The highlight of writing my recaps after every game is picking the best photographic evidence of horrible defense. Tonight, you'll notice Lou standing roughly ten feet away from his man as he scores at the hoop. An unexpected take on last night's game after the jump.
First, here's your rotation chart:
Take a look at the beauty that is Eddie Jordan's rotations. I'm not being sarcastic, not in the least. What you see above is a picture-perfect example of how a coach can put his team in the best possible position to lose a game. The effort was there tonight, the opponent was ripe for a beating, they practically handed the game to the Sixers. The stars were definitely aligned for an upset that would've served to only decrease the Sixers odds at a franchise-altering lottery pick in the draft.
The game didn't exactly get off to an auspicious start, considering Elton Brand was rushed back to action needlessly, and he came out on fire. The Sixers jumped out to an early lead on the strength of aggressive moves to the hole on offense, and Boston's inability to hold on to the ball on the other end. If you're a tanking advocate (and really what else is there to root for at this point?), only the refs and Eddie Jordan seemed hellbent on bringing home this loss for the Sixers.
Every time it seemed like the Sixers might have a run in them, Jordan deftly subbed in "offense" for defense. His timeouts, or lack thereof, were perfectly timed to have no impact on the game whatsoever. When the Sixers desperately needed a score, he called the weave and heave without fail. It was awesome.
As much as I despise that man. As much as I shake my head every night when Willie Green gets more minutes than Jrue. As much as still can't figure out why he's tried every possible stupid player combination multiple times, he's only played Sam (a defender capable of covering for a poor teammate, but limited on the offensive end) and Speights (a defensive sieve who can score enough for two players) together on the floor for a total of 27 minutes through 60 games. When I see a game like this, a game that the Sixers would've at least had a chance to win under any normal coach, I can't do anything but thank Eddie Jordan for being the worst coach I've ever seen. And I guess I should thank Ed Stefanski as well, because if he had pulled the plug on Jordan prior to this game, the results could have been disastrous.
Player of The Game: Let's go with Joey Crawford, for officiating a horrible game, ignoring the myriad ways Kevin Garnett commits offensive fouls, the blatant hacks on Sixer drives to the hole and blowing a quick whistle whenever the Sixers even looked at a Celtic near the hoop. We really couldn't have done it without you and the 27 to 12 free throw differential.
Team Record: 22-39
Up Next: @ Toronto, Sunday afternoon.
Sadly, I was at the game last night and really over paid for seats at the box office window. The fans were 50/50 tonight with 50% rooting for the Celtics- and from what the fan cam showed- 50% rooting for...Kia engine revving, cheer boosters? It was pathetic.
Jordan's nonsensical coaching aside- I saw only one bright spot in the game. Sadly, he wasn't in red, white, and blue. Rajon Rondo can play. Watching that game, he just about won the game himself. Lightning quick first step, those huge hands leading to crazy moves with the ball, and he even knocked down a 20 ft jump shot in the second half.
The worst part of the game was seeing a team with no chemistry, unity, or much fight in them nearly beat a talented top flight team. That game could have gone either way. If Jordan would have made one or two defensive switches and left Iguodala and Brand in for an extended run in the 3rd/4th, we probably would have beaten them.
...that was a close one.
The Lou & Elton High pick & role duo took us out of the game when Rondo took over. Keep losing.
Really hard to watch this.
The Knicks play the Nets tonight at MSG. great chance for us to make up a 1/2 game. Pacers are in Phoenix. None of the other Fab-5 are playing (washington, sacrmento, detroit)
something ive noticed. .... the sixers are equally as bad at home and on the road (10-19 : 12:20). however look at the Fab-5
Washington (12-19 : 9-19)
New York (13-20 : 8-20)
Sacramento (15-14 : 6-27)
Detroit (14-17 : 7-24)
Indiana (13-16 : 7-26)
4 of these teams are significantly better at home. hopefully they arent THIS bad on the road for the remainder of the season. Sacramento's road winning percentage is 18% ! if they can get that up to 25%, they will pass the Sixers. I didnt look, but maybe these teams' road games have been against tough opponents and the easier games are still to come/.
