The defending champs, winners of 16 straight, playing host to our cursed, bottoming-out Philadelphia 76ers, losers of three straight and 9 of 10. Yeah, this one shouldn't be close.
This is the spot where I typically take a look at the opposing team's numbers, starting lineups and rotations, to find a weakness to exploit. Miami is a below-average rebounding team and they send their opponents to the line quite a bit. That's it. Two weaknesses, neither of which the Sixers will come close to exploiting. The only possible drama tonight is whether LeBron will cruise for a triple-double and let Wade carry the scoring load like he did last time these teams met.
More minutes for Moultrie. More pick-and-rolls, less pick-and-pops. Penetrate. Get to the line. Hit some threes. Don't settle for 20+ long twos. Keep it respectable, if you can.
The tip is at 8pm. This is your game thread. I'll be here throughout, join me if a couple inches of snow has made you completely housebound, your DVR is broken and you lost your remote control.
i dont remember what they did last time but put jrue on wade
Nick Young was on him, at least in the beginning.
You forgot our road streak. Last road win was on New Year's Day.
Three streaks!
So if there was a report out that Bynum was cleared by doctors to return, but he wasn't mentally ready to do so, what would the public reaction be?
Is there something you know that you aren't telling us? I don't think it would go over very well at all, and be the last bridge he burned at least with the fans
Mental weakness is frowned upon in sports, especially in such 'blue collar' (it's in quotes because it ain't blue collar and I'm tired of people calling it as such) towns like Philadelphia where men are men women are women and the children are above average
Nope, that's the news on Rose.
That's another one of them towns that considers it self 'blue collar' - of course - he also has more 'good will' in the city than Bynum has in Philadelphia. I dont know how Chicago is going to react - be interesting - I have to wonder - all this time not playing ball - rehabbing - where was his mind if it wasn't working back towards playing?
This is the weirdest paragraph ever:
Rose, who had surgery to repair a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on May 12, has been videotaped dunking off each foot, but more casually than he would during a game. A source said that although he has been practicing and scrimmaging hard, he told the Bulls that until he feels "in his mind" he can confidently dunk off his left foot in a game situation, he is not 100 percent mentally ready to return to competition.
The ridiculous thing is, even if Rose were physically limited to the point where he played like, say, our very own Jrue Holiday, he'd still really help his team. I don't see where left-foot dunking is this huge necessity.
You've obviously never read pynchon, or wallace, or the illuminatus trilogy - this wouldn't make top 50 of weirdest paragraphs ever - freaking illluminatus trilogy would change points of view in the middle of paragarphs with no indication to the reader it actually happened.
Great book though.
It's not about having the ability to dunk of your left foot. It's about being fully mentally ready to step on the court after such a long absence. If i were the Bulls i'd try to easy him through and let him go through the inevitable early mistakes.
If only there were some sort of minor league against lesser level players in which rose could get himself mentally ready to play in games.
Wait - you mean there is - but the NBA doesn't use it for this purpose - that's brilliant.
That's what Rose himself said it's about. Dunking off of his left foot. More generally, to be fair, feeling like he's just as athletic as he used to be. Worries of reinjury are one thing, but I don't see why he has to be exactly his old self to play.
I should add that I wouldn't be shocked if Chicago just made this up to make him seem ridiculous. Do you really think Rose said that he won't return until he believes he can (a) dunk off his left foot (b) "in his mind"?
Yes - you're right - that makes total sense - you invest 100 mil in this guy want him to be the face of your franchise and have fans fall in love with him - you definitely should spread ridiculous rumors to make him look bad
It's a team source. It's widely known that they've been trying to pressure him to come back through the media.
or it's a made up source and the writer said 'team source' - since sources have no balls anymore people can make stuff up.
If it is a team source who made something up to embarass rose publicly - you think that endears Rose to the Bulls? Do you think that motivates him to come back sooner.
