The Minnesota Timberwolves feature two guys in their starting lineup who the Sixers simply cannot account for. Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic are physical beasts, especially on the offensive glass. They play big, they play strong, they're aggressive, and they're most likely going to eat Lavoy, Hawes and Kwame alive tonight.
Pekovic is a bull in a china shop on the offensive end, and it's virtual impossible to keep Kevin Love off the glass. If the T-Wolves make them the focus of their game plan against the Sixers bigs, it's going to be tough to overcome.
There is some good news, though. Luke Ridnour and J.J. Barea are starting together in the backcourt for the Wolves, and Josh Howard is starting at the three (the Sixers really caught a break with AK47 being out).
This game is probably going to be a shootout. Minnesota has been a much better defensive team this season than in years past, but just looking at the matchups, there are so many different mismatches on both sides to exploit. Love is going to be guarding Thad. Barea is going to have to guard either Richardson or Jrue. Ridnour is probably going to spend most of his time on Jrue. Lavoy is going to be trying to keep Pekovic off the glass. Love is going to have Thad on him.
The Sixers have a shot. As usual, it comes down to Jrue. On both ends of the floor. Ridnour is a scrub, but he's a scrub with a specific skill that really hurts the Sixers. He can shoot the long two. He shoots it as good as anyone (51% this season), and that's a shot the Sixers will absolutely give him. PGs who can hit that shot always do well against the Sixers. Beno Udrih immediately comes to mind. He and Ridnour have no chance of penetrating against Jrue. Neither of them shoot the three particularly well, but they can get open 20-footers all night, and they can knock those shots down. I hope the game doesn't come down to 16 points from Ridnour on shots the Sixers are daring him to take.
The good news on the defensive end is the Wolves don't have threats from deep. Double Love and/or Pekovic when they get the ball in or near the paint, and gang rebound on the defensive end. Don't leak out, don't assume the bigs are going to be able to secure the boards, send five guys to the defensive glass, and maybe even faceguard Pekovic and Love with your bigs to keep them off the glass. That has to be the defensive focus.
The tip is at 7pm. Use this as your game thread. 25 and 10 from Jrue in a Sixers win. Too much to ask? And food for thought, why's it taking Rubio so long to get back from the knee injury?
Rubio is back at practice and expected back in another 10 days or so, right in line with his original rehab schedule.
What was it, 10 months? Seems long to me, but maybe not.
Yeah, almost 9 months now, he injured it in March. Torn ACL so seems like a typical recovery period. It'll be great for the league to have him back. The Rubio-Love combination was a lot of fun to watch at their peak last season.
Eh, the only combo I care about is the Holiday/Bynum combo.
Rubio and Love are my favorite 2 basketball players so i really hope they will have a great career. It's too bad they are not playing for the Sixers :)
It's a tough injury, similar to Roses if i remember correctly. His original schedule was 9 months, so he is right on schedule.
What about Alexey Shved? He seems to be having a good season as well.
Adelman likes his new guard, Alexey Shved of Russia, team's 4Q leader in points, assists, steals. [see today's Star Tribune]
1 Spaniard, 1 Montenegrin, 1 Puerto Rican, 2 Russians, bunch of Americans... Adelman should hire former U.N. coach Kofi Annan to help iron out the wrinkles.
738-1115, .398 career winning percentage; 8 playoff seasons in 24 yrs - howl in the world have Wolves survived?
ALL HE NEEDS IS KEVIN LOVE
Spence got a good talkin' to from Dr. Fill-up Collins since Chicago; I expect him to come out snarlin' and snipin' tonight.
I'll settle for a haircut.
What, you don't like the ThrillBilly Ray Cyrus?
He should be going for lowest weight, best aerodynamics possible.
"The Lebron"
last 2 games, both Magic wins against the Lakers & Warriors, Vucevic has totaled 31 pts & 27 rebounds
Solid games. TS is up to .497.
Still struggles defensively. Needs to sure that up or his peak is just backup center.