I wonder how many consecutive losses it will take for the brass to realize Iverson "disrupting" the lineup wasn't the reason we were struggling. I
I was also at the game last night. My fear in the first quarter was that the Sixers would run past the aging and slow-looking Celtics. (I don't see them as a top team anymore). But when the subs rolled in at the end of the first and the beginning of the second, I knew we would be safe. There were some moments of doubt when they kept getting within 7-8 points in the 2nd half. I now am confident they can get into the bottom five, which might allow them to get lucky with ping-pong balls. Obviously there will be no player development or defensive teaching during these last 20vgames, so all we can look forward to is Ed Stefanski's subtle tanking strategy of letting Eddie Jordan coach the team
At this point of the season, I'm with you. The only really interesting question at this point is "who" and "how high" they will draft. Of course, even any excitement over the draft is a bit dampened by the recent trade. I still don't understand why it was so important to trade two players who don't play (although Ivey did play a bit) for two other players who don't play and to give the team's second round draft pick for the privilege of doing so. The team has plenty of roster space to accommodate a second round pick. I read that Big Ed thought Meeks was better than a likely player the team could have picked up on the second round. Yet, he can't find any minutes on THIS TEAM. Considering that the Sixers were able to pick up Williams, Korver, and Green (Willie's really not that bad for a second round pick; the problem is that the team has played him as if he were a first round pick), I think Stefanski could have been a little more optimistic.
Only caught about half the game, but does KG look like a corpse or what? Between him and Brand, I'm honestly not sure who fell of a cliff faster.
Anyway, I certainly agree with your take, Brian -- even Heinsohn was talking about how vulnerable the Celtics have been lately, so luckily we had an extra poor gameplan to offset the risk of winning. The more often EJ runs out a Williams/Green backcourt (against any NBA guards, let alone a Rondo-led duo), the higher the Sixers'll climb in the lottery race.
Earlier this season during an ESPN game Dr Jack pointed out that the Celtics play a 'very physical' defense and basically are fouling the whole time, but the refs don't call all the fouls because that would disrupt the flow of the game.
I still shake my head at the thought that you can get away with being cheap and overly physical because the refs don't want to disrupt the flow of the game.
So, back on draft night we possessed one pick. One. And they knew they weren't going to blow Miller's doors off with an offer. They also knew we desperately needed some shooting, preferable at the two guard spot. So what do they do? Choose a not-ready project of a point guard that supposedly 'dropped' and not exactly known as a true shooter, that clearly wasn't and isn't ready to run a big league team.
Then they waited forever and a day to fill out the roster in the summer. Big Ed goes public and says he needs a backup PG, a wing, and a backup post player. So what do they do? They sign Royal Ivey (backup PG?), Rodney Carney (wing), and Primoz Brezec (backup post?)?
Now fast forward to the trade deadline this season and they trade two of the guys signed to fill out the roster for a so-far phantom version of that needed shooter. And gave away what is probably going to be a high pick in the second round to do it. WTF?
Why not just draft Marcus Thornton with that ONE pick? There was your shooter. Why not just draft a more ready point (there were several)? There was your floor leader. Why not keep Ivey and Brezec AND the pick and just sign Morris Almond or give someone like a Jack McClinton a look? I mean, it's not like we don't have the roster spots available.
Stefanski had a team that was near contention of a top five seeding in an admittedly weak Eastern conference even at the beginning of last year. And what does he do? He cans Mo Cheeks, who the players were finally buying into at the end of the year before. And upsets the apple cart by bringing in a piece that needed to be forcefed and was going to take ample time to incorporate. That ample time wasn't given.
Stefanski then let, arguably, his best and most tenured player walk for NOTHING, committing himself to and ushering in the 'youth' movement. Why in the hell you want to keep going young when your squad was in need of those savvy, veteran pieces is unthinkable and reprehensible.
Two years before you drafted a freshman, the year before you drafted a sophomore, and this year you drafted another freshman. Those picks brought nothing but abstract properties. Full of unknowns, and when taking into account where your team was and was going, you absolutely had to have some knowns. Or at least more proven, even if on the lower college level.
And he had to outdo himself and hire a compadre that runs a system that anyone with a basketball mind knows requires an above par IQ to execute. Yet he has a roster full of below par IQees? And a system hell bent on making perimenter looks that present themselves in bunches. Yet he provides no shooters?
Save this man from his own obliquity. I hear Wells Fargo has an opening...
I agree with you for the most part, but might you be overestimating Cheeks a little bit? His offense was a mess, if they didn't get out on the break the offense consisted of a random assortment of Iso plays run through Iggy, it was dreadful. The guy had teams in Portland that were more than capable of reaching the Finals and he fell short year in and year out. This team needs to stop the cycle of retread coaches, as much as you seem to deflect blame on the coaching staff I think an actual top tiered coach would make a world of difference with this roster.
I actually think Cheeks was underestimated, to a degree. The Portland argument is weak to me because he had more than enough headcases on those teams. As for his offense being a mess with Iso plays run through Iggy - heck, he was trotting out a 3 on 5 offense out there with Sam and Reggie not posing a threat to anyone. That only left Miller and the infamous Willie Green. What kind of mastermind offense could you run? (rhetorically not directly)
Fine, if you feel a top tiered coach could make a world of difference with this roster. But to me, that world of difference is the same difference that Miller just made the last two years - .500 record tops, give or take a few.
