Put it out of your mind. It never happened. That's the best way to think about last night's disgrace in Chicago. This is the one time where I think playing a back-to-back, on the road, against two of the top teams in the East is a good thing for the Sixers. They have the opportunity to erase last night's game right away, no time to dwell.
Check out the game capsule from the Sixers
first meeting with Boston this season.
Four major differences between this game and the last time the Sixers faced the Celtics:
- This game is in Boston, last time it was in Philly.
- This time the Celts are well-rested, the Sixers played last night. Vice versa last time
- Shaquille O'Neal is expected to play tonight, he didn't play last time
- Rajon Rondo will not play tonight. He played 47 minutes last time.
Obviously, three of the four are not in the Sixers' favor, so let's focus on the fourth. Nate Robinson will get the start at the point for the Celtics. This is Robinson's sixth start for the Celtics and Boston is 5-1 in those games. I broke down their advanced stats into games with Rondo starting and games with Robinson starting. Essentially, the Celts are better offensively with Rondo in there (by about 3 points-per-100-possessions, 108.57 with Robinson, 111.25 with Rondo) and worse defensively (by over 7 points-per-100-possessions, 94.58 with Robinson, 101.84 with Rondo). Robinson's starts haven't exactly come against good defensive teams, though. Atlanta twice (Mike Bibby guarding him), New Jersey twice (Devin Harris), Toronto (Jose Calderon) and Indiana (Darren Collison). Those PGs also aren't really capable of taking advantage of the size mismatch in any meaningful way.
I hate to put this much pressure on a kid, especially when he's been struggling so badly over the past three games, but if the Sixers are going to have any prayer of winning this game, Jrue needs to absolutely dominate Nate Robinson. He needs to pressure him into mistakes (Robinson turned the ball over 6 times against Atlanta last week), and he needs to make Robinson the focal point of their offense, if possible. Nate loves to shoot, if he's taking 15-20 shots, that's less opportunities for the other guys on the team, who are more efficient with the ball. Punish him on the defensive end with both drives and post-ups, make the game about his Napoleanic complex, and then sit back and let him sink their team on the other end of the floor.
Boston doesn't have a backup option at the point. Marquis Daniels has been playing there, but he's not a PG. When he's in the game, I want the Sixers to go to full court pressure on the ball. Don't trap, just pester him all the way up the floor. He's going to cough it up. The same goes for Avery Bradley. Boston doesn't have the luxury of using Paul Pierce as a point-forward, that was never his skill set. Ray Allen isn't really capable either. This is a glaring weakness, on both ends of the floor, and if the Sixers can't capitalize on it, they aren't going to even come close to winning this game.
I'd start the game with a play to get Jrue the ball in the post with Robinson on him, with Jodie Meeks on the strong side as an outlet if they double down on him. Ideally, Jrue will get an easy conversion, build his confidence, and set the tone for the game right there. It's imperative that Jrue gets off to a good start and keeps the pressure up, on both ends, throughout the game.
Prediction: Boston 101, PHI 90
Even with no PG, Boston is just too strong, and winning in Boston, well, I just don't see it.
Shoals on why the Knicks should go after Iguodala, not Melo-
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/12/22/the-works-knicks-should-check-out-andre-iguodala/
I'm sure it's a complete coincidence that this was published within 24 hours of Broussards publication that the KNicks are looking at Plan B for missing out on Carmelo
Curry Randolph & Fields, wow that would be a haul wouldn't it folks?
Broussards article mentioned the other team that knicks might look to are the cavs for avreejao and someone else
Am I missing something here. Broussard seems to think Iguodala would be a "perfect fit" in D'Antoni's system.
D'Antoni isn't a defensive minded coach, he values volume shooting from the perimeter and not really much else from what I fathom.
Yeah, this is kind of odd.
When you look at the Knicks team and their weaknesses/strengths, Iguodala is the perfect fit, if you ask me. He doesn't need the ball, he's going to defend, excellent in the open floor, ball friendly. But as far as D'Antoni's system, then no, he's probably not a great fit. Neither was Grant Hill, though. Like if you asked D'Antoni, he'd probably tell you he wants wings who can shoot the three and aren't shy about taking them. But you look at the Knicks roster, they need a guy like Iguodala on the floor with Stoudemire.
my only guess is they'd use Iguodala in a Shawn Marion type roll, heavy minutes at the 4 with Amare at the 5? I don't know.
They could use him at the 1, 2, 3 and the 4. That's part of his value.
D'antoni likes to run and score in transition right? Iguodala is quite good at the transition thing, good ball handler and facilitator, and honestly he becomes the 3rd (maybe 4th) 'star' in New York with the Knicks fans love of Gallinari (No comment) and the ascension of Felton
I mean, every coach likes to get points in transition, but D'Antoni's offense is more about early execution than it is about fast breaks. Meaning one or two passes, a quick play and a quick shot, early in the shot clock. It's not so much run outs, and in transition, I think they look for threes first.
Or even in that role at the 3. They could be really interesting with lineup of Felton, Gallo, Iguodala, Amare, and whoever they want to play. Go big with Mozgov, go small with Douglas. They might be able to win a first round series that way.
I also think you have to account for his three-point shooting this season. When he's a 37 percent shooter from deep, he's even more of a perfect fit.
Too bad they won't get him in a straight salary dump.
Gallo would have to be going back to the Sixers, I don't see any way a deal would happen if he wasn't.
My favorite part of all of the Knicks talk. Outside of the guys they want to keep (Amare, Gallo, Felton, Douglas), their trade chips are garbage, yet people still think something like Randolph and Curry is doable for Iguodala. You could even make a strong case the guys they want to keep aren't really good value as trade chips.
they had to sell their souls to get under the cap to land Amare. Now they have absolutely nothing left to bargain with, unless it's a pretty big part of their roster, like Gallo. Still not sure what his value is like around the league, either.
Shoals thinks about basketball in a completely uncompetitive way. I love what he writes and bought both of freedarko's books, but he's more about the "feel" of the game than the results. I wouldn't link any of his thoughts to Broussard's, completely opposite motives.
Larry Brown is stepping down as coach of the Bobcats. Wonder if he has something else lined up?
Taking Stefanski's job, probably. :)
Is the job currently filled by Stefanski one that is expected to last past the end of the contract owed to Stefanski himself?
Well he missed his chance to come back here. Wait I just got happy for some reason. :)
It doesn't matter whatever team he goes to next I'm predicting will trade for Brendan Haywood.
Good, maybe TYrus THomas can get the minutes he deserves and make it worth trading for him.
Rumors were he lost that team weeks ago.
More importantly, even though he's a crappy GM, I think Jordan said screw it, it's my team, I'm going to build it my way larry you punk
"Agreed a change was necessary"
Larry - Mike i want you to trade A B and C for F and F-
Michael - No
Larry - Do it or I'll quit
Michael - Bye
huh?..it's a problem when fans presume they know what's going on in players heads- but it's ok for a fan to presume what's going on in a gm's head???
so you can "think" a gm said something in his head but criticize others when they take same approach with players? and to top it off, label it "more importantly"
If you thought I meant that post with any seriousness, please turn off your computer immediately and sue who ever was responsible for your 'education' as they failed you miserably
"More importantly, even though he's a crappy GM, I think Jordan said screw it, it's my team, I'm going to build it my way larry you punk"
you weren't serious when you said this? come on now..