His contract is guaranteed - the Bulls have no leverage and if they did this to embarass him they're dumber than I thought - anyone who even thinks this would be a good idea is a moron
At the very least, the point of telling ESPN this info, even if it is true, is to shame him back on the court, or just to make him look bad. I don't know why else you'd leak it to the media that, while he's been videotaped dunking off of both feet, he can't come back until he feels he can dunk off his left foot "in his mind."
This is not something that would ever happen with The Derek
Never. Nor with Chase. Of course, the doctors never clear Chase, so it's not much of an issue.
Ugh - don't remind me - that kerri article on grantland was depressing
Simmons published a meandering stream of consciousness type 'article' on worst contracts in the NBA this year and the sixers show up quite a few times for different reasons.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9030601/the-worst-contracts-nba
I think the only Nets contract that didn't make the list was Lopez, and he'll be on there next year.
He's become such a bad writer. He was never good, really, but now he's unreadable. All of his jokes fall flat. On top of which, he has nothing to say that you can't read in a million other places.
This kind of hurt. I couldn't even laugh about it.
"The Sixers could have kept Brand as a locker room leader and expiring contract/trade chip for the 2012-13 season, but they amnestied him so they could spend that cap space on Spencer Hawes (two years, $13 million), Nick Young (one year, $6 million) and Kwame Brown (one year, $3 million). In other words, they threw away $16.1 million to give themselves a chance to waste another $22 million. NBA teams are really, really dumb. Don't forget this for a second."
Is the name Dwyane a common spelling instead of Dwayne? Is it supposed to be pronounced differently like Da-wane, which doesnt make sense at all?
Seems to me like the person who gave him his name didn't know how to spell. Could've been intentional, I suppose, like Jrue. At least I assume Jrue was intentional, don't all of his siblings have J names?
The official story is just one of a mistake when filling out the brith certificate and the parents chose to keep it.
Jenkins starting with jrue in the back court
Think they put Jenkins on Wade?
yes, just to piss me off
So that was LeBron's first game-winner in Miami? Doesn't count, left 3.4 seconds on the clock :)
wait - i've been watching most every game this season, no lie. who's Jenkins again?!
Char-les Jenk-ins! .... Char-les Jenk-ins!
oh the kid from hofstra. speedy 2.0?
google rules. never forget.
Ugh. I hate the Miami broadcasts. They're literally spending like 10 minutes on LeBron's game-winner over the mighty Magic the other night. These guys are right up there w/ Heinsohn in the homer book.
Yea I watch Celtic games when i'm in Mass. Heinsohn is laughable.
any lebron predictions? he wont play garbage minutes so im gonna go with, oh...25/8/6 in 25 mins.
I think he just goes for a triple-double in 3 quarters worth of work. 16/12/10. Something like that.
Miami practiced yesterday while Hawes was working on his tan. Not an exaggeration.
Aaaand we're off. Hawes loses the tip.
all white for the sixers, first time all year?
Say it's not true.... seriously?
im stayin with my prediction, Bri. betcha five guys
Thad's on LeBron. That was superb defense on Bosh by Hawes.
Thad splits a pair, shocker.
Come on Jrue.... not tonight man
Jenkins is on Wade, btw.
Jrue turn, Wade finish on the other end. Last lead for the Sixers tonight?
wow turner really got in his face
et 3
ET3!
TURNER43!!!!
Second lead of the night.
how sick would that be if jenkins had a breakout game? he's my new favorite sixer...oh wait i havent had a favorite sixer since AI9 left town.
ET to Spencer cutting thru the lane. And the foul.
Look at that tic-tac-toe basketball. Jrue-Turner-Hawes for the +1.
when they trap on the pick and roll, need quick ball movement
Jrue beat backdoor, no help.
Thad.
Jrue gets the points back after getting burned on a backdoor.
Ugh, missed wide-open three.
Jenkins steal, didn't he have one or two the other night?
ET, heavy. Leakout Wade.
Hawes on fire.
sissy jumper bailout
spence. BOOM
Deep 3 from LeBron, his 1000th.
