Sixers play their final game at the Spectrum tonight, and I took this chance to put together a collection of old videos and pictures that you will hopefully like.

I am nearly 38 years old (my ugly guido ass saw the light in 1971) and I started following the Sixers at the beginning of the 80’s – even if then the media coverage on the NBA was way lesser of course – so this day is special to me.

Let’s make a shot tour through the…

 SPECTRUM MEMORIES

“The Boston strangler” Andrew Toney drops 25 points on the Celtics in the fourth quarter alone (1982), also posting up Larry Bird:

Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first player to score 50 points in a game in the building (1967):

Sixers beat the Bucks in game 7 of the EC SemiFinals, the last game seven played at the Spectrum (1981). Check out “Thunder chocolate” Darryl Dawkins’ unbelievable dunk:

And finally check the girl’s boobs & t-shirt some Doc J’s highlights, a fantastic footage.

To conclude, a nice pic of one of the best Sixers ever (courtesy of this gallery by Sports Illustrated):

While we are in a nostalgic mood, don’t forget to sign the “Retire Moses Malone’s #2 Sixers jersey” petition, a tribute to one of the greatest centers Sixers had (after Wilt and Manute, I mean).

Simple as that.

It was 36 minutes of purple and gold, down to the final 102-114 loss that puts us three games under .500 again (8-11, .421).

Sixers got off to a good start, 17-7, but then serbian hero (?) Radmanovic started making shots (all of his 11 points coming in the first quarter, with 4/5 and three threes…) and Lakers went on a 24-6 run that turned the game. It was 25-31 at the end of the first, with an answered last second prayer by Andre Iguodala.

That deficit that was extended up to 19 in the third (64-83, with Bryant’s three with 1.57 to go) and that Sixers cut to seven in the fourth (97-104, 2.50 left). Nevermind, because Kobe put on a show with eight straight points, scoring in many ways: tough fallaway jumpers, even tougher drives, knocking down shots from the line. 

Just if Kobe wasn’t enough, Lakers big men were simply unstoppable in the paint: Gasol and Bynum combined for 15/23, with countless dunks and three point plays. Ariza and Farmar gave a good contribution also, with hustle plays and some key baskets while the starters were resting.

That was too much for the Sixers of these days.

Iguodala played a good game, Miller too, (also cutting his shots to only 21, LOL), Lou Williams had an encouraging fourth quarter. And if you look at Dalembert’s stat line, you could think he was decent last night. That is only partially correct, because he threw in also his usual bonehead plays just when they weren’t needed. An illegal pick on Fisher in the fourth, just in the middle of a run, a dumb foul etc.

There was a moment in the third when Fisher knocked down a tough three (64-77) and in the following play Ivey, wide open from behind the arc, shot an airball. That is all the difference between the two teams.

The sad news is that Brand got hurt, which also explains his 1/7 from the field. 

More news: according to this “insider” by NBA.com, Sixers are “underperforming” and, being currently at the bottom of the Conference, are among the biggest disappointments of the NBA so far. Now THAT is really shocking, and an excellent example of “behind the scene” journalism.

In related stories, other “insiders” could tell us that Iguodala being the fourth scorer of a team is not what Sixers were expecting when they gave him 80 millions, that Williams shooting 35% is not good for a guard, and that Manute Bol was pretty tall.

SIXERS4GUIDOS BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS: For good Lakers coverage check… damn, why would anyone look for Lakers coverage ???? – Sixers face Iverson’s Pistons on Friday, now that will be a game to watch – Instead, check Pistons Nation for all your needs about Detroit – Evans, Rush were both DNP CDs… – Thaddeus Young knocked down the first two shots of the game, two threes (6-0): Sixers had to wait until the fourth quarter to see anoher shot from behid the arc going down – Iguodala’s 1/3 from the line dropped his (already sucking) pct to a ridiculous 67.4%. – He was 7/8 at halftime, though, give him credit for that.

I am still f’n busy, out on a two week business trip, and it will be like that for few more days.

But some facts made me find the time to write this. In order of importance:

1) this F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C Manute Bol/guidos story, that follows the video posted below.