You're right, Miller was obviously an important cog to the Sixers and they obviously overlooked his value. However, even if you are a big Miller fan I don't think his absence can explain the way the defense has completely deteriorated. He was not even an average defender by any means. SOME of the blame for the putrid defense has to go on the coaching staff. I actually feel like a lot of it should fall on O'Korens shoulders, he was heralded as EJ's defensive guru when he was brought in here...
And you're right. His absence has no bearing on the reason for the deteriorated defense, just as, that porous d has no bearing on the statements posed.
And no offense, but I don't really care who you blame, every last one of them is responsible. From EJ to Elson.
A lot of that is on effort, and amongst other reasons here's why I feel why - they just had a stretch of around 15 games where they were holding teams to about 94 points a game. That's pretty darn good.
And I don't care the specific opponents, because the game can be simple. Only they, along with their effort, can make it hard. As a player if you can do it one time, and do it five times, then your ass can do it thirty times.
I completely forgot how awesome the Okafor vs. Dwight Howard debate was. So glad you're reliving it.
Pleased that I could provide you with gladness during this season of turmoil.
EJ on the game - "Good teams, a lot of weapons, what do you take away?" the coach said. "I would like our defense to be better, obviously, but I thought we shot at a high percentage for the most part, too. If you can't stop 'em . . ."
it boggles the mind, it really does.
"They figure out a way to win," said Iguodala, who finished with 14 points and nine assists. "There's no gray area; it's plain as black and white. If you want to model yourself after a good team, you get a lot of vets who play the game the right way."
Whoa! Think he might be talking to you Ed? Surrounding him with all these pups? These non-IQ, non team-oriented kids?
I mean, hell, at least he's being honest. And indirectly comical to this here fan.
Dre appears to be on a roll lately with throwing his teammates under the bus but for some reason only the coach's comments are scrutinized. I think Dre's comments say a whole lot more and are somewhat in line with EJ's comments concerning the players and their lack of's.
This is getting rather amusing. First, he says to Dei Lynam that most of the guys have a low IQ. Then, he makes repeated mentions of himself 'playing the right way'. Now, he drops the hammer and says, to be a good team you need vets who play the right way. Good stuff, folks.
But we criticize EJ for pretty much telling the truth? (according to Dre he is) Or for saying 'they' and not 'we'? (although he did say 'we' multiple times but changed it up to answer a particular line of questioning)
But when Iguodala says things along the same lines and the same under-the-bus way, we overlook it? Come on...
Iggy is just as delusional as EJ sometimes, the other day he said he just hasn't gotten the opportunity to be the go to guy but he thinks he can do it... And Brand thinks he can return to his 20/10 form.... Top to bottom this organization is just pathetic
Looking at the standings, it appears that all the tail end teams are trying to lose all their games. The only suspense will come when they play each other. Of course, the Knicks don't care if they win. With that scenario, the Sixers could finish in the 5-7 range. Then we have to get lucky...
Lets get lucky baby! If we get Wall I swear I'm getting an authentic home jersey.
What do you think of Evans/Kapono blog?
http://www.phillyburbs.com/opinions/blogs/intell_blogs/tom_moore.html
I didn't mind Reggie, I loved it when he hit that turnaround jumper in the Detroit series. Reggie seemed like a guy with a positive attitude and had a good influence on the rest of the team. And who can forget this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv1cBN8M-9I
No matter how bad Kapono plays, he makes sure reggie evans is no longer on the sixers, thus deluding a different city into thinking he's a useful basketball player
I agree they probably regret the trade, but for any on-court reasons (I seriously doubt Jordan would've used Reggie at all, plus he's negative when he's on the floor, much like Kapono).
The main reason they regret it is the extra salary they took one. May be the difference between being above and below the lux tax threshold, depending on where the cap comes in.
Sixers liked that Kapono's deal, which more per year than Evans, ends one season earlier (2010-11 vs. 2011-12).
Good thoughts, everyone. Brian, glad you pointed out the referee as it was blantant up in the rafters.
The best part of the night was that I was given an signed Jrue Holiday picture by my 76er rep (I had hinted to her that I wanted to "win" that last night). Did ya'll see Jrue walk off the court dejected when he was substituted the last time? Jordan is just taking the heart out of this kid. Sad. I hate Eddie Jordan (sorry for a bad attitude but .....).
In the past week, Holiday has started complaining to officials. Don't like that at all. Perhaps some of his teammates or his frustration is showing.
If you don't like players complaining to the officials about crappy calls you're really covering the wrong league.
A. Most NBA officials suck
B. It works
Still, you can definitely go about it the wrong way. I think it was Simmons who talked about Kobe and his way of manipulating the referees.
The big complainer on our end is Iguodala of course. I'm not sure how much it helps him.
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