Unless you consider Jodie Meeks the savior this team needed, the Philadelphia 76ers team that takes the floor tonight will be the same one the Miami Heat thoroughly embarrassed on Tuesday. Will the stability of knowing they won't have to move to a new city settle the nerves of the players? Will that stability breed consistency on the floor? Or will the realization that they're stuck on this team, with this coach lead to more apathy? Preview and game thread after the jump.
The Spurs are in the middle of their fabled rodeo trip. They currently hold the #5 seed in the West. If you're a believer in San Antonio, they're playing opossum through the regular season, not exerting themselves too much. Limiting minutes to their big three, trying to keep their older legs feeling younger when the games really matter. If you're a non-believer, Richard Jefferson clearly hasn't worked out, they're a year older and their championship team may have sailed. Either way, they're a better team than the Sixers.
Fortunately, the Sixers always seem to play the Spurs well. Last season the Sixers took this game from San Antonio, and almost swept them (they would've if not for a miracle o-board, 18-footer from the baseline by Tony Parker). Sam Dalembert has been Tim Duncan's nemesis, especially down the stretch of tight games over the past couple of seasons.
Willie Green is out tonight, Meeks passed his physical and will be in uniform. It officially took one game for Iverson to work his way back into the starting lineup, here are your matchups:
Jrue vs. Tony Parker - Can the kid keep TP out of the lane? (I tried to work TP and clog into the same sentence, but no such luck), Or will Iverson get switched onto Parker?
George Hill vs. Iverson - Hmmn. I'm going with youth over experience here. Hill has a size advantage as well, though not as much as most two guards.
Iguodala vs. Jefferson - AI9, no question.
Brand vs. Bonner (or McDyess) - Bonner spreads the floor, which is a problem for Brand. McDyess is old. Brand should be able to score easily on either, unless Duncan takes him on the defensive end.
Sammy vs. Duncan - Can Sammy do it on his own? He's been allowed to in the past, not sure how Jordan will play it, or if Sammy will even be on the floor when the game is being decided.
Bench - Advantage San Antonio, big advantage.
Coach - Heh.
Key to The Game: Three-point shooters, contest everything, especially the corner three. Who will contain Parker when Jrue's out of the game?
If ________________ the Sixers will win: Fewer minutes for the Iverson/Lou combo than the Brand/Dalembert combo.
This is your game thread, I'll be right here throughout. Join me if you watched the Tiger Woods farce earlier today (or even if you didn't.)
Is Jodie playing today? I think i'm one of the few who thinks he'll be good.
Eddie Jordan's quote on Meeks, "Maybe he'll play if we're up 30." from Kate Fagan on Twitter.
Wondering if the pitifully low interest level in this team has actually dropped lower after yesterday.
Yes Brian, for many yesterday was the actual point of hitting rock bottom. Great point on Sammy versus Duncan, he always gives him trouble blocking his shots without any help.
Magee in response to the other post your saying that if we could have gotten rid of Sammy for a 2nd rounder last year that it would have been a stupid move? LOL next time I go and read one of your long ass fan blogs please pass me whatever you stuffed into that pipe of yours. It would have been Stefanski only good move.
Alright, we're off.
Man, SAS is really, really small here. Parker, Bogans, Hill, Duncan, Bonner.
Jrue in rhythm.
Good start for Jrue and AI9, no one else has hit a shot yet.
Brand finally hit one.
Decent basketball being played now. Pop looks pissed off.
If you're team wanted to contend in the west wouldn't you be pissed off if you ever were behind to this team?
I'm all for raising women's heart disease awareness, but using it to try to sell tickets WITHOUT donating a portion of the proceeds to the cause, is pretty poor form:
"Special "Go Red Diva" ticket package available for $95; includes 2 club box tickets, 2 salads, 2 glasses of wine, and 2 red boas"
http://www.nba.com/sixers/news/76ers_wear_red_uniforms_100215.html
Actually - that package is pretty poor form - 2 red boas? Sixers PR department might want to hire someone without a penis?
Ha! Seriously, that really is a lame promotion.
Feed from EB to SD for the dunk. Nice play, Brand had a 15-footer, but didn't settle, good to see.
Jrue is really feeling good, 4/5 from the floor.
The way that Jrue attacked Duncan on the fast break a few plays ago was textbook. I'd like to see Thad go that strong and right at the shot-blocker.
Extending Jrue a little bit here. Unfortunately we have Speights at the five and Thad at the four.
It's becoming clear who is deciding who plays, so just fire the coach and make the GM Be the actual coach
Jesus, Blair is going to eat those two alive. Not to mention neither of them is going to be challenging shots.
