Sixers wind blowing (Pistons 1, Sixers 2)

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I don’t know if there are Reggie Evans groupies yet. If not, time to create a group of them.

Evans, a reborn Dalembert and Andre Miller were - in this order, to me - our key players in the 95-75 unexpected thrashing of the Pistons in game 3.

This means few things:

1) my 4-1 Pistons prediction is already off the mark (and I love it, of course…)

2) young Sixers are psychologically more solid and mature than we all thought, bouncing back from the blow out of game 2 and answering it with another blow out. This against a veteran team that was supposed to regain the lead of the series, also mentally I mean, after the “distraction” of game 1. It didn’t happen, I see.

3) Pistons might still win the series, of course, but after these three games they are actually closer to a memorable collapse than to a “routine” advancement to the second round. Some signs (looks, faces, body language etc) should worry a lil bit their hot fans.

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.

Suns school of basketball

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Lesson #1: how to close a game in the first quarter.

Teachers: Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Raja Bell & the rest of the Phoenix Suns. 

Students: all Sixers.

Development: jump off to a quick start using a combination of drives, layups, threes, three point plays.

Let the students crash the rim with their first 13 shots, turn the ball over, get blocked by your big men. Conclude with a basket at the quarter buzzer.

Outcome: 19-38 Suns lead.

After that, extend the lead and/or control the game at will. As soon as the students come closer (-10, say), make sure to get a couple of plays to push them away again: three pointers or ”and one” plays will be preferable.

Final outcome: 93-107 Suns win.

Let the students (37-36, .507) think about the lesson and do their homework.

Magically ripped

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Sixers played ten minutes of embarassing basketball, had a nice reaction that lasted around four minutes, which was followed by thirtyfour, painful minutes of garbage time.

That’s the short story of the 113-95 loss at Orlando, that put us at 34-35 (.493). Call it “reality check”, “awakening”, “step back” etc etc, that’s it.

And don’t get fooled by the boxscore, the game was NOT that ‘close’ (LOL).

Sixers were completely outplayed basically from start to finish and in every possible way.

It started 4-0 with two dunks by Dwight Howard, both off Nelson’s assists, then 12-4 with Magic hitting all of their first five shots, then 20-6, then 25-8 when Evans (it was Maurice, don’t worry…) knocked down the fifth three pointer out of five attempts for the Magic, in your typical “pick your poison” situation.

Either Howard was getting a dunk or an easy basket (see the picture) or one of Orlando perimeter players was draining an open jumper.

Showed balls, beat Bulls

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When Reggie Evans shoots 6/6 from the line, everything is possible.

Heart, balls, an unbelievable streak of free throws (+ a serious help from our opponent) gave Sixers an exciting 106-110 comeback win in Chicago (32-34, .484).

Down eighteen at the beginning of the fourth (88-70) the game seemed over.

This also because Bulls led it with pretty safe double digit margin for more than 36 minutes: it was + 17 in the second (54-37, capping a 11-0 run), + 18 in the third (70-52).

Deng and Sefolosha were killing us with jumpers and drives, while Sixers looked really bad: poor circulation, no defense, no fastbreak/transition points, and - of course - no outside shooting.

Sixers sail home happy

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Sixers end the trip West 2-1 thanks to a clear 80-106 win at L.A. Clippers: their record is now 28-33 (.459) after winning 10 of their last 13 games.

That’s good enough for a seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Pretty impressive. Both Sixers’ hot streak and the low level of the Conference, I mean.

This recap comes few hours late, it’s been really difficult to me watching the games over these days due to an overload of work, also the fact that they played West makes impossible for me to catch the games live.

But this time there isn’t much to say, honestly.

Sixers did very well what they were supposed to do, beat a bad Clippers team that was without Cassell (expected to sign with the Celtics in these hours), Tim Thomas + Brand & Livingston, of course. 

The best things to keep from this blow out were:

Sixers lose to T’Wolves, extend Cheeks !!!

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Who said that the All Star break was coming in one of the worst moment for the emerging Sixers was right.

The 88-104 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves put an end to two 5 games streaks: winning for us (now at 23-31, .426), losing for them. 

But the big news came after the ugly night in Minneapolis: Sixers just extended Cheeks’ contract for one more year. Wow !!!

Few points to cover last night’s game, that Sixers lost because:

1) overall didn’t put enough effort, maybe thinking that just looking at T’Wolves record would have been enough to come out with a W

2) gave up too many second chance points, mainly off offensive rebounds, not doing their usual job under the boards

3) didn’t make free throws, as usual (Iguodala was 1/6 at one point…)

Sixers win fifth wire-to-wire, see playoffs

At 23-30 (.434) your Philadelpha Seventy-Sixers today are tied with the New Jersey Nets for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Yes, that record here means playoffs.

Please try to forget that on the other coast one team between Houston, Golden State and Denver WOULD NOT make it to the post season, even being 32-20 (.615). This is today’s NBA, like it or not.

The main point of the 102-88 home win versus the Grizzlies is that Sixers have a serious (…) shot at the postseason.

Good? I would say “sad” for a NBA fan, but anyway. Since my suggestions to tank the season clearly weren’t listened (LOL) I’m enjoying the pleasure of a nice winning streak, that yesterday reached five.

Yes, many of the teams we met in this perfect homestand were below .500 but so were are the Sixers. Yes, many of them were either injury plagued or tired, some both, and most of them suck overall. But when you lose in those conditions and you try to remember these truths, others (rightfully) reply “excuses”. 

My beloved Clippers buried

In the entry below you can read why Clippers are “beloved”. 

In this one you will read why last night’s Sixers were a no match for them, and how the final 101-80 score tells the absolute truth, for once.

Another truth is that at 21-30 (.412) and after the third consecutive win, Sixers are, tied with Indiana, 1/2 game below the “dangerous” 8th spot that would mean playoffs: Nets are there at 21-29.

Clippers were on the second night of a back-to-back, after Friday’s nice win at Toronto, and offered little resistence to a fast, athletic, always running Sixers team that trailed only for 20 seconds (2-4 in the first).

I’ll keep the recap very short because, really, the game was never in question.

In the FIRST QUARTER Sixers scored on eight consecutive possessions and knocked down 9 of their first 11 shots (with an inspired Andre Miller - a former Clipper but not exactly missed in LA… -  going 4/4). The spectacular dunk by Willie Green that you see in the picture marked a 26-17 Sixers lead, but at the end it was 29-25. Sixers shot 13/17 (77% !!) and Miller had 10 points and 4 dimes in the quarter, while Maggette had 10 and Mobley 9 on the other side.

Amazing win, even for us tankers

This time we were on the right side of a furious comeback, and it was impressive and enjoyable at the same time.

Sixers used a 17-0 run in the fourth to come out with a 101-96 home win vs the Wizards (19-30, .38 .

Readers of this blog perhaps know I am in tanking mode since…well, a long time, but the game was really nice to see and it marked many interetsing facts that could perhaps become little turning points for some of our players and, in general, for the team’s confidence. 

In the FIRST QUARTER Sixers managed to get a lot of easy points on fastbreaks (Andre Miller had 7 dimes, many for Iguodala and Young - in the picture), for Washington Deshawn Stevenson had 8 points and the period ended 23-25. Jason Smith saw some action after missing the last three games with an ankle injury.

Sixers played an intense full court pressure at the beginning of the SECOND QUARTER, and Wizards had troubles attacking it, turning the ball over many times. Rodney Carney did a nice contribution off the bench, hitting his first three field goals, while Roger Mason was excellent on the other side, knocking down three shots from behind the arc: 49-56 at the break.