The Sixers lost to the Bucks, in large part, because they were tired after playing a tough game the night before against the Bulls. Actually, it's not just the fact they played the night before, it was also a result of Milwaukee realizing that and pushing the pace against Philly. They made the game into a track meet early, the Sixers had absolutely no legs left late. Tonight, Boston will drag their old roster to Philly fresh off an overtime win against the Rockets and a combined 164 minutes for their big four. One word: Run.
Here are Doc Rivers' options heading into this game (which is for first place in the Atlantic Division, by the way). Push his core guys upwards of 75 minutes over two nights, three of whom are on the wrong side of 35, or rely on Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling, Greg Stiesma, Mickael Pietrus and Chris Wilcox for heavy, heavy minutes. Kind of a lose-lose situation.
Forget about the matchups. Forget about the aura of a Sixers/Celtics matchup. Forget about turnovers. Forget about Turner's minutes and his shooting. Forget about Lou's isolations. For one night, tonight, the only thing that matters is the win. The only that matters is holding on to the top spot in the Atlantic and besting a division foe, really the only division foe that matters. Doug Collins has this team playing an unbelievably structured game right now. I say throw some of that out the window. Heck, throw all of it out the window.
When both of these teams are well-rested, the Sixers' huge advantage is their youth and their athleticism. With Boston exhausted, that advantage is magnified. They need to come out tonight and shove this game right down Boston's throat. On the defensive end, pick up full court. Trap Rondo right when he gets the ball across half court, when Rondo's out of the game, make it abundantly clear to Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge that they don't have another legitimate PG on their roster. When a shot goes up, send a wing streaking down the floor in the opposite direction and look for the quick pass ahead (Boston is the worst team in the league on the offensive boards, you can afford it). Every time you grab a small grabs a defensive board, put it on the floor and push it up if there's no home run pass available. Force Boston to spring back on defense every time. When you do get forced into the half-court offense, run guys off a series of screens, swing the ball from side to side. Don't let Boston's players get a second of rest while they're on the floor.
Collins' mantra has been, "don't go for the home run play." Tonight, swing for the fences. Get the crowd into the game early. Make it look like an And1 tournament. Play loose, play fast, feed off the crowd and forget about the close losses. Just run Boston right off the court. Make them look as old as they are.
Since Doug Collins has recently messed with his starting lineup, let's take it a step further tonight. Boston doesn't start a true center. They have Kevin Garnett, who is a glorified jump shooter at this point of his career, and Brandon Bass who has never been anything more than a mid-range guy. Put Thad Young in the starting lineup. Trap every single pick-and-roll and trap it hard. Seal off the lane, make Pierce go one-on-one with Igudoala in his jock all night and make Ray Allen run suicides from one side of the floor to the other to get even a hint of daylight. Don't let the Celts come in and get comfortable by walking the ball up the floor for the first six minutes. Don't wait for the second unit to come in and pick up the energy. Bring the fight to the Celts right from the opening tip and don't let up for 48 minutes. The Celts can't handle the Sixers youth, speed and athleticism. Make that statement tonight, make it loud and clear. Let Celtics fans play the "we were tired" card after their blowout loss, when we all know they couldn't hang with the Sixers with all the rest int the world. Don't misconstrue what I'm saying here. This won't be easy. Leaving everything out on the floor is never easy. Playing like there's no tomorrow isn't something you can just do. Nothing worthwhile is easy, but sometimes it's necessary. Tonight is one of those nights.
The tip is at 7pm. This is the biggest game of the year, and all the Sixers need to do is want it more. That's it. Game thread will land at 5pm.
Get a big lead by the 4th qtr :)
That Celts/Houston game last night was like watching the Sixers play the Sixers late in the fourth and in OT. Neither team seemed to want to win.
Sounds like the perfect game to give #12 an awful lot of minutes, no?
/duckandcover
I'm fine w/ starting him and giving him big minutes. I'd like to see him grab about 12 boards and initiate the break, so long as the break doesn't end with him missing a jumper.
Heh the trade machine things this deal would not impact the Sixers' winning percentage...I kind of suspect it would...
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=732zp47
hmm or another challenge trade...Brack and Nocioni for Darko and Anthony Tolliver, hmm...does anybody think Thorn or that guy from the Kings are even trying to make mini-deals like this?
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=749vcle
Last one and I'll stop: EB, Lou and Brackins out, DH12 and Ariza back...almost certain Brian would have to change the name of the blog if this ever happens...
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6mugzdp
If they don't win another game this whole year, I want them to win THIS one.
Of course, any other times we play the hated this year would count too.
Jrue better grow a sack, and quick.
No love for Mr. Turner in the Daily News today:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20120307_Turner_under_the_gun_for_Sixers.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20120304_John_Smallwood__Time_for_Sixers_to_trade_Evan_Turner_and_move_on.html
Does it look like he gained weight to anyone? I haven't noticed, but I probably wouldn't.
He does seem slower than he did at the beginning of the season, but I figured it was just due to his poor play. He seems to play at a faster pace when he is confident.
Watching the Chicago game I thought he looked a little bulky. He needs to be lighter on his feet.
has anyone else seen this article from Spike Eskin:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/03/07/evan-turners-mystery-problem/
from the article:
Stan Hochman, long-time writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, says that there’s a reason for Turner’s troubles. “There’s an explanation for Turner’s inconsistent play. One of these days, the team, with Turner’s permission, will reveal it. And then the criticism will back off,” he said during an interview with 94WIP’s Angelo Cataldi and The Morning Team on Wednesday.
