Detroit has a new/old fan (Pistons 4, Sixers 2)

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I am back home after a 4 days romantic trip to Verona (the city of Romeo and Juliet !) with my wife, finally back blogging also.

I am changing job & town in the next weeks, so it’s possible that new posts and updates will have some pauses.

Anyway I’ll have BIG NEWS SOON, so give me a free pass and stay tuned on Sixers4guidos.

So the Sixers season is over after the 77-100 loss to the Pistons in game 6 of the first round: 4-2, end. While I’m typing this post, Detroit has a 2-1 lead over Orlando in the second round.

Of course no need to recap the game one week after it was played, and also because it was another blowout (2-15 Detroit to start it, 12-30 after the first quarter, 33-51 at the half…).

I’ll just point out some things, the feelings I had after the end of the series.

1) Detroit deserved to advance, of course. Can’t argue with three consecutive wins after trailing 1-2, also because the wins came in a pretty impressive way. The best team won, simple as that.

2) I am VERY HAPPY with what Sixers did in the season and in the series. Idiots complaining about the 2-1 lead we had, about the collapses in the last two games, about Iguodala’s (actual) shortcomings, perhaps forget where did we come from.

Bitter end for a fantastic Sixers season

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REGULAR season, I mean.

It ended with the 115-109 loss in Charlotte, the fourth straight, that kept us under .500 (40-42, .488).

Big deal? No, it was a fantastic run, and this young, exciting, athletic Sixers team probably overachieved, thanks mainly to the wonderful job done by Maurice Cheeks, a guy I bashed on these pages many times. Time to apologize again.

Some of you would perhaps remember I predicted 31 wins, but hundreds of ”colleagues” (in the category I put journalists, experts, bloggers, fans) were more around the 24-28 W range, with Sixers finishing from last to second last in the Eastern Conference.

So I won’t complain about these final four games, even if I would have preferred to take at least this last one, in order to avoid finishing with a losing record and to build some momentum before the playoffs (starting on Sunday at Detroit).

Cheeks rested most of his starters last night, with only Iguodala logging his usual minutes. Sixers were down 23 in the third (76-53, after a three pointer by Jason Richardson) but rallied back and closed the quarter 87-80 thanks to a 12-2 run with five consecutive points by an active Thaddeus Young and an alley oop dunk by Willie Green (season high 27 - in the picture, getting a rare S4G front page honour ) right at the buzzer.

Last second loss heads us to Detroit

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I’m finally back after a 11 day absence due to a business trip. And I finally managed to see a whole Sixers game again: the last one before I left, was the win vs Nets.

Right now you’d already wacthed and read everything about the 90-91 home loss to the Cavs (40-41, .494) and the way it come.

In case you didn’t, David Aldridge has the best recap, as usual. Point is, we lost the game, will finish at the seventh place and meet Detroit in the first round.

I’ll just add my two cents. Unlike many Sixers fans, I think the call on Dalembert was correct. He fouled Devin Brown - in the pic, sealing the victory - and before the buzzer. So no “robbery”, no “steal”, no “scandal”, in my opinion. It was a foul, coming after a great play, the block on LeBron James. (EDIT: after reviewing it for the 157th time I finally realized Ilgauskas pushed Sam towards Brown… that foul should have been called as well).

No big deal though. Sixers played a heck of a game, a playoffs game and I really enjoyed it. If it could end 0.2 seconds before, it would have been nicer. Whatever.

I’ll try to remind the good things:

Sixers dance towards the playoffs

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I know this recap comes late.

I am sorry but I am having troubles finding the games. Anyway, it looks like i just found a new, cool way :-) 

With that one, I just managed to watch the whole Nets game, so here are my (late) thoughts.

While the Sixers dancers were battling in the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA Dance team bracket, the guys were sailing to the first round.

Sixers beat the Nets 97-108 and at 38-37 (.507) got very, very close to clinching a playoffs spot.

With Toronto and Washington (38-36) still 1/2 game ahead and Atlanta (34-40) three and 1/2 games behind, Sixers could finish anywhere between the 5th and the 8th seed, especially considering that now they have to meet the Hawks in two games of a back-to-back, home-and-home series.

No need to go quarter-by-quarter now (it was a good, solid win on the road), but what was nice to see in New Jersey?

In Sixersworld everyone is on a roll

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The whole Sixers franchise is passing through a great moment.

The darkest days seem behind our back, a new era hopefully started.

It might be winning, it might be not, at least it’s providing us a much needed extra fun.

Fun is the key word.

It’s a joy to watch this team play hard, run fast, win games.

Last night’s 121-99 win over the Bulls is only the last example (37-35, .514).

Wanna the recap? It was a blowout. End of the recap.

It was +15 at the end of the first (34-19), with Chicago starting 1/12 and the only field goal coming on a goaltending, +20 in the second (59-39), ended at +16 only because Bulls made a couple of threes in the last 22 seconds.

