It's always best to break the season down into easily digestible portions. Typically, we use 10 game slices, but this year let's go with 11 so we can do it in six easy parts. Up first, the first 11. Check out the schedule and vote for what you think the Sixers record will be on January 14th.
12/26, @ POR - Portland has some new parts and they're trying to change themselves from the slowest team in the league to a running team. They always play the Blazers well, they're ready to go from opening night and they take this one. Win
12/28, @ PHO - If this game was later in the season, with some serious miles on Steve Nash, I'd pick the Sixers hands down, but everyone should be somewhat fresh. Phoenix won't have Marcin Gortat, which hurts them. I'm going with a win. Win
12/30, @ UTA - I truly believe all five of the games on this road trip are winnable, but no way they come home 5-0. This one is the hiccup. The Jazz have a lot of size and that arena is tough to play in. Loss
12/31, @ GSW - Tough game, second night of a back-to-back for the Sixers, on New Year's Eve, against a well-rested Warriors squad. I just don't think a team which relies on their perimeter players for so much of their offense can hang with the Sixers. Plus, they still can't defend to save their lives. Win
1/4, @ NOH - The Hornets are a complete joke. Win.
1/6, vs. DET - First home game, you've got the emotion of finally playing at home, tempered by the return from a long trip. Detroit is not a good basketball team, but this screams letdown game to me. Loss.
1/7, vs. TOR - The rare back-to-back with both games at home. Toronto will also play a b2b, they play the night before in New Jersey. Bargnani still starts for the Raps and they added Stefanski to their front office. Win
1/9, vs. IND - Neither team on short rest. The Sixers get caught looking forward to their three-games-in-three-nights stretch and lose a game they shouldn't. Loss
1/10, vs. SAC - DeMarcus Cousins turns the ball over 10 times and scores 20 points on 22 shots. Everyone calls him a budding superstar because he scores 20 points and the Sixers mop the floor with the Kings. Sacto is off the night before, but the extra rest doesn't help them. Win
1/11, @ NYK - Third game in three nights for the Sixers, the Knicks are rested. Not a fair fight, and the Sixers drop this one. Loss
1/13, vs. WAS - Finally an off day, followed by a cupcake. The Sixers take this one easily. Win
There you have it. I've got them at 7-4 after their first 11 games. They could do better, but you've got a long road trip to start things off, plus the back-to-back-to-back thrown in there. They'll only face four playoff teams from last season over the stretch, and one of those playoff teams no longer has Chris Paul. Anything above .500 is fine, anything better than 7-4 is a great start.
Vote in the poll below and leave your predictions in the comments. Tip off tonight is at 10pm, game thread will be up later on.
The only game that I see as a certain loss is NYK. IND is a coin toss, but due to the unlikelihood of ending up 10-1, I'll give them a loss there. UTA won't get enough production (especially on D) from their backcourt so I'll differ with you and give the 76ers a W. PHX and GSW have continuity but are not good. POR and UTA have significant turnover (and talent) but it's still too early to expect them to be gelling. SAC, WAS, NOH, and TOR are easy W's to predict. DET is the deepest team (on paper) but my prediction is 8-3 with all the credit going to continuity before things start to balance out and they are back in Even-Splitsville.
I think that PHX and GSW are games the 76ers should win but will drop at least one, which is where my 3rd loss comes from. I have to give them the edge against UTA, NOH, and POR. It's like Collins said, they are going to start the season running aside from the post-ups they'll see against UTA. Nate McMillan has been using 15 second shot clocks at practice to speed up the Blazers and we already know what PHX and GSW like to do. But if they are running to avoid weak half-court games then they are doubly playing into our strength (half-court D and running O). UTA should give us some trouble down low but I have seen no indication that Burks/Kanter are "ready" and the combination of Harris/Hayward or Bell/Miles/Millsap or Favors/Jefferson doesn't exactly cause me to jump in fear. If JTI can get to the line and put fouls on Millsap and Favors they can really gput them on the ropes. Mind you, those aren't huge ifs.
I feel the Knicks game is almost certainly a loss due to the third game in three nights and that they'll lose one of the Utah-GS back to back. I would put the Hornets, Wizards, and one of the Pistons-Raptors back to back as 'certain' wins. So that leaves the team with a range of between 3 to 9 wins over that stretch. I voted 6. Where the team falls across that band I think should provide a true outlook of whether the team is ready to move up into that 4-5 seed range this season or if they'll remain in the 7-9 range. Pumped for the game tonight!
I am usually not good at predictions, anyway I went for 6-5, I believe we can win the phoenix, golden state, Detroit, Toronto, Sacramento and Washington games. Hope they will have a better start though and build the rest of the season on that enthusiasm.
Optimism may easily change to pessimism if we don't show any semblance of an offense. Guess that key player is Jrue if Lou shows up like he did tonight.
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Just seeing the predictions thread gets me excited! I've got 7-4 as well.
The only game that I see as a certain loss is NYK. IND is a coin toss, but due to the unlikelihood of ending up 10-1, I'll give them a loss there. UTA won't get enough production (especially on D) from their backcourt so I'll differ with you and give the 76ers a W. PHX and GSW have continuity but are not good. POR and UTA have significant turnover (and talent) but it's still too early to expect them to be gelling. SAC, WAS, NOH, and TOR are easy W's to predict. DET is the deepest team (on paper) but my prediction is 8-3 with all the credit going to continuity before things start to balance out and they are back in Even-Splitsville.
If they go better than 3-2 on this road trip I'll be surprised
I think that PHX and GSW are games the 76ers should win but will drop at least one, which is where my 3rd loss comes from. I have to give them the edge against UTA, NOH, and POR. It's like Collins said, they are going to start the season running aside from the post-ups they'll see against UTA. Nate McMillan has been using 15 second shot clocks at practice to speed up the Blazers and we already know what PHX and GSW like to do. But if they are running to avoid weak half-court games then they are doubly playing into our strength (half-court D and running O). UTA should give us some trouble down low but I have seen no indication that Burks/Kanter are "ready" and the combination of Harris/Hayward or Bell/Miles/Millsap or Favors/Jefferson doesn't exactly cause me to jump in fear. If JTI can get to the line and put fouls on Millsap and Favors they can really gput them on the ropes. Mind you, those aren't huge ifs.
I feel the Knicks game is almost certainly a loss due to the third game in three nights and that they'll lose one of the Utah-GS back to back. I would put the Hornets, Wizards, and one of the Pistons-Raptors back to back as 'certain' wins. So that leaves the team with a range of between 3 to 9 wins over that stretch. I voted 6. Where the team falls across that band I think should provide a true outlook of whether the team is ready to move up into that 4-5 seed range this season or if they'll remain in the 7-9 range. Pumped for the game tonight!
I am usually not good at predictions, anyway I went for 6-5, I believe we can win the phoenix, golden state, Detroit, Toronto, Sacramento and Washington games. Hope they will have a better start though and build the rest of the season on that enthusiasm.
I went with 7-4 with losses @NYK @UTH @POR and the fourth one one of @GSW and vs IND.
9-2. Cough up the GSW game and the NYK game. Key player that HAS to be on for this to happen - Lou. Consistency Lou, consistency.
Wow, preseason optimism.
Optimism may easily change to pessimism if we don't show any semblance of an offense. Guess that key player is Jrue if Lou shows up like he did tonight.