Is it some kind of health issue? Mental health?
maybe it could be related to the weight gain thing? I have no idea.
That doesn't sound good. I don't want an answer to his poor play, I want to see him improve. An explanation suggests he won't improve and won't have trade value.
Or some personal/medical/other issue will soon be rectified and he'll be like Mike
Word.
it is his voice, nobody can take him seriously because of his voice.
I hope everything's OK w/ Turner, but whoever leaked this should be found and fired. If they had any hopes of trading him, if he had any remaining value, this type of thing submarines that.
I also find the journalist questionable for writing such a thing. It's baseless speculation, rumor, and though it probably leads to a lot of 'witty' (for philly.com) comments on philly.com, and may generate traffic, it's horrible journalism.
Turner's pregnant with ambition, lacking proper nutrition (jumpshot, quickness, concentration, eagerness to play off ball). Other than that, what a pick!
Stan, old teaser.
That doesn't sound good. I don't want an answer to his poor play, I want to see him improve. An explanation suggests he won't improve and won't have trade value.
As a doctor you should know there are many expalanations that could explain a drop off in focus on play that are fixable. And that's before we get to the emotional stuff (break up, divorce, ill relative, etc...)
This is the problem with such shabby journalism
@preston76 Turner & Vucevic will remain in starting line-up tonight vs. BOS; adds shooting aside, he thought ET "played a very good floor game" at MIL
That's Collins that said that about Turner, or Preston?
I'm fine w/ that, though I thought putting Thad in for Voose would've really put a ton of pressure on Boston right from the tip.
Aside from the shooting, how was the play mrs lincoln?
Heh. Needed a good laugh this morning. Gracias.
Phew, glad someone found it funny (and that i went with lincoln instead of the other option)
Spilling unsupported beans on a morning radio gab/screechfest is a long stretch from journalism.
If there's an issue impeding Turner's play, it's on the Sixers to go public with it. Otherwise, full expectations of him are fair.
Rondo: "We're not there yet, trying to get over the hump still. (Philadelphia) knows it's a big game and so do we. It will be an intense game." [Mark Murphy, Boston Herald]
Well, I see our host has it all figured out, a easy W against a bunch of old timers. I hope he's right, but I'm not feeling too confident. Their recent play compared to ours gives me pause for concern. Rondo was outstanding against the Knicks last Sunday, and Paul Pierce was an assassin, their old, but their skilled. Their 1 game out of the Division lead, so I expect they'll be motivated.
Last week we were asked to forecast the next 11 game segment. As much as I hated to do it, I saw us going 4-7, with this game going in the L column, unfortunately, I still see it going that way. Hope I'm wrong, I love beating the Celts.
They're, not their. Pet peeve.
Good catch!
Otherwise, yeah. I think there's a big advantage they can pounce on tonight. Push the pace and there's no way the Celts can keep up. If they allow Boston to slow it down, though, then they could be in trouble. Not easy, but there's a clear path to a victory here and it doesn't have a ton to do with x's and o's.
man - there's so many out there - i have just given up
your/you're
loose/lose - i'm so tired of reading people talk about 'loosers'
could of / should have
to/two/too
you forgot there in your comment as well :)
The internet is a wonderful thing, but it's killing English.
Not as much as texting.
Twitter doesn't help either. One of the reasons I avoid twitter is that the 140 character thing.
In fact today I came up with a new app idea for the iPhone of an auto-correct. For some reason my iphone thinks yiu is a word - and won't auto change it. So i want to be able to program my iphone to know yiu means you and yiur means your...my fingers are a bit big for these keys
I suspect grammar is no worse than it was 20 years ago. All the internet has done is expose whoever don't know how to write.
FWIW, didn't Mullin say something during the GSW game about Turner not being in shape this year because of the lockout offseason?
or is this mystery problem something we can blame on those weird Chinese sneakers he wears...?
**UPDATE** - 94WIP’s Howard Eskin says a front office source within the Sixers organization assures him there is no problem with Evan Turner that they are aware of. “There is nothing going on with Turner, nothing, no problems,” Eskin said. In addition, the source indicated that Evan Turner has no idea what the problem that Hochman referenced was either.
Eh. This just muddies the waters IMO. Eskin might be the worst journalist in Philadelphia, if you can call him a journalist.
you cannot call someone who writes, a journalist, just because he writes. Put Angelo Cataldi in that group too.
Angelo isn't trying to be on a journalistic high horse like Eskin. Angelo is trying to entertain and be a jackass (maybe not in that order), and Eskin thinks he is God's gift to reporting.
In my experience
1. Howard Eskin is kind of a racist
2. He's usually 100% wrong, like the opposite of what he said is usually the truth
3. Don't have him send you flowers, you might end up dead
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/219489/Source_Shavlik_Randolph_Seeking_NBA_Return
The big man that we need!!!
you can't handle the Shav!
He was a good rebounder. Seriously. At least better than our current big men.
Apparently, the Sixers aren't dead last in eFG in close games late. Of course, eFG is an interesting stat to focus on in those situations because it doesn't take free throws into account. I think if you did the same using TS% they might just be at the bottom.
Brian, have you seen this yet?
http://somebasketballthings.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/andre-iguodala-cements-his-all-star-spot/