Just a quick update on DeMarcus Cousins. He's cut down his turnovers and fouls this year, which is great. He still sucks ass, though.
If you were forming a team, who would you pick first from the expansion pool - Spencer Hawes, Nikola Vucevic or DeMarcus Cousins?
I'd pick Cousins based on talent, but I would lean toward Vucevic because it's less likely that the front office would extend him to deal worth more than $6 million/year.
Voose. Mostly because I think maybe you can change his ways. Hawes is who he is. Cousins is a waste.
Interesting. You went conservative. The 'sheer talent' driven or maverick/big splash GM would grab Cousins. I haven't seen him enough to cast a judgement on his play/value. Is he that bad a court influence? 15.9, 9.7 & 2.1 is nothin' to sneeze at for a kid of 22. And I love a guy that deflates the ball when he rebounds. Coach-player relationship would seemingly be vital in his case.
The rebounding is good, but it comes at a tremendous cost. Uses a ton of possessions, very inefficient, zero defense. You can build a team around him, if you're trying to build a perennial lottery team.
Firm opinion. No room at your inn for the wild cat.
Thanks.
And here I thought you were attentive and read this blog for a long while - Brian's hatred of DeMarcus cousins is legendary - he's considered him a lost cause since some time in his rookie season.
Given the 3 names floating around - i'd take cousins and a little 'tough love' and either he figures out that it's time to grow up or let his ass go to europe.
Even in his immature raw state he's heads and shoulders better than voose will be at the peak of his career
And not for nothing - damn you bret bielema - you bitch
if Malcolm lee plays he will probably start at SG over barea
@tmoorepburbs
#Sixers Nick Young says he's not playing tonight.
Any chance someone can find out what Wright did to make doug so angry?
I honestly think it's that he passes shots up. Think that drives Doug crazy. He'd prefer him to take shots that he shouldn't rather than turn down shots that he should take, if that makes sense.
OH yeah it makes sense - doug misses lou williams and it also explains why he plays nick young so damn much
It's also stupid in my opinion
Old Doug was an unconscious gunner on his hey days.. he just has an identification with Lou and Swaggy..
also the hornets will be known as the pelicans starting next year
Utah needs to give up the jazz - just call them selves the white people already - but seriously - new orleans jazz - it's like cleveland browns - just goes together
Pelicans makes 'more' sense - than hornets - for new orleans - but it's pretty stupid (though hornets and bobcats makes no sense for charlotte - guess you can't say charlotte slavemasters or tobaccy farmers?)
I think Stern needs to intervene with some sanctions.I'm not taking the Pelicans seriously.
WHat's serious have to do with anything
lakers
clippers
jazz
all of them are ridiculous names (also all three inappropriate for where the teams are currently located)
JRich coast to coast.
lavoy jumper
Ridnour drives, Lavoy moves out of the way. heh
Lavoy J.
evan corner 3
ET spots up for corner three, JRich kicks to him. Bang!
And we passed on Josh Howard for Damien Wilkins I think? Not that Josh is great or anything, just saying.
JRich.
Josh Howard is giving ET trouble here early. They're going after ET too.
evan from the post
ET postup on Ridnour.
Now they go at ET w/ Malcolm Lee.
Far too many points given up already. Looks like this is gonna be one of those games. 20 pts already in only a half-quarter. ugh
thad
Thad explodes by Love to the hoop.
Lavoy moving screen, his 2nd.
The Josh Howard comeback journey begins with Evan Turner's shitty defense tonight
yet you have those who hold so very close his several minute stretch of staying in front of Westbrook. He's too lackadaisical so far tonight. And it appears the Wolves are going after him too.
Hawes enters, Hawes gives minimal effort to stop Pekovic.
if barea is guarding jrue, post him everytime
Hawes and Kwame on floor together.
Josh Howard o-board.
Jrue gunned it twice on that possession. Good to snare that o-board though.
Damn Dorell, don't foul him jump shooting man. This is a bad bad quarter.
some defense would be nice
34 given up already. Wolves shooting 60%. Got to make some adjustments on that end. Specifically on Josh Howard.
