by Brian on April 12, 2008 at 10:55PM
Barring a miracle, the Sixers are going to be facing the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the playoffs. Tonight's 109-93 loss to the Wizards eliminates any hopes the Sixers had of moving up to the 5th seed and it also means the Raptors would have to finish 1-2 with the Sixers winning both of their remaining games to get back to the sixth seed. Like I said, it's time to get ready for Detroit. (The Sixers still need 1 more win or an Atlanta loss to clinch no worse than #7, but I'm going to say that's in the bag).
For the first time since January, the Sixers went into the fourth quarter with a lead and wound up losing. Not only did they squander their 6-point bulge, they got blown off the court in the fourth. Gilbert Arenas took over and hit some ridiculous shots down the stretch. His outside shooting led to porous interior D which led to a complete meltdown. 31-9 was the final tally in the fourth.
From looking at the box score and my notes from the game, the only really glaring thing I notice is rebounding. The Wizards dominated the boards, and that really shouldn't happen. Maybe this is the price we pay for playing Thad at the 4, although he did have 7 boards in his 33 minutes.
On offense, Iguodala looked sharp, the running game looked good, Willie Green had a decent game, Thad kept hitting his jumpers and chipped in 15 points. The only real low point was Andre Miller's 7/22 performance, although he did add 10 assists.
Just an immensely disappointing loss at an extremely inopportune time. These two games could've, and should've gone the other way, but there's nothing to be done at that point. The final two games have to become about making sure Andre Iguodala is healthy for the first round, and getting the momentum going in the right direction. Those two goals may be at odds with each other, depending on how bad Iguodala's injury is (he seemed hesitant to go to the hoop tonight).
This is not how I was envisioning the end of the regular season.
Player of The Game: Andre Iguodala, 22 points, 6 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals
Team Record: 40-40
Playoff Race: Over, the 7 seed it is.
For the first time since January, the Sixers went into the fourth quarter with a lead and wound up losing. Not only did they squander their 6-point bulge, they got blown off the court in the fourth. Gilbert Arenas took over and hit some ridiculous shots down the stretch. His outside shooting led to porous interior D which led to a complete meltdown. 31-9 was the final tally in the fourth.
From looking at the box score and my notes from the game, the only really glaring thing I notice is rebounding. The Wizards dominated the boards, and that really shouldn't happen. Maybe this is the price we pay for playing Thad at the 4, although he did have 7 boards in his 33 minutes.
On offense, Iguodala looked sharp, the running game looked good, Willie Green had a decent game, Thad kept hitting his jumpers and chipped in 15 points. The only real low point was Andre Miller's 7/22 performance, although he did add 10 assists.
Just an immensely disappointing loss at an extremely inopportune time. These two games could've, and should've gone the other way, but there's nothing to be done at that point. The final two games have to become about making sure Andre Iguodala is healthy for the first round, and getting the momentum going in the right direction. Those two goals may be at odds with each other, depending on how bad Iguodala's injury is (he seemed hesitant to go to the hoop tonight).
This is not how I was envisioning the end of the regular season.
Player of The Game: Andre Iguodala, 22 points, 6 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals
Team Record: 40-40
Playoff Race: Over, the 7 seed it is.
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Man, this sucks. They could've played one-man show Cleveland, and instead they're facing Detroit.
I just hope they win those 2 remaining games to get to the playoffs with a winning mindset.