 Sixers Pass Biggest Test
There was a defining stretch in this game that may just turn out to be the defining moment of the season. With 5:48 left on the clock the Sixers and Celtics were tied 80-80. The Celts called a timeout and I wrote down the time and the score. The Celts came out of the timeout with the Big Three on the floor, the Sixers countered with their athletic lineup (Miller, Williams, Iguodala, Thad Young, Dalembert). Over the next 4:12 the Sixers went on an 8-0 run. Iguodala had 2 steals during the stretch and scored all 8 points, but he wasn't the only story. For the third game in a little over a week, Samuel Dalembert decided that the fourth quarter is his quarter. He took Kevin Garnett one on one and bullied Garnett. Absolutely shut him down. Blocking one shot and forcing 4 misses from Boston's MVP during the stretch. Those are the money minutes of a close game. The Sixers went to Iguodala, he delivered. The Celtics went to Kevin Garnett and Sam shut him down. Outstanding.
Iguodala was a superstar tonight. Plain and simple. The final was 95-90, but at the end it really wasn't that close. With the Sixers down by 11 with 8:20 to go they ripped off a 19-0 run. The Celtics announcers spent the entire fourth quarter making excuse after excuse for the loss, but it came down to the Sixers throwing a huge wrinkle at the Celts, and Doc Rivers having no answer for the athletic lineup Mo used. Not to be overlooked is Thad Young's game. The kid played big minutes, including the entire fourth quarter, did an excellent job defending bigger guys all night long, and finished with 16 points and 9 boards. I can't say enough about his effect on the offense. When he's in there, things open up for everyone. If you read my preview earlier today, I called for limited minutes for Willie Green. Mo obviously wasn't reading, but check out these splits. By my count, with Willie on the floor the Sixers were outscored 47-56 in 26 minutes, -9 points. With Willie on the bench, the Sixers outscored the Celts 48-34, in 22 minutes. That's a pretty stark difference. One last note from tonight's game. Andre Iguodala abused Paul Pierce all night long. Down on the blocks, out on the perimeter, even on defense, Iguodala was by far the superior player. Andre finished with 28 points on 10/17 from the floor with 4 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. He held Pierce to 12 points on only 6 shots from the field in 32 minutes. Player of The Game: Andre Iguodala Team Record: 36-35 Playoff Race: Toronto didn't play, so the Sixers are now all alone in 6th place, 1 game behind Washington for #5 and 4 games behind Cleveland for #4. The Hawks were inactive, moving the Sixers lead to 5 games over the #8 seed. The Sixers eclipsed their win total from '06-'07 tonight. A nice stepping stone. I'd like to see them add about 9 more wins to that total the rest of the way and finish with the 4 seed. It's possible. 
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Brian, I can't agree with you more. This isn't the first game where we've seen the williams/carney, thad lineup make a run to win the game. It probably won't be the last. Green is a decent, sometimes good rotation player in this league but for some games its better not to play him as much because of bad matchups (mostly on defense). Green might fill it up once in a while but he doesn't fill up hustle/defense stats too often. Thad does. Plus minus doesn't lie. So I'm glad to see the sixers recognizing this. Also, iggy might not be a superstar YET but he's making it pretty hard on the naysayers. Lastly, I think the sixers are putting the NBA on notice. They aren't getting too much national pub yet, but they keep going like this and that won't be a problem.
There are some games where I'm fine with Willie starting and seeing about 25-30 minutes. Usually, those games are against bad teams with small SG's, like Chicago. But when you're facing a half-court team, like the Celts, you need to create mismatches on offense, and you need to put superior defenders on the floor. I'd like to see the script flipped in the playoffs and see the Sixers go small or big to start games, use Willie for stretches in the 2nd and the 3rd when the offense is stagnant. We'll see if Mo switches things up.
Thad for the entire fourth is an awesome, awesome decision by Mo. That kid just gives you so much.
Re: Willie, he missed an open three at some point in the first quarter and I screamed at my TV, "Well if he doesn't hit that, then what the hell is he in there for?" Good call on sitting Willie down and going with the athletic lineup.
Living in Boston, I'll hold my head a little bit higher tomorrow. Great win for the Sixers and shows that this is a team truly headed in the right direction.
You better wear your Thad jersey to work tomorrow.
I think Willie ought to be the 9th man in the rotation now. Carney is such an improvement athletically/size wise. Green really brings nothing to the table, besides back door cuts.
Green did nothing to help this team tonight at all. He stinks. I thought he improved this year, but he didn't. He still takes bad shots and can't make open shots often times as well. He is undersized.
It is time to move on. Carney and Thad need minutes. Take them from Green permanently.
Green made huge strides in his shot selection this year. Unfortunately, now that the games mean so much more to the team, and the defense is getting turned as we head into the playoffs, you're right. His minutes need to be diminished, greatly.
The way I see it Mo has two options for the starting lineup. Go big or go athletic. I can live with either, I just don't want to see him go with the status quo.
Something no one (besides us) is really talking about. Thad Young is a plus, plus defender as a 19 year-old rookie playing out of position 90% of the time he's on the floor. How rare is that? How high is his ceiling?
I am buying a Thad jersey as soon as I get my ass to Modells. I will have it by playoff time. I want to get a throw back though that says Sixers across the front. The White one.
Thad is better than any rookie from his draft right now and has maybe the highest ceiling of anyone from this draft. He is special for sure. He is the youngest player from his draft too.
Iggy is earning a Max deal it appears. Uggh. I thought he was a 10-11 million guy 2 months ago. Now a max deal seems possible. That really ties the Sixers hands following this offseason. I guess I prefer Iggy playing at this level so whatever.
What a crappy ending to Warriors Lakers game.
How high is his ceiling? I don't know, Scottie Pippen-high? I do worry that his offense might not improve a whole lot. But he could definitely be a Defensive Player of the Year one day. Even if the most he ever became was a Bruce Bowen clone, that's such a huge asset. And I think he'll develop some game, he's very smart and he has a great work ethic.
About the playoff matchups, I have a tough time mustering up enthusiasm about what they do in the first round when we know that if they pulled off an upset they'd just be summarily disposed of in the second, but I do wonder if we wouldn't have a great shot at Cleveland. It's perfectly possible the way we're playing that we could make it up to fifth place.
You'd have to be excited for a first round victory wouldn't you? I mean, this team going past the first round of the playoffs, come on. At some point you have to get excited.
Hey guys, let's just take it one game at the time. The Sixers have been playing great since the AS break, but a 1st round upset seems unlikely against Boston/Detroit/Orlando. Possible, but unlikely.
Sammy's earning his freaking contract, same with Iguodala.
About Thad, he's clearly at the top of this draft class, but I wouldn't say he's No.1 right now. But he's younger than most of them (Horford, Scola, Moon, etc) except for Durant. He has a very bright future.