Bad entry pass JRich.
Dorell steal on backdoor attempt by DWilliams.
D3!
Uh-oh, Wayns is in. See if he guns the shit out of it.
down 17
WTF was that Hawes? I know what it was, it was funny as hell...
And again Hawes, wtf was that attempt at that o-board? Yeah that was funny too but sad. Damn he's terrible
He's so afraid of contact it's just pitiful.
I don't understand how hawes earns minutes. seriously what the fuck. he never does anything positive.
this is getting really bad. down 20
Terrilbe possession there. ugh
ET in to run point, Wayns out.
No one matches up w/ Shved and he cans a three. Get your fucking man!
Hawes rightly takes a seat. Thad back in.
This one's appears it's going to continue to be ugly.
Announcer proves his cluelessness and says he thought Spencer was gonna be a starter and key player for the Sixers after working on his game this offseason.
Talk about a joke? hahahah
Evan late to rotate over. Steimsma to the line.
Jrue guns another one. Short though.
JJ causes defense to collapse, Kick out to Williams for 3. JRich's man.
OK, they're going to have to score at least 110+ to pull this one out it looks like. Can't see that happening.
Evan unaware running a break. Still our ball though.
if they can get it 10-12 by half ill be surprised
lavoy can dunk!
They're just flat out being outplayed, outhustled, out-everything.
I've always wanted us to give Dante Cunningham a shot at a bench big.
Jrue goes under screen, JJ cans one from deep. geez
Barea abuses Jrue again on penetration.
ET.
Sixers defense is not great tonight but Minnesota is flat out ridiculous right now. Sometimes you just need to give credit where it's due. They're hitting everything they throw up right now and the Sixers aren't knocking down their shots.
It happens. I haven't seen too many specific instances of legit poor defense out there (other than Hawes on Peko). The other guys get paid too.
barea killing jrue
wolves might put up 125
The Sixers are being taken back behind the wood Schved by the Wolves tonight.
I see what you did there...
Piss-poor effort on D and help D from everyone tonight. They're lazy in their contests, late on rotations, and no all-out effort at all. Just half-assed and lackadaisical.
Jrue takes a three, misses, doesn't get back for a JJ layup. ugh
ET corner 3.
evan corner 3
Jrue guns a bad two. Drops.
Quick shot as he tried to go 2 for 1 at end of quarter
He was going for a two for one. Buttttt he coughs up the second chance for a turnover.
Don't know if that half was as bad as the Pistons half or not....pretty close to the worst yet this season on first thought.
How did the Wolves get this Shved kid? He's pretty skilled and savvy. Appears to have a high IQ from the 4 or 5 times I've seen him this year.
played for russia in the olympics, im sure kirilenko "recruited" him
love has 6 points
thad jumper
nice pass jrue
Thad and-one.
Thad w/ 7 quick pts, all this quarter for the team.
Evan leaves Lee wide open for three. geez
Thad didn't even make contact with his elbow on Love did he?
Jrue doesn't get around pick for Ridnour, no help D, Ridnour layup.
Thad J.
jrue
Damn Evan...........finish that man!
wilkins, why?
bad shot jrue
Evan comes down and guns one. Clank.
Jrue comes down and tries to outdo him. Clank.
Why the F we keep throwing quick shots up? Turner and Jrue especially gunning like crazy. How bad would this team be without Thad?
I agree with the gunning comment, but I must point out that Thad, our PF, has 1 rebound in 25 minutes so far
Hey Malik Rose, we are down by 20, it's time to take quick shots when they're open...
No need to try to get it all back at once. Just keep chipping away. They're playing with a better sense of urgency, just don't let that turn into playing in a rush.
This is the kind of game we should put Dorell out there. At least he's 6-8. Especially instead of Wilkins.
Jrue gets caught on two screens, Ridnour J.
Evan just needs to quit fucking shooting. geez
Turner needs to be out, now
Thad blows the hard-worked-for bunny.
