One down, seven to go. The Sixers took care of the intentionally depleted Orlando Magic on Saturday night in convincing style. Dwight Howard shockingly painless 20/20 game just wasn't enough to overcome the Sixers staunch defense. Quite a way to kick off the Ice Capades trip.
Since this win is being discounted by most due to Orlando's unavailable players/ex-players, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Elton Brand is your player of the game. EB had Dwight Howard guarding him most of the night, and he still dropped 20 points on 8/14 from the floor (4/5 from the line), grabbed 13 boards (10 defensive) and blocked 3 shots. Easily Brand's best game of the season in a terribly unfavorable matchup. Great work.
A close runner up for the POTG was Lou Williams, who truly was Good Lou in this game. He scored 24 points on only 9 shots (13/14 from the line), and stuffed the stat sheet. Lou carried the scoring load for the second unit, and was really the only guard to do much of anything positive. They need him in this one, and he came through.
Notably absent for more than half the game was Jrue Holiday, who turned in his second consecutive sub-par contest. His floor game wasn't bad, and I thought his defense was excellent, at times, but he shot only 2/7 from the floor and started off horribly. Collins sat him for over 13 minutes in the first half, then did the same in the second. He pretty much only got his runs with the starters in both quarters. This probably had more to do with Lou's great game than some kind of punishment by Collins, but it's also something to keep an eye on. If Collins starts to have a short leash with Jrue, it's going to stifle him, and probably cause him to try to force things when he is on the floor, to prove he belongs. This will probably lead to more turnovers. Jrue is at his best when he's relaxed and lets his instincts take over. Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road and Jrue will be back to his usual self come Tuesday.
I didn't think Turner played poorly in the first half. He was aggressively looking for his shot (though not particularly successful at hitting them), and crashed the boards very hard. I'm really not a fan of the sudden increase in minutes for Nocioni, who was pretty much a zero, again (he also played more minutes than Turner).
All told, the Sixers did play a depleted Orlando team, but they were well rested. The Sixers were on the back end of a back-to-back, and coming off a deflating loss to the Lakers at home. Orlando had five days off heading into this one. Credit Doug Collins for pushing the pace of the game, and credit the Sixers players for keeping the pressure on with tired legs, and never giving Orlando a glimmer of hope in the fourth quarter. The Sixers can't control the circumstances, all they can do is go out there and play the games. No one says the losses don't count when the schedule stacks the odds against Philly. Well this win counts, too.
Charts
Player of The Game: Elton Brand
Team Record: 11-16
Up Next: @ Chicago, Tuesday night.
We've got an off day today. I'll be checking in throughout the day and I've got a couple ideas percolating for posts this afternoon. In the mean time, the Sixers are currently the #8 seed in the Eastern Conference. Do you think they can hold on to that? Maybe even improve upon it?
What a great win to start a road trip, I wouldn't discount it at all. The Sixers had Orlando looking discouraged in the 4th quarter with their play. The playoffs are a nice competition but I'd be more interested in the Sixers trying to trade Brand. If he has a few more games like that some team will want to take a shot on him. The worst contract in the league just got moved for a shorter deal, so anything can happen and Brand has actually been productive. One or two of these other teams will get desperate too, there's always some guy out there looking to make a short term move to save his job.
I have to say, Brand has probably been our best player this year. No, he's not back to his old Clipper form, but he's giving us 15 and 8 in 34 minutes a game, and he's scoring more efficiently than his career averages. In fact, on a per 36 minute basis, his assists, boards, and blocks are only slightly down, and his steals are up. Is he still overpaid? Yes. But it's not overwhelmingly so anymore, and his contract is not one of the worst in the league right now. Most people don't see a future with Brand and the Sixers, but with their improved play and the fact that he isn't taking minutes away from the young guys (he's not really affecting Thad's minutes), I think it's great that we have at least one competent big man who also has a positive impact on the youth with the way he carries himself, especially because we do not have many veterans on this team as it is.
Brian (or anyone else), I was wondering, is there a site when you can check the defensive rating over different time samples not only on the whole season. I know it'll be a very small sample but it would be interesting to see how the Sixers stack up with the defensive powerhouses in the league over the last 10 games or so...
That site is right here :) Or at least I can check for you.
Actually, I'm going to make this into a quick post.
I had to DVR the game [family obligations] and saw the boxscore before watching it. Hawes's line looked terrible but he actually seemed to be a factor defensively at least, which is rare in his case.
K.Fagen has a good article [inside the sixers] on our coach stressing defense in yesterdays phila. inquire. This team deserves a playoff spot in spight of any circumstances with their effort.
Chunky Soup, I think the days of giving Elton away may have passed, one because his contract is shorter and two because our coach depends on him defensively a lot. One thing is missing, E. Turner, and when he gets it, look out!!!!
Elton getting moved in a salary dump would have a direct negative on atleast hawes( elton literally pushes hawes into position at times) and jrue. He impacts the game similarly to how a shooter impacts the game. There would be no inside-out game.
If the team continues to play good basketball as they have recently, I'll personally enjoy seeing Elton ride out his contract in Philly. The young guns need a vet out there to lead the team, and I've been most impressed by how Brand has embraced that role this season. Things would be really ugly without Brand this season, and unless you can move him for someone who will 100 percent improve the team long term, it's nice to see a semblance of the guy we were so excited to see play back when the Sixers looked like a team on the rise w/Miller etc.