quarter. It wasn't just the three threes, it was tenacious defense, hustling after rebounds, making the right decision with the ball. If that Willie...nevermind. It'll probably never happen again. Anyway, yes the second half comeback was fun to watch, but in the end, a loss is a loss. The Sixers had this game won and they couldn't get the stops or the hoops when they needed them down the stretch. They were underdogs coming in because Vegas knows more about the Sixers than I do, apparently. I will say that I was impressed with Speights' play down the stretch. One rotational move that I'll never fully understand. When DiLeo was going offense/defense in the final minute, he went with Greeen over Ivey. I just don't understand that. Ivey is clearly a superior defender. It doesn't compute. Player of The Game: Willie Team Record: 40-37 Up Next: @ Chicago on Thursday night on TNT. One more quick thought. Late in the fourth quarter, Andre Iguodala spotted a gross mismatch with Augustin on Miller on the opposite side of the floor. He took the ball from Williams on the wing, dribbled over and got the ball to Miller. He scored. The next time down the floor, they used a pick to get Augustin on Iguodala. He scored, easily. The next time down the floor, Augustin was on Miller again, but they didn't go to him. In fact, they never attacked that mismatch again, even though it was there. I don't get it. Why not ride that until LB is forced to make an adjustment? Latest Posts• Baby Steps For Thad • Games Of Interest • Not Nearly Enough • Will They Be Hungry? • Learning From Mistakes • Get Yer Playoff Tix This Morning • The Final 6 • On Second Thought • Max Effort • Put Away The Brooms • Numero Uno? • Winning Is The Only PrioritySearchBlogs in The NetworkSixers BlogsPassion and Pride Sixers 4 Guidos Liberty Ballers Recliner GM PhillyArena Heard In The Cheap Seats | ||||||||||||||||
I went to the Flyers game tonite (my first NHL game in over 10 years) and they won (clinched a playoff place). Sounds like it was a good choice.
So, did Lou still play well in the 2nd half?
He wasn't bad, but nothing like the first. Willie got an extended run, so Lou didn't get in there until the 4th quarter. I haven't even checked the box score yet to see what his final line looked like.
sometimes Lou really reminds me of iverson. that drive late in the 4th where he bounced off like 4 guys to get to the rim was prototypical ai. he obviously isn't as good, but his style is almost exactly the same. it's kind of weird.
The one thing that I noticed right away when looking at the rotations was that the team was + each time Dalembert was on the court.
That could be a little misleading. He was out of there very quickly in the first w/ 2 fouls (+1), then he came back in the second when Lou was kicking ass (+5), then he benefited from Willie Green's explosion in the third (+13).
His play was pretty unremarkable to me tonight, although he did have a couple of defensive rebounds that no one else on the team would've gotten. A couple tough ones in traffic. So maybe he did contribute to the plus/minus. God knows no one else could secure a defensive board to save their lives.
"One rotational move that I'll never fully understand. When DiLeo was going offense/defense in the final minute, he went with Greeen over Ivey. I just don't understand that. Ivey is clearly a superior defender. It doesn't compute."
Disagree. I think Ivey's one of the most continually overrated defenders on the team. I think he's, at best, an average defender. I'm not sure if it's the effort he gives that gives him the reputation, or the fact that since he's so bad offensively, people just assume that he's a very good defender, or what that gets him overrated. But I think Willie's a better defender, particularly at denying penetration.
Personally, I think last night was an aberration for Willie on both sides of the ball and I think Ivey has consistently been the best on-the-ball defender all season long among the guards. Not sure how we can quantify this, though.
I think we are missing Thad, BIG TIME. I doubt anyone disagrees?
They definitely miss Thad, it becomes most notable when they go through long dry stretches on the offensive end. I don't think we realized how often he'd be the guy to carry them through those.
Brian, I really think this group needs a coach that holds players accoutable defensively and effortwise before they can become a championship contender.Do you think E.S.is going to bring in a dominent personality [ex.A.Johnson] or will he go the L.Frank route here.The roster obviously can!t change much.
To be honest with you, I think L. Frank is a much better coach than Avery.
As for who coaches going forward, I'm really not sure. As I said earlier, I think DiLeo has performed well enough to earn another year, but I don't think that would necessarily be the best option for the team going forward. It's going to be a tough decision. I will say that I don't think I want Eddie Jordan. I would like Van Gundy, but I may be in the minority there. Hubie Brooks?
I don't know, there are a ton of names floating around out there. For the time being, I'm going to try to focus on the final 5 games.
I agree we need to focus on the games at hand. I do agree w/ you Brian the Dileo has done a very good job and I do believe he has earned another year if he wants. I saw on TV how he compared to the other coaches this year, he by far exceeds all others in games won and turnaround. Could possibly our complaints improve if he has the summer to get set up for next year? Tony D is very smart and I believe it is a strong possiblity they do change things for the better. I also believe, if Tony is the coach, they will do everything to compete next year since there is no transition and he has earned the right to demand more from the sixers.
Enough, back to the games at hand.
Ratliff was minus-23 in 29 1/2 minutes. That's almost as bad as Speights the game before (-28 in 15 minutes).
Regardless of who the coach is next year (and my sense is it won't be DiLeo), there are two huge issues facing him -- not counting if Miller is back or not:
1) What to do with Elton Band.
2) How to make it work with two natural small forwards (Iguodala and Young).
Do you think DiLeo goes back to his post in the front office, or do you think he looks for a coaching job elsewhere?
Good thing we arent going to play the Nets or Bobcats in the playoffs...we just cant seem to beat these teams...no mattter what. Dileos a good X's and O's guy but seems to be a poor motivator. Cheeks was the opposite...Anyhow...I expect an early exit in the playffs(no matter who we play) with maybe one lucky close win. Losing brand and thad I guess its considered a good year...I doubt we would have done much more even with those guys. Maybe win two games in the first round instead of one...but thats about it. What do you guys think ? Successful season ?
Still up in the air for me. If they completely fold the rest of the way and finish w/ the exact same record as last season and the #7 seed, I won't consider it a successful regular season.
If they get out of the first round, I'll consider it a very successful season in whole.
Based on the Sixers strong second half last year, I think most people saw them as a 45-48 win team this year without brand, and about a 50 win team with him.
So I'd say anything under 44 wins is pretty disappointing. But winning a 1st round series would be a good step- but that's only going to happen as a 4 or 5 seed.
Quick guards on the Nets and Bobcats... the Sixers just can't cover them.
quickguards and the sixers seem to get outrebounded in these games as well. I dont care what the sixers do the rest of this season....if they get out of the first round its absolutely a successful season.
Heres what I will bet my money on...
42-40 finish...6 or 7 seed...win one game against the celtics or magic. Thad tries to come back when they are about to be eliminated---doesnt matter they get eliinated anyway. See you next season....
So what is your pessimistic, worst case scenario :)
My guess, Brian, is that DiLeo will be back in the front office next year. Don't know that he has enough cache around the league to get another job.