There's no reason Speights shouldn't be able to guard Blair - he's got him on height and he's not frail -= he's just useless defensively
Well, this did look like a pretty good quarter until the bench came in.
I wonder how many games you've used that same sentiment in this year.
All of 'em?
But thank god the GM believes the sixers are close right?
That's a shame, going that small up front killed a very good quarter before that.
Down by uno after uno. Had a seven-point lead until Speights was subbed in for Sammy, then Thad for Brand. Ugh.
Wondering how long Jordan's going to stick with that front court.
On the bright side, only 1 turnover by PHI and 0 offensive boards for san antonio.
Wow, this is some sick defense being played right now.
Wide fucking open layups. Lou doing absolutely nothing to even slow down parker off the dribble.
I love how Zumoff was praising Blair after that bucket. Speights just jet him catch and lay it in. That looked like he was playing for Schenley in high school.
Fucking touch foul. God damnit, I hate that shit. Fucking wrap him up if you're going to foul him.
Do you think EJ meant tonight or the entire season when he said "I don't think he's going to be in the rotation"?
Via Kate Fagan:
"Asked if Meeks would get any run tonight, Jordan said: "I think if we’re up 30, he may get in, that’s probably what I’m looking at right now. I don’t think he’s going to be in the rotation, but you never know."
I don't know how you can keep a straight face when you're interviewing that douche.
Jrue back in already, man I hope Willie's injury keeps him out for months.
Speights scores then lets Blair score. That's Eddie Jordan basketball right there.
He also loves it when Lou wildly sprints the ball up the floor off makes.
Anyone see that accidental rebound Thad just grabbed? Look what I found!
bullshit foul right there.
Sammy!
Damnit Lou, that's possibly the first time you've overpassed on a fast break in your life.
Great outlet by Jrue and a nice find by him to Sammy posting in the lane. Kid's just got instincts.
+15 w/ Sammy on the floor now.
Real good lineup here too.
any news on willie's injury and how long he will be out?
Forever, I hope.
oh man me too
Dumb pass by Jrue there and too much dribbling.
Bad decision by Jrue.
Jrue followed it up with a nice spin for a banker.
Man, that got ugly fast. 10-2 run by SAS.
Come on, be aware Jrue.
He got the ball w/ 3 seconds left on the SC, and beat the buzzer. That wasn't his fault.
But he had the look and open shot when he first got the ball and the clock was low already then too. He dribbled his way into a ended-up tougher shot that he had to force b/c of the buzzer.
In other words, he got it with more than three I think b/c someone on the staff was calling out around five sec left from the bench and he had it then,... I think. He should have been aware of the clock already being at five and took that open look he had as soon as he caught it.
I think he got it at three, took that one dribble, then put it up. Pulling hairs here. Either way, not his fault, he got it very late in the clock.
But it wasn't placing fault, it was wanting him to be better. Nothing wrong with that.
I will be....just foul him hard after you hear that whistle, Dre.
Nine turnovers in this quarter, I believe Jrue has 3. Man, that was a disappointing finish to the half right there.
Parker was 1/7 in the first half. The 1 being a drive right by Lou for an uncontested layup. Jrue didn't let him in the paint at all and had a hand in his face on all his jumpers.
Good first half for Jrue, a couple bad plays w/ the ball on the offensive end, but overall a very strong half of basketball.
Blair just has an enormous advantage over Speights and Thad, that matchup is going to kill us all game.
Pretty good half by Jrue, not great. I hate turnovers and as a PG they are really important and he had 2 real bad ones. Everything else positive though. The shot at the end wasn't his fault.
At least he's been allowed to play through it so far.
Alright, good start to the third +1 for EB, off a nice feed from AI9 (I think).
I thought the pass was for Sammy. It looked tricky when it happened.
Come on AI, letting his man leak in the paint. Pinckney afraid to call it like that, skirting around it. heh
You expect Iverson to play defense - now?
It was off the ball.
Come on man, you're responding to a comment based off of live action, but it's two hours later. You're not privy to the context.
Ugh, 10 more FTA for SAS.
Is Sammy in Duncan's head?
Well, that's four on Sammy, so I guess not.
They look like they want to win this game. That's a good sign. Looked like that pretty much all night.
Well..., except for when Lou is in, sorry.
So many people look like they want to lose games when they play professional sports for a living
I hope you meant that.
I guess when you have 5,000 people in the stands there is no such thing as home court advantage.
Sammy just got tossed.
Good ball denial Jrue. ugh Dala misses a bunny and now a goaltend. shoot
You know what I'd like to see, a fight. that's what this team needs, IMO.
You know, I usually despise that crap, mainly for the sanctity of the game, but sadly I would like to see it too. I really would.
And if you eject someone, how do you eject Samuel Dalembert? I mean, Sammy?
