The defense was there all night. In the first half, the Hawks shot a completely unsustainable percentage on long twos. In the second half, they missed their jumpers, if they could even get a shot off, and the Sixers energy was too much for the Hawks (or anyone else) to handle. Big win to take over the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference. (
Here's your rotation chart. Note the two runs for the starting lineup:
The Sixers played their worst offensive half of the season in the opening 24 tonight. They settled for bad shots, they were stagnant, they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The defense was fine, even with the bad shots Atlanta was hitting, the defense was good enough to win in the first half, the offense is what sent them into the break down by eight points.
In a season of impressive second half performances, tonight's stands alone. Basically from the opening possession of the third quarter, the Sixers took the heart right out of Atlanta. They were smothering on the defensive end, lightning quick in the open floor, and for a long stretch, surgical in their half-court offense. The starting lineup poured it on to the tune of 23-7 run to open the third, when the bench came in, the defensive intensity never let up.
There are so many things to talk about in that second half. Jodie found his stroke from three. Jrue suddenly took off the volume scorer mask and emerged from the locker room as a world class distributor. Elton Brand was an absolute monster on the defensive glass. Andre Iguodala made Joe Johnson beyond a non-factor. Thad Young was all over the floor. It was really a thing of beauty. The frenetic energy was contagious, and when the Sixers get their engine revved up like that, I don't think anyone can withstand it. Tomorrow night, hopefully we'll get a chance to see if Miami is up to the task.
I'll cut the suspense, Brand is your player of the game, and if he can play like he did tonight, he's going to really help this team retain their lofty production. That being said, the most important thing we saw tonight was Jrue's play in the second half. Either Collins said something to him, or he just decided to flip the switch because he was a completely different player from the one we've seen most of this year. He used his dribble and his vision to set everyone up for easy looks. Jrue had 9 assists in the second half: 3 to Iguodala; 2 to Meeks, 2 to Brand, 1 to Turner and 1 to Vucevic. He was all over the floor on both ends, with three boards and three steals to go along with a couple of big shots, but the points weren't nearly the point. Without Hawes, this team has struggled to run offense in the half court. Tonight, when they needed it most, Holiday took the ball and orchestrated the offense to perfection. He really should've had 11 assists in the second half, Thad was fouled on a point-blank shot, and a nifty pass to Brand under the hoop went off the big man's hands, it would've been a dunk.
This is the Jrue the team needs, even when Hawes gets back. I'm fine with him putting on the scorer's hat for stretches during the game, but his main role has to be running the offense, getting good looks for his teammates. Andre Iguodala is a gifted point-forward. Evan Turner can handle the ball and set people up, but neither of them do it as well as Jrue does when he's motivated, or unleashed, or focused, or relaxed or whatever he was tonight. I had almost forgotten this part of his game it's been so long since we've seen it. It needs to be back to stay.
Player of The Game: Brand gets the nod. He was an absolute beast tonight with 16 boards (9 offensive), 2 dimes, 2 steals, 3 blocks and 10 points on 10 shots. Thad gets an honorary mention for 20 points on 11 shots and just an endless supply of energy. Jrue finished with 16 pts, 6 boards, 11 dimes, 3 steals but 5 turnovers.
What happened? Joe Johnson averaged 25 points/game over the previous four games. Tonight he was 3/8 for 8 points. He could barely even touch the ball when Iguodala was on him. Just a masterful defensive performance by AI9. Speaking of what happened, Lou Williams shot 1/9 from the floor tonight, bringing his two-game total to 3/18. Lou needs to get his act together.
Team Record: 11-4 (BOS and NYK lost tonight, the lead is 5 games over the Knicks)
Up Next: @ Miami, tomorrow night
Comment of The Game Thread: "
good teammates don't let each other air ball by themselves." - Court_visioN (in the middle of the Sixers' dreadful shooting in the first half
what he said.
potg was well done
Btw, another great game thread tonight, guys. Thanks for being a part of it.
Best one of the year. Most extreme roller coaster. The largets S-curve by far. Enjoyed the hell out of it too.
How can you not love watching this team play? I know it's silly on some level, but this team has so much heart, so much backbone. I watch so many other games, and every night teams just give up, throw in the towel, take possessions off. The Sixers never do that. They make mistakes, but they never look like they don't care, like they don't want it. I don't know how much that counts for in the grand scheme of things, but as a fan who watches every game, it means a lot to me.
Me too. It's like the resiliency of years past, which they always possessed, has turned to determination, that heart you speak of.