Spencer with embarassing defense on Bosh there. Inexcusable, don't belong type shit.
Another nice p&r. Jrue to Thad.
Hawes to the line again. Pretty sure Chalmers fouled him both times. Coles coming in. That guy is trash.
Hawes lucky that he got fouled, cause we all know he wasn't going to possibly finish that.
ET3!
TURNER43!!!
Timeout, Miami. You're in trouble, Spoelstra!
7-0 run. Up 7.
Hawes block?! heh
sissy block! then sissy layup from et
Spence w/ the weakside block. And the oop on the other end!
They're making Miami pay for doubling Jrue. Like that.
ET with the perfectly placed pass, Spence with the put-in.
Wonderboy foul.
SIXERS LOOKIN SHARP LIKE JOE JACKSON
Steppin OUt was my sisters prom song
Thad out, Dorell in.
Man, Bosh is a pitiful rebounder.
"Man on, Dorell."
Gather yourself Dorell, it's ok man.
Damn, dunk...ugh
Dorell pump fake and bloop.
everyone falls for that wright pump fake
forgot how good bosh is
Great cuts tonight!! ugh Jrue misses,
Damn 3rd chance pt. shit
Ugh, you have to finish that, Jrue.
Get a fucking d-board.
Timeout, Collins.
Hawes is such a weak bitch
LeBron jumped 3 times. Hawes never left the floor.
Except he's not really on the floor, he's in quicksand.
Absolutely despise mini-runs like they just had.
Catch that Evan....
Catch the ball, Turner.
Moultrie in.
Just hold tight here w/ 2 left.
Thad bailout, after getting a gift-wrapped pass that he forgot to open.
oops after Dorell forgot to open
Turner blocked x 2. LeBron oop on the other end. Losing.
Evan still thinking he can get his shot off at the rim... ugh twice
you can tell they just stepped up their D and we have no chance for a close outcome tonight
Nice pass, Ray.
expected implosion. ladies and gentleman, your 2013 76ers!!!
Turnerover.
Evan cheats down off Ray Allen after defense was broken down, swish.
PHI 24, MIA 28 after one.
Heck of a close there.
Hawes has 9 points on 3 shots.
Turner hit those two threes, then got his TS% back to the Mendoza line as quickly as possible.
and Jrue hasn't hit a shot in about 2 weeks, seemingly.
turner plays like i do - i overestimate what i can do on the court, my defense is iffy from bad decisions, and when i decide to drive, i keep my head down, with no lift, and toss something toward the hoop hoping no one will block it.
Are you eligible for the draft this year? The Sixers might be picking in the top three again.
i hope they get a scout out to the rec center on Clarkson, where i ball
wish u played at the y i do
ivey 3
alright here we go sixers. we got the fly-in-the-ointment mentality working for us.
Jrue turn. Ivey draws the charge on Bird Man in transition.
Deron 33, Wizards 33. At the half.
Jrue to the line.
Stop sending the pick so far out on the floor. All it's doing is giving them a double you can't take advantage of. Iso, or bring the screen at the three-point line and roll off it.
Try this
Jrue Jenkins Dorell Thad Moultrie
can't hurt
Moultrie's man dunks backwards uncontested.
wilkins 3
Damien43!
Brian you made it to Barclays yet? its fun over there. you live in p slope right?
Havent' been yet. Don't like in Park Slope anymore, moved last summer. We used to live about a 5-minute walk from there, though.
Why are you doubling Cole on the p&r? Come on.
Damien 3!
Damien didn't get the big rolling on that Moultrie-man dunk.
D Wil
Wilkins43 again!
Damien 3 x2
Deron (not the great dOron Lamb) hit seven threes in the first quarter. 9 in the first half, 33 pts in all. Good shot at breaking the game record (12, by Kobe and Donyell Marshall).
ivey 3!