So I received this email:

Go Sixers!  It is so awesome to know there are Sixers fans all over the world.  It’s hard enough to find “real” Sixers fans here in Philly.

Just wanted to share a cool guido / Manute Bol story with you real quick…

I must have been about 11 years old.  I had just started playing CYO basketball for a church in my neighborhood.  My coach was a real South Philly Guido for sure (just to give you an idea of how much of a
South Philly Guido he was, he was a bookie and he’d be on his cell phone checking the lines and taking bets on NFL games during our games).

He was particularly proud of myself and a few other players after a big win one game and decided he was gonna take us all to a Sixers game.  We were super pumped!  Since he was a South Philly guido, he “had a connect” at the Spectrum.  He got us snuck in a service entrance and we got some seats up in the nosebleeds and we wanted MANUTE!

All damn game we were chanting “WE WANT MANUTE!  WE WANT MANUTE!”  To no avail…  Jimmy Lynam would not put Manute in the damn game!  WTF?

We were deep in the fourth quarter of a close game when we finally couldn’t take it anymore.  We went all around our section recruiting other fans to join the chant.  “WE WANT MANUTE !  WE WANT MANUTE !”  It
started with us, then our whole section, then the whole upper deck, then…  The entire Spectrum!  “WE WANT MANUTE !  WE WANT MANUTE !  WE WANT MANUTE !”

It got so loud that Jimmy Lynam had to take a time out to put him in the game!  Manute stepped on the court they passed him the ball, he cranked his long arms over his back and threw up one of his signature catapult slingshot 3 pointers and SWISH !!!  The god damn crowd went crazy!

It was just the spark the Sixers needed to take the game away.  After that, the Sixers ran away with the game, never looking back and we won.  That is not only my favorite Manute Bol memory, but one of my favorite sports moments in my life.  Had to share it with you.

Thanks! GO SIXERS!

We have to thank S4G reader Jesse for this, he gave me the permission to post it on this site. 

More.

2) Sixers won their first preseason game, 98-92 vs Boston. Nice. I’m not the kind of fan that gets pumped for a preseason win so I will not comment much on that (also because I didn’t watch the game, LOL).

But anyway some positives have to be underlined: our young studs all looked good, from LW (27 points in 25 min !!) to Thaddeus Young (in the pic), who played a team high 36 min and scored 21, to Marreese Speights, who had some nice flashes; Brand apparently looked rusty but not overall bad; it was a comeback win, which is always sweet and tells something about confidence; it came vs Boston, even sweeter.

3) Yahoo! blog “Ball don’t lie” has a cool, funny article about the Sixers that includes a 50-32 prediction. Too optimistic? I don’t think so. Mine would be pretty close (a deeper analysis will come before the regular season opener). What is important is that there is a general consensus about Sixers being more-than-relevant in the NBA, something that long time, die hard fans like me have been waiting for too much.

More to come on this site soon: a new contributor, new exchange of posts with fine NBA bloggers covering other teams, an interview to the best guido italian NBA journalist about our beloved team.

Just be patient, it will pay off.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE GUIDOS !

Seriously.

I just received this email, subject “Sixers 4 guidos”:

I love it.
I run a world basketball blog (I cover FIBA, Australia, Israel, Japan, and even a little NBA), and I live in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Knowing how Italian-American Philly is, I just assumed you guys were from South Philly.  Consider my shock when I saw you’re both Genovese.
I’m adding you guys to my blog roll.  And if you guys can get over the fact that I’m a Celtic fan (Irish by heritage), and support Lazio in Serie A, I’d love to be added to your blog roll.

My site is worldhoopsblog.com.

Keep up the good work.

And Go Sixers.

Thanks Paul, love your site, added to my blogroll as well.

Yeah, I am from Genova (Genoa in english), you see how the love for the Sixers gathers fans from all over the world.

Gotta love the guido-irish interaction, with the Sixers in common

BONUS VIDEO: it’s not a coincidence that I put Manute Bol in the banner up here, beside Wilt, he’s my fav Sixer EVER. Via Pistons Nation I received a funny video featuring him, Barkely and another former Sixer (and Piston) I used to like…

Enjoy these 30 seconds of fun:

That was pure gold, thanks Jesse for sharing it with S4G readers !