I'm sorry, that was meaningless gobbledygook. The resiliency has turned into determination. Um, they're practically synonyms.
No. Resiliency is bouncing back. Springboard.
Determination as in a resolute movement to an object or end. Meaningless my ass. No offense.
And no matter what happens tomorrow night, I will not lose sight of what took place tonight. The will to grind and claw and just snap out of it, whatever it was.
That can be a good sign over the course of a season - hiccups along the way, nonetheless.
It's a fun time to be a Sixer fan, can't wait for tomorrows game.
The playoffs will be very very interesting this year, back in '99, the Knikcs finished as an 8 seed but made it to the Finals, in a matter of 3 months+. Not saying anything particular, but still. This shortened season is mostly a frenzy. From start to ending.
If you want your jaw to drop, check out the advanced stats in the game capsule. Look at offensive and defensive rebounding.
.923 defensive rebounding is beyond impressive. I didn't think any team could do that.
I hope everyone of 'em is near asleep on the plane by now. What time were they approx leaving?
This Clips/T-Wolves game is fun to watch. Rubio's shot needs some work. Love is such a stud.
Blake with his patented flop and fake injury
That was such bullshit. He's such a bitch. Go make a Kia commercial.
Love is so in control at all times on the court. Can't believe how much weight he shed in one offseason.
Wow, just looked at Wes Johnson's stats for the year - 5 Pts, 34.4 FG%, 20.5 3pt%, 50 FT%......PER of 4.93
Is he playing hurt or something?
I just don't think he's very good.
I never thought he was all that good either, but it looks like he shouldn't even be in the league with those numbers.
I remember Collins just saying "Wow" after he worked out Wes. Thank god Stefanski didn't give him much input into the drafting, sheesh.
I just hope that 3-of-18 is not Lou starting to feel the effect of JTI establishing it
...establishing itself in the guts of the game. And if Jodie can start hitting 3's with consistency and with ET becoming - functionally - the backup PG as well as part of JTI...Lou may start thinking more and more about that player option at the end of the season...
I hope not.
I think it's pretty much a lock he opts out. He's basically making MLE money, someone else will give him that for four years, if the Sixers don't. I'd be shocked if he didn't go for the payday.
Yeah, but if he gets 19 minutes a game and gets ZERO burn at crunchtime, he might not get the PREMIUM scratch that exercising that option was going to get him.
Are you going to give him Thad money if he plays 19 minutes a game and is on the bench at the end of games?
He wants a chance to start and thinks he deserves it even though he doesn't, so I think he'll leave even for less money, unless the Sixers offer substantially more than any other team (which I pray they don't).
For all of Blake Griffin's physique, from what I've seen he's a terrible screen setter. Once twisted his body to avoid contact with Ricky Rubio. RUBIO. I'd be interested to see if this is just the few screens I've seen in the game today or if this is a trend for him.
Umm. Eat it, Blake Griffin!
That Love shot was money! heh
Wow the T-wolves are fun to watch! I've always liked Rich Adelman coached teams. The Kings were a great team to watch in the early 2000's, and the Rockets with T-Mac and Yao were also very entertaining.
Best pf in the game right now ?
My prediction is that the Sixers hire Phil Jackson two seasons from now after acquiring Dwight Howard.
Phil leads the Sixers to the NBA finals to match up against his long-time foe Rick Adelman and the T-Wolves.
I wish !
Andre Miller shots tonight - 4
Andre Miller points tonight - 0
yeah, screw him, even though I thoroughly like him
My prediction is that the Sixers hire Phil Jackson two seasons from now after acquiring Dwight Howard.
Phil leads the Sixers to the NBA finals to match up against his long-time foe Rick Adelman and the T-Wolves.
Great grind-it-out win tonight and superb bounce back from an otherwise heartbreaking loss to Denver. Love that the players held a meeting to regroup. That's big time.
*Worthy of note; Nic Voose going for his... although I don't love the two 3s he's been scrappy of late. Woulda been huge if either went down.
Anyway, we matched up well with Miami last year. I think this year if we run our sets and push the ball up the court we can exploit mismatches at several positions with our starters or the night shift...
I know there has been talk about adding another big but my question is;" where would we be if they didn't draft the Vuce?" No other bigs available and thank god that he is ready to play!!!
Great points. I was surprised during the draft at the near-unanimous disgust with the Vucevic pick. We desperately needed a backup center, he was the only true center in the draft, and I thought he was the best available player at 16 anyways.