Is Thad the only one who knows the best chance to score is by going to the basket?
So they put Wilkins in to hound Josh Howard?
ET and-one.
Free throw goes clank though.
All those freaking missed FTs to top it.
No, Damien isn't in to guard Wilkins. but he is hounding whomever he's assigned to. Good effort from him.
*guard Howard
Wilkins sags off Josh Howard for 3. Bucket.
Shved is pretty nasty. In Jrue's eye there.
Jrue has been short on quite a few jumpers tonight.
JJ penetrates right by Jrue. Drops it off for two.
I wish our bigs set high ball screens as good as the Wolves guys do.
that's asking a lot. If they could even set a half decent one from time to time, it would be a huge plus.
Sad to say our bigs are not nba-level (or even college-level) at doing big guy stuff like setting screens or boxing out.
Kwame didn't give a damn about that rebound. That sums it up really. Doug takes the opportunity to put his favourite Hawes-Kwame frontcourt out there.
Ugh, had a chance for a two for one there. Didn't take advantage of it.
lol hawes
Seriously, as much as he pisses me off, he literally does make me cackle my ass off when watching him.
why do they look so tired tonight
Wayns guns a J. Makes it.
Moultrie sighting. White flag from Doug?
Moultrie is probably better then hawes
I'd tend to agree except Doug pulled Kwame instead of Spencer.
We could really use DeMarcus Cousins right now.
I wish Bynum was playing, not because I want the team to play better but because I want to see someone lay JJ Barrea out
Man, Wayns loves to shoot. It doesn't matter if he's had bad teammates in college or not, he's not cut out to run an offense at this level. He's just 'get mine'.
If i see Turner clang another jumper I swear i'm gonna lose it.
LOL at Hawes footwork there. (lack of)
Barea leaves Wayns on the strong side, gets to paint, kicks out, DWilliams 3.
Barea leaves Wayns on his back hip again, kicks out, Shved 3.
ET w/ his 20th attempt. Make.
Wilkins 13 minutes. Ouch. Dorell 7. Seriously?
Is there another team in the nba that has been blown out as often and as badly as the sixers?
So it takes a massive blowout on us to have Dorell and Moultrie in the game..
Zumoff just said that the plan is to send Moultrie to the D-League. Because he has such excellent bigs in front of him, how could he possibly get minutes here.
Does getting your ass spanked qualify as 'what's the opposite of favorable'?
In the past 5 games (including today) Evan Turner has been averaging 18.8 pts, 6.4 rebs, and 3.2 assists. I think now is a good time to trade him.
Trading ET would be the dumbest thing they could possibly do.
Trading Andrew BYnum for cap room
trading jrue holiday
trading thaddeus young
All of them are 'dumber' (in abstract) than your assertion about evan turner (they're all better than evan turner)
Turner Delusion is going to end some day right?
It depends on who you can get. I'm not an Evan Turner hater, but his jump shot is too inconsistent for my fancy. I wouldn't hesitate to trade him for someone like Harrison Barnes, Wesley Matthews, Terrence Ross, Arron Afflalo, Chandler Parson or Kevin Martin. I might even consider trading him for the injured Danny Granger or Eric Gordon
I don't think the answer is trading Turner, or anyone for that matter, for anything less than a quality big. Any "improvement" on the wings is just a lateral adjustment. Turner needs to finish closer 70% at the rim rather than 60%, and hit his jumper from mid-range closer to 40% rather than 30% (as you noted). His attempts at the rim also need to be greater than his number of jump shots, the margin between the two is far too great. I'm no statistician so I'm admittedly nitpicking here, but those seem to be his greatest deficiencies right now. Otherwise...