Damn, fast paced action here ... Ivey3!
lookin good
Big run as soon as Jrue came back in.
et refused to move ball quick when he was the ball handler for the pnr
Sure wish they played with this much effort and obvious execution (making shots) every night.
Moultrie block!
Come on Damien, don't let Ray take you like that.
Jrue can't buy a hoop. Get a dunk or something. Anything.
Shit of a pass Damien, come on....
Wilkins jumper 1-4 in transition? ugh.
Damien is aggressive in looking for his shot tonight it seems.
Spencer with weak rim protection, Thad.
thad
spoelstra has to yell at his guys
Thad steal!
Thadunkonus!
Jrue to Thad.
The Heat bigs are just really weak on the glass.
Thad all by himself.
Back to the Heat bigs. Hawes is literally taking rebounds away from them with his "strength." I've seen 3 or 4 boards that they usually don't get, but Bosh/Anderson are just passive.
Is it his strength, or his guile?
At least they've beaten some playoff teams on the road. It would be bad if they only had 6 road wins and they were all against like Charlotte, Cleveland and New Orleans.
wheres dollar bill?, d-will is torching wall
He's got a boner for both of them. Actually, he's got a boner for every PG not named Jrue.
wright 3!
D3!
Heat turnover, 9th. Outscored 21-9 in this quarter. Up 8.
Convenient that they need net maintenance in the middle of a huge Sixers run.
Isolate when you've got Rashard or Bosh on Jrue and let him just drive. Stop clogging the floor w/ the screen. Ugh.
Ugh what a weak effort by Dorell, turn.
Hawes block again?!
sissy jumper
Damien jacking again.... weird.
Spence shows his Spence-hood with the Bosh facial on the 2nd try.
Spence, of course answers with a J.
instead of his what should be his 'manhood'
Jrue to the bench? Alright, up 8 this time. Let' see how they finish the quarter.
Shoot it Evan!!!! ugh clock violation... terrible.
Timeout.
Evan, what are you whining about. You didn't start your move to the basket until there were 3 seconds left.
14 assists on 17 makes.
Damien blocks LBJ of course he gets the call.
Fuck o-board off freebie.
Off Heat w/ 9 secs left on clock....LJ miss
SOmebody get the ball from Spencer...
Shitty crosscourt pass from Ivey. Ray dunk, pitiful dammit!
Turner jogging down the floor after Allen.
Hawes back to the line, again. Wow.
SHit Shane 3
nice thad
It's hard not to love Thad sometimes.
SHot clock running down again. ET rimout.
Thad lay-in. After great hustle.
Thad!
Get to the line here, you're in the bonus...
Of course, Jrue settles for a 15 footer. clank
From +8 to +4 w/ Jrue on the bench. Went from +1 to -4 in the first quarter.
PHI 51, MIA 47 at the half.
Probably as good as they can play for a 24-minute stretch. Now if Jrue could catch fire in the second half, they might actually be able to steal this.
Well, I've been killing Wonderboy, but he's a scoring machine. Without him, I know not where they'd be.
With his getting to the line and all. And the calmness to knock all them down.
We're 7-10 from downtown? Fools gold, keep diggin' dammit.
Sixers have 9 FTA, Miami has 8. Odds that holds in the second half?
Way to follow, Spence
ET had the 3, went in for the 2 instead.
They sag off ET again, he pulls the 3, way short.
Wade on other end.
This is when it's a bitch, when Hawes throws up some slop that even the swine won't eat.
jrue 3
Jruebreaksthe0fer3!
Here come the whistles.
Jenkins to the rack!
Whoa Jenkins!
Thad strip!!! Good hands man.
Hawes high pick, Jenkins uses it for a gimme.
Turner in the post w/ Chalmers on him. Nice.
Good gather and make, Evan.
Fuckin Mario 3.
Jrue earning one.
Jrue right past Wade and hits. Wade pays it back.
Sweet move by Jrue.
thats not a charge
He's got two fucking feet in the restricted area. God damnit.