Sixers beat Pistons, earn respect

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I have troubles trying to remember the last time we beat the Pistons in a “serious” game (last year’s W at the end of the season doesn’t count).

While I do remember ton of routine losses, with Pistons playing with us like a toy and getting multiple wins with minimum effort.

That’s why the 82-83 win of last night that sets our record at 31-34 (.477) has a special taste.

We beat the #2 team in the NBA at home, in front of a sellout crowd of 22.076, after a very tough game, playing without a starter (Detroit native Willie Green) and with our floor general out for the whole fourth quarter due to back strains (Andre Miller).

All of this coming after the loss to the #1 Celtics, that made everybody think we still have a long way to go before becoming really competitive.

I just finished watching the game (Sixers4guidos: where late recaps and old news happen) and I would like to add few observations.

Sixers rout Bucks, wait for C’s

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The pile of blowout wins is growing and after the 97-119 win in Milwaukee the streak reached three (30-33, .476).

Sixers’ record in the last fifteen games is 12-3. You read it well, twelve wins-three losses. Wow.

Yes, it was “only the Bucks” (and without Mo Williams), like it was “only the Clippers” (without Cassell, Brand, Thomas etc) and “only the Supersonics” in the previous two slaughters.

But Sixers always play well, stay focused, put the games out of reach soon, with the right attitude. Then they relax and even have some fun.

It’s interesting how in basically every game of this long streak we had  DIFFERENT PLAYERS stepping up.

It might be one of the two Andres, but also Reggie Evans or Lou Williams coming off the bench… vs Seattle it was Dalembert, who had a heck of a game also in Milwaukee embarassing Bogut, and vs Bucks it was Thaddeus Young’s turn.

Not only the guy (in the picture, with Redd) set a new career high with 22 points, with an impressive stat line that includes ZERO turnovers in 31 minutes, but he quietly led his team mates from the start (10 points in the 1st), in a night where Iguodala didn’t have to carry the load offensively (just seven points at the break, with the game already on ice at 43-65) and Miller was distributing the ball extremely well again (9/1 in the assist/turnover ratio).

Get out of Sam’s way

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“It was only the Seattle Supersonics”. 

Yes, I know it.

Still, good teams usually beat bad teams this way.

And Sixers are on their way to be a good team. Hopefully a very good team in the medium term.

There are many reasons to be happy for the 117-83 trouncing of the Supersonics, the 11th win in the last 14 games (29-33, .468).

The main one is that the game was won thanks to a terrific performance by Samuel Dalembert (in the picture), a player that has really struggled in the last weeks, also because of an injury.

Second, it marked the return to form of another big man that I think we badly need in our rotation: Jason Smith.

Sixers shine in Phoenix. Wow !

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After the biggest game of the season, a stunning 114-119 win in Phoenix that lifts us to a 27-33 record (.450), I think it’s time to take my hat off and apologize to many guys I criticized.

1) MAURICE CHEEKS. You got a lof of bashing here, but you are pulling a rabbit out of your ass, Mo, so I have to give you credit.

Seriously, EVERYBODY, and I mean, everybody, picked the Sixers to fight to avoid the last place in the Eastern conference before the season started.

I predicted 31 wins, but a lot of fans, experts, analysts, were more in the 24-26 W territory.

And after the Korver trade, things were apparently getting worse, we all thought that the new GM made that move to put us in tanking mode (I even HOPED it !) and start it all over next summer. Well, you had different ideas, and so did your players.

What this not-so-talented Sixers team is doing is simply amazing, and you are the biggest reason for its successes. I don’t care if we will not make it to the post season at the end, I love the guys’ spirit, the team attitude, how they fight every night, give 110% of themselves, with no selfishness, no complaining, no bitching.

Sixers seen live from Oakland

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Guys, as promised, I have a surprise for our readers.

Sixers4guidos’ friend Sixerdave, a California resident, watched the Warriors game live in Oakland, and sent me this special contribution. Here is his recap, hope you enjoy:

“What a difference two days and 3000 miles can make.

Two days after making 10 of 11 shots to start off their victory against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, the Sixers missed their first 14 shots of the game against the Golden State Warriors. This contributed to the 119-97 loss.

Embarking on a 3-game west coast trip, the Sixers may have entered Friday night’s contest a little heavy-legged and jet-lagged.

But that is no excuse for firing up 14 consecutive bricks, especially considering the Warriors were playing shorthanded.

With Andris Beidrins healing from an appendectomy, the Sixers had an opportunity to attack 34 year old defection Chris Webber and 19 year old Brandan Wright. However, early on, the Warriors outscored the Sixers 16-2 in the paint. Wright’s exceptional defense and early offense showed us why the Warriors traded fan favorite Jason Richardson for him.