TS%: 52.2%
Paul George: 48.6%
Andre Iguodala: 54.2%
eFG%: 46.8%
Paul George: 45.9%
Andre Iguodala: 51.6%
EFF: 17.41
Paul George: 14.18
Andre Iguodala 15.61
PER: 16.03
Paul George: 12.63
Andre Iguodala: 15.31
WS: 7.50
Paul George: 3.58
Andre Iguodala: 5.06
DRR: 21.2
Paul George: 17.1
Andre Iguodala: 14.7
USG: 20.50
Paul George: 21.45
Andre Iguodala: 20.23
FTR: .29
Paul George: .15
Andre Iguodala: .26
And1%: 2.9
Paul George: 2.3
Andre Iguodala: 2.2
%Blkd: 8.8
Paul George: 7.2
Andre Iguodala: 2.2
The Wizards beat the Heat today. True Story. Don't feel bad
At some point will Dwight Howard accept what a hindrance his piss poor free throw shooting is? The lakers are going to keep losing games via Hack a Dwight
I mean seriously - how can you not be as good as Shaq at this?
This is brilliant coaching as the lakers are getting pummeled in the fourth quarter. The Rockets aren't even letting the lakers get set - they foul dwight the MOMENT the ball is inbound - currently the lakers are being out scored by 11 in the fourth
Figures that Pekovic and Love shit the bed and the Sixers still get demolished.
Two games in a row where Turner looked like himself out there. Have a feeling we're going to see this for quite some time.
Actually, he's looked worse than himself. Rebounding has been shit.
Game story (with Richardson video): Sixers are thrown to the Wolves:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/sixers/sixers-are-thrown-to-the-wolves/article_d81ca9ec-7980-5a24-8787-a79d9c621fd5.html
Wow, everyone was simply terrible yesterday. And it felt to me that this one was sort of on Collins. They opted to pack the lane more than usual because the bigs are plain horrible and can't defend Love and Pekovic and the Wolves perimeter players made them pay with long range shooting.
Jrue is wearing down a bit and that is trouble. They need Jrue and Thad to carry a heavy load on both ends or the bottom will drop out over the next three weeks.
Yeah, a couple times Jrue has looked tired this year, at least his jumper has looked tired. On the front rim late in games. Didn't think he played poorly last night. Actually should've probably had a dozen assists in the three quarters he played. And only one turnover was his fault. The second was a pass that Wilkins took his eye off. The third was a bounce pass that hit Kwame right in the hands and he fumbled. Turner is going to have to be able to run the point for stretches to take some of the burden off Jrue. Also going to need someone else to take the PG on the defensive end for stretches. Give Jrue a rest on the floor, because when he goes out they're helpless.
I honestly can't fault Collins for the game plan last night. The Wolves were shooting 28.6% from three coming into the game. They were taking the shots the Sixers wanted them to take, just shooting an unbelievable percentage. They did a good job on the two bigs, made the smalls beat them (mostly with jumpers) and the smalls did the job. Need to shake it off and be ready on Friday for the Celts (who live on long twos).
Oh, i don't think the game plan was a bad one at all in theory, i just think that the what happened on the court was more so a direct result of the strategy rather than huge mistakes by the majority of the players. The shots the Timberwolves made were there for the taking by design (for the most part). Now where the Wolves ineptitude on those type of shots was properly scouted (and the game was an aberration) or was only a result of relatively small sample size is another issue.
In the end it all comes down to having zero capable bigs on the defensive end. That fact sort of forces collins hand.
Sorry for the grammar errors. I have no idea what i was thinking writing those sentences.
Pretty much the same story the entire time Collins has been here, and no one put a gun to his head to re-sign Hawes and Lavoy and bring Kwame in.
Watching his press conference after the game, i felt like Doug has nightmares remembering the day he made the Hawes/Kwame signings.
18 cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew. 64 left in the cupboard. Gonna be a long winter. Gotta make another run to Costco for some Pepto-Bismol.
See now this is just well said.
MAN OF THE NIGHT, Zach Randolph - 38 & 22 in 44! 15-22, 8-8. Had fans chantin' "Z-bo!" by OT finish past Suns.
Yeah, I just watched his highlights and I was impressed. He had a few buckets on the fast break and he iced the game with a fadeway jumper over Gortat as the shotclock was expiring.