Spencer whines like a wil baby!
I'll pass him some tissue on that one, robbed by the call
SHit haslem
This is like the old Dre and EB squads, eerily it really is.
What a fucking BRICK Evan! damn man
Keep fightin' here! come on....
Attaboy, Thad.
What's with Spence's hair? Fake part? Horrible.
And Spencer's version of fightin is jackin a 3.
Jrue.
Damien jacking a 3 again?
F me, and-one opp for Bosh shit
Shit, did Thad hurt his shoulder when he got tangled up w/ LeBron?
Heh. That was such a foul on Haslem. Come on.
Jrue lefty nonsense, at nothing. come on man...
Steal? No D-board and good D by Arnett.
HUH? off Wilkins? F me man COme on Damien what are you doing man, playing for your next contract?
moultrie jumper
Jrue on the diagonal to Moultrie. Good. Get a stop and a hoop now, don't let them get used to this lead.
Wade plays with Evan like his Raggedy-Ann doll.
Moultrie.
Great D, Jrue. Closed to cut off the three without leaving his feet, then moved them to cut off penetration and take away the passing lane. Turnover, Chalmers. Now get another hoop.
Moultrie cleanup? No Wright cleaning up his own original miss.
Good work on the o-glass by Moultrie and Wright. Back in the lead. Keep the D up, now.
wright 3
Moultrie d-board, outlet to Jrue, pushes it up the floor, penetrates and kicks to Wright for a three.
and then they give it back :(
Jrue pitchback, Dorell 3 in transition!
F me Chalmers answers with one of his own.
DW Jumps with the wrong foot on his left hand layups.
Make em man, they're um ..... free.
Ugh. It was there, fucking terrible pas, Jrue.
moultrie needs to stop shoving when he boxes out
wright 3!
Shit, Shane 3.
Ugh Jrue might as well be turn, overthrow to Arnett.
They score.
Dorell 3!
Jrue to D-Wright for another three. Get the stop, keep the lead.
PHI 75, MIA 76 after three.
LeBron hits a three with a hand in his face at the buzzer to give MIA the lead.
He can't sit Jrue here to start the fourth if he wants to win the game.
Yeah but it wasn't in the fourth - so it's not impressive at all
Shit LBJ 3 at the buzzer. nice dammit
These are the times when I miss Iggy. Wilkins on LBJ is a joke.
If Bynum wasn't a turd I wouldn't miss him at all - sadly
10-17 from deep. Can we make just 3-4 more, because the Heat probably will.
Thad putbac! Come on.
Yep, Jrue on the bench.
Stop and then Thad gets an o-board and putback. They lead for about 12 seconds until LeBron scores.
Bad pass Thad, you get luckily bailed out
Great work, Turner. Excellent.
behind his back on a double team? You learn not to do that in middle school.
Mary Potter days.
offense once again has gone to hell with jrue on the bench
Get him back in, please.
rely on embarrassment
Turner sucks
ET gets his pocket picked by Cole, flails his arm at getting bitched, and Doug looked to Brian James and said,
"damn he's a scrub!".
Heh
That's probably game, folks.
Let's see what Jrue can do.
C'mon give us something this season!
What's going on w/ Deron? Did he set the record for threes?
11 for 16
nope "only" 11
It might not quite be over just yet....
backcourt!
They played great D on the Ray Allen missed three. Let's see if they can do it again after the o-board.
Foul on DWright. come on man make them at least earn it.
LeBron on Jrue.
Wilkins killing us.
Damien stutter-step pullup J. Why?
They score, easily.
He's angling tonight or something, that Damien he is
Thad hook.
jrue to thad
Jrue to Thad.
This thing has ballooned to 10 just like that. 13-2 run.
Jrue over the shoulder. Ugly, but it goes.
somehow that jrue shot went in
They're in the bonus the rest of the way. This is going to wind up being about a 25-point loss.
6+ left, down 8. One more in 'em?
Doubt it. It's on the road after all.