Sammy was pissed, called him for two bullshit fouls in a row. Then he must've sworn at the ref in creole when they called brand for the offensive foul.
Brian, this collection of pussies would never get into a fight.
I'd still like to see it.
Remember when Hedu got in Sammys face last year during the playoffs? Sammy kissed him!
If only Snider would listen to Snyder...
On the collection of pussies tidbit.
of course, lou gives up the open three. of course.
8 feet away, he didn't even take a god damned step toward him.
Nice fucking D Lou, just stand there and watch your man drain a three.
This team is basically a collection of losers, from the owner right down to Lou Williams.
Thad seriously doesn't give a shit about defensive rebounding. No effort whatsoever. Please stop playing him at the four.
i honestly am starting to HATE lou. the fact that he keeps getting blown by on d over and over and over and then runs up and takes stupid asshole 18-20 footers 5 seconds into the shot clock pisses me off so much. i would have loved it sooo much if he got traded
Lou has been my least favorite player for a while now. Maybe the fans will start hating him instead of Iguodala and Sammy...
One can only hope
Yeah he may occasionally have good shooting nights like today, but considering the points he gives up and all the dumb (and selfish) plays, he usually does more harm than good.
And he thinks he's bloody great. That annoys me to no end.
SHeesh, a three at the buzzer....really is Thad good for much more than just getting you runouts? And hell he blows a third of them.
brand telling lou you gotta fight your way past these screens man. Lou just sticks to every pick.
They want this. And by they I pretty much mean Jrue, Brand and Iguodala.
Yep, Sammy too if he would have been left out there.
Well damn, Lou actually gave a good pass on a break. Mark that shit down, cause that's rare.
Great D. Get a fucking hoop here damnit.
Dag, EB, that was a weak attempt at that gimmie.
Down three heading to the fourth.
You know if you're going to go small, fuck Thad. I'd rather see Carney at the three and Iguodala at the four at this point. Thad's 2/6, he has 3 turnovers and 1 rebound in 15 minutes.
Funny, I totally agree and thought that at halftime after Thad's unimpressive first half. I want to see more Carney, to evaluate him and see could he offer more than Thad.
Enjoy this Brian, an article about a real team.
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/02/2010-preseason-top-30-prospects-21281/
Sweet Jrue! Lob!
Speights and Thad up front to start the fourth. F me.
I was just thinking when Marreese came in, JSmith is out and Brezec is gone and Elson is injured. Now with Sam out, who else can he put in? With Duncan or Blair in there.
No one. He'd have to ride Brand, on the first night of a b-to-b.
So as long as J is out, he has to get time. Whether good or bad is tbd, but he needs to show something.
Tie ball game. Thad w/ a steal, defensive board and a drive that resulted in free throws. Must be his twin brother out there.
lol....quote of the day!
It pains me to hear the PA guy go Looouuuuuuu after he makes a shot!
Cuz I really am thinking I hope he's copying me saying... eeewwwwwwwww!
Keep saying Lou, PA guy...LOL
Jrue's going to play 40+, game of the fucking year.
Ha, I was thinking the same thing.
Man, I didn't realize how fat no knees is.
Just imagine Wall out there with Jrue rather than Lou.
Lou even though I want you to go, I will still ride your ass to a victory. But we know it's shortlived.
Iguodala is too much man for anyone on the Spurs.
Zum: Andre, YES!.... kisssing that hand for good luck.
You know what, fuck it. Fuck the draft, fuck Jordan, fuck Stefanski. This is fun to watch right now.
It sure is!
Even Lou is trying.
He must be trying to impress some girl. I'll take it.
That damn Lou! Block on Mason jr
Holy passing.
38 fast break points. Wow.
See Lou what happens when you actually pass the ball. I'm going to keep ragging you if you keep playing like this.
Effort through the roof from all five. All five I said...
Good point by Zum. Dalembert getting tossed and those bad calls seemed to rally the team.
Closest thing to a fight?
They can't miss!
Yeah Thad, just challenging the shot can throw a guy off that much.
But when they did miss, wasn't it a serious brick? lol
Heh, I have to say it.
Spur down on the floor hurt, Sixers have 4 on 5. Jordan calls a timeout :)
My internet went down, but wow, that was some great basketball. Gotta say Lou was great.
Loooouuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good to see the team like this again, i doubt it will last past this game though but what do i know
None of us know, but it feels good to hope, even if it is only for a day.
JODIE!!!!!
Meeks is a gunner :)
Ok, AI's not on the floor, EB gets a backdoor dunk. Can we stop saying they haven't been running some of "their" version of the PO? I saw bits and pieces of it when he was out for those 5 or so games.