Remember when he supposed to be part of a dynamic front court with Eddy Curry that complemented a backcourt of Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford? Good times.
ZR: Always could shoot. Rebounding - has a motor and a knack; 69th on all-time list (9.21).
Whatever happened to Marbury? Flamed out before A.I. At one point was a jen-you-wine force. Crawford, streaky. Curry filled up his dinner plate; peaked at 24 while playing for Isiah Thomas.
Marbury was never a genuine force, he was genuine hype and a genuine primadonna, the documentary made folk think he was better than he was.
I like how counting stats are so important to old people - probably can't understand much more than that
He has led his team to more Atlantic division titles in the past 8 years than any Sixer has during that same stretch :)
Actually, the Sixers have a guy who led his team to the Finals last year.
That's your opinion.
Never saw a documentary on him. No influence whatsoever at this precinct.
Counting stats? Didn't look at 'em, don't need to. Have long trusted my eyes.
Kid had hang-ups (like yours with fat and age), didn't max out, but he could play the game at a high level at one time. That's my opinion.
I understand the hypocrisy in the derogation from one who bemoans man's inhumanity to man. Practice what you preach, sunny boy.
Playing the game at a high level in high school means nothing
PS - rebounds are counting stats
I was just starting to get to that age as a sports fan where you know what you're watching back when Marbury was having success, your post made me think back to Steve Francis. Man, what happened to him? I wanted to go look at his #'s and assume he just wasn't a good player/inefficient gunner type, but then you look at a few years where he was the man, 02-03 he posted a 20+ PER...wasn't just a scorer,seems like filled up the stat sheet a bit for a few years too.
Not surprised. Always thought he would be good and didnt understand why collins didnt give more playing time. Hes got good all around skills, but i alwayd thought his upside was high based on how he comes from a basketball family and his size. I understand including players with value in the deal but i hate selling low on a player with so much upside who never got a chance. This just like what i was thinking about why I wouldnt trade Turner because his trade value probably wasnt even close tohis upside. At least they didnt put him in the deal too. This probably had to do with collins who seemed to had given up on voose. Im still annoyed they gave up so much but i guess its likr a high priced lottery ticket. If bynum works out then it'll be worth it.
This was supposed to be a reply to mikes comment on Vucevic. Ive been having some trouble stopping my phone from double postingand threading properly. Hopefully i'll get this resolved soon.
By the way, for anyone interested, the nba game time app for smartphones is actually a really well designed, but especially if you have sprint. It has lots of information if you click around. You can find stadium info, official tweets, etc. you can even set up customized alerts for sixers double doubles and all kinds of things.
I live out of market like a lot of people here and go to bars that have league pass because i cant sign up myself at the moment. This app also provides live radio streams for both teams which is free if you have sprint. League pass runs through the app too, but i decided i wouldnt want to watch on a mini screen anyway.
Just thought id share because this app is pretty neat, and ive enjoyed listening to radio feeds from the other teams when i dont feel like heading out to the bar.
Sixers practice video: Thaddeus Young and Doug Collins Thursday on facing the Celtics the next two nights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59o3MbfTO6M
well at least the Phillies will be even worse next year
Ben Revere: 57 BB in 1064 career PA; will fit right in with "Clubber" Rollins.
Cross-sport comparison, but low walk numbers are somewhat analagous, in terms of pressure applied to opponent defense, to Thad's meager 49 FTA in 632 minutes (just 1 attempt every 12.9 minutes; wanting number for a starting PF) or Richardson's miniscule 14 FTA in 407 (just 1 attempt every 29 minutes). Both players are threatening weapons, but not as it pertains to freebies and to saddling opponent with penalty situation.
Well - the off season isn't over yet - and the fact that utley and howard will be healthy for an entire season isn't a bad thing.
As for Revere, he's cheap and a defensive upgrade from Juan Pierre...the phillies do have a budget folks
Revere: speedier than the high-mileage Pierre, will track down more, but reports say his throwing arm is even worse, which is hard to imagine.