10 now.
Hawes didn't get back to help Jrue!
Oley!
ANd the kicker which really pisses me off! Jrue and Evan display the matador D on Wade. Fucking pitiful.
Turner just stands there while Wade picks the ball up. Awesome.
Turnerover! great
Damien steal and finish. Pokeaway.
Jrue's form is way off on those jumpers. It's like he's flinging it up there. Too quick through his motion.
it was fun while it lsted
How did they turn the ball over on the inbound?
someone threw it right to bosh
Bosh anticipated that Spece was an idiot and stole his inbounds.
Too easy, Wade. They're up 12. And I could have told you that we were up about 6 just a sec ago. They score again.
Damien lighting it up. Heh.
To witness how quick and almost not-knowingly this game changed, best I can say is it was an absolute blur.
So anyway, I'm about 95% sure DiLeo's "Plan B" is to let Bynum walk and offer Josh Smith a max contract. Anyone wanna bet?
All I'll say to this is DiLeo needs to be long gone like Stefanski.
Wilkins, swish.
thad
Bosh too deep there.
Well, the tease was good, mainly because it lasted for 3 1/2 quarters tonight, not just for a 1/3rd of the 3rd.
Pay respects tonight to "When I Reminisce Over You", Eric B and Rakin circa 1992.
That looked the old Sixers effort and execution for a good portiong, nothing to get overly excited about, but a peek of it peered through.
Pete Rock and CL Smooth, actually.
Dag, don't know how I screwed that up. Thanks. Should have either said "Move the Crowd" circa '87, or your correction but same song title. Heh.
PHI 93, MIA 102 Final.
Good showing. Single-digit loss.
I guess Thad is POTG. Thad or Hawes.
if only this team had a huge badass center who could get them easy points and clear out the paint. #bynum
I'd put serious money on a win on Sunday.
You also gave us a good chance of catching the Bucks a few games before the All-Star break (I predicted we'd go on a huge losing streak), and a couple weeks ago when we were 22-32 and you finally gave up on the playoffs you said we'd win 10 more games. 1-6 since and in need of going 9-12 to make that prediction come true. That said, I'm afraid you may be right this time. Orlando's lost badly to Charlotte, Cleveland and Sacramento at home in the past few weeks.
so if the 76ers ultimately give him a max deal and get out of Bynum what the Flyers did with Pronger - massive trade, one finals run, half of another season and then done for good - who would take that deal?
How long is a max deal?
I believe a max contract for Bynum would be 125 million over 5 years.
I don't know much about Pronger and the flyers, but I know that signing bynum to a max deal with this roster of mis fit toys wouldn't get a finals run any time soon unless Lebron seriously heads back to Cleveland, but even then, with Kyrie maturing it might not.
Lebron is getting better still - it's really just ridiculous how good he is already
...and wtf is this all about??
http://www.nba.com/sixers/features/introducing-drumstix
More and more the new ownership reminds me of PT Barnum
If Barnum ran a franchise he'd put together an interesting roster. He wouldn't try to bring people in with Drumstix.
Tell me again how conecssions work at stadiums?
I was off - yes - it's more like 5 years 100 mil (actually it's even less - so I was off by more than 20 mil)
I'd call your post ironic if I had a thought you'd know what irony is
Amare's knee putting him out for 6 weeks, I wonder if the Knicks will be 'better without him' again?
The persistent whisper into Stein Line HQ, according to sources with knowledge of the talks, is that Josh Smith-to-Milwaukee is the trade scenario Atlanta came the closest to consummating before the Feb. 21 trade deadline.
Reports this week that the Sixers and Hawks were close on a deal that would have sent Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes to the Hawks in a package for Smith were dismissed by one source who insists that the Hawks' talks with Philly were never as serious as the discussions with the Bucks.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/226600/Report-Derrick-Rose-A-No-Show-For-Bulls-Practice-Saturday
This is turning into a major problem for the Bulls...
A problem of their own making...serves em right