Uh, the first backdoor play I've seen in a couple months, against SAS's 4th string with a 14 point lead and about two minutes left. I'm not sure that proves anything.
Nah he just caught McDyess sleeping. Did you see any else of it tonight? I didn't and I pay close attention to that every game.
Most of it was done on the break. It's painfully obvious that a good, dominant win needs them to run.
But the variations they run and different versions of it as a whole, aren't just made up of backdoor cuts. The handoffs, the flare screening, the isolation looks it creates, some of the pindowns, a few Triangle principles.
If you're not seeing that, it's because you just don't want to see it.
They ran that 20 percent of the time max and that's just dribble hand-off stuff. It has to be effective to be good. What creates isolations? You can just give the guy the ball and get that. Triangle stuff is not PO by the way, the most they do is run pick and roll off PO. They run it to initiate offense sometimes, but the offense does not really create good shots, the players do after the first couple movements. They don't even look to score when they are running those flare screens and handoffs.
That EB play was not an example of PO. He just went to post and McDyess overplayed and he caught him napping.
"What creates isolations? You can just give the guy the ball and get that."
But it's the mismatches on those isolations the handoffs create.
But, OK coach, we just see if differently then, and nothing wrong with that.
"They don't even look to score when they are running those flare screens and handoffs."
And you know that's when the lack of IQ kicks in, because they are not capitalizing on the look when it presents itself, they are just caught up in 'running it'. They are thinking moreso than reacting.
And it's obvious that I agreed with the last sentence of your statement at my comment at 9:22 also. That's why I wanted some kind of trade, because they are so flawed. Playing that way will get you by through a season, but it never pans out when seeing the playoffs in series format.
Yeah, but this won't be the answer in the playoffs. They honestly need a great Elton Brand to win that way.
Look at the crowd standing up. Shit, I'm going to stand up too!
12-point win. Best effort I've seen from this team all season. 45 minutes for Jrue, I believe.
BTW, Iverson looked plenty happy with his team's effort tonight, which he wasn't really a part of at all. He actually looked ecstatic, smiling and clapping. Gotta love that he's grown up :)
if only he was grown up when he was good..oh well ill take it
Positive effort from everyone who played big minutes except Iverson.
When Lou and Thad run out they look good. But the game is about soooo much more than running out, that AAU shit.
If they could just ever get......."it"........they would be so much more effective, and that's the goal anyway - efficiency, but they don't process that in the mental sense when they are on the court, they try to achieve it in the physical. And that can only make you so good.
Btw, that was the perfect Iguodala game.
Jordan took time to take a little of the light off of Lou and put it on Andre in the press conference. He said that he was just solid and praised the assists and turnovers.
I still think he should be fired immediately, but at least he's starting to get that part of it.
He sure did play spirited. And that is the most apt word I could come up with to describe his play tonight. Whew.
Btw, that was the perfect Iguodala game.
You're not kidding. He led the team (or tied for the lead) in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. With zero turnovers. How often do you see that? But he did miss a couple jumpers in the 3rd, so the haters will no doubt still be complaining ...
The most indelible moment from tonight's game has to be Lou giving the ball up on the break twice tonight. How rare is that? One he got as assist and the other he got back for an and-one, I think.
He turned one over too, a pass nonetheless though.
Well at least he didn't bring out the Leaning Lou version too much tonight...
What the hell got into lou tonight - that's an almost resptecable line ;)
what that cliche? about the sun shining on every dogs ass one day or something like that.
And great game or not, Lou is a fkn dog. Too bad the deadline is over.
Blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while
broken clock right twice a day
something like that :)
Reading this game thread after the fact you'd think the sixers had no shot in this game :)
It was night and day after Sam got tossed. Didn't think they had a prayer before that.
The Spurs have lost eight of their last 10 trips to Philadelphia, dating back to the 1999-2000 season.
See - it was in the bag from the beginning
I know correlation doesn't equal causation . . . . but Green was a DNP tonight because of that shoulder injury. Wonder what happens if the Sixers 'defensive stopper' misses a few more games and his minutes actually go to people who can contribute at least on one end of the floor.
For all of the crowing about Meeks, he got a whopping 1 minute. When Green comes back, he will be a DNP almost every night.
Too early to tell what kind of role Meeks is going to have. He was a last-minute activation after the physicals.
My guess is that he doesn't get a ton of minutes, though. I think Jordan's being forced to play Jrue, not sure he'll get any pressure to play Meeks and he's already stated how much he likes playing his vets.
My bet is it is an incredibly minimal one. My guess is he averages around 4-5 minutes a night and has his share of DNP. 11th man/5th guard who is almost a complete nonfactor.
Maybe he gets a bit more time with Green out but can't it will be more than a max of 9-10 minutes/night. Meeks stinks but so does Green.