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The season high fifth straight loss, a 111-104 decision at Toronto, came in the worst moment for the Sixers (40-40, .500), now tied at the 6th spot with the surging Bulls.

Iguodala’s face is the picture of  Sixers’ feelings.

Chicago is 40-40 as well but coming off four consecutive wins and with a better schedule (@ Detroit, currently 8th at 39-41, and vs the same Raptors).

Almost Everything is going wrong in Sixerland as of late. The most worrying part, to me, is that it seems we can’t put together a total team effort.

Nearly any given night a couple of our key players look MIA, so that the good, even excellent performances of single guys are eventually wasted.

The game vs the (lousy) Raptors, that snapped a four game losing streak (…) was another good example of these struggles. 

We ended up with five players in double figure, which is apparently contradicting what I just wrote. Unfortunately what could be seen as  “balanced offense” is more a “lack of reliable options” in crunch time.

Raptors built a fourteen point lead at mid fourth quarter (102-88), Sixers fought back and cut it to four (104-100 with 2.50 to play) but Toronto (smartly and) repeatedly went to the line and secured the win by knocking down seven of eight free throws before the horn.

I think it wasn’t a coincidence that in the two most important possessions down the stretch, Sixers turned it over badly.

With the score at 104-100, Andre Miller had an unnecessary offensive foul on Calderon, while when we were trailing by five but with a chance to stay in the game (109-104, 40 seconds left), Iguodala forced a drive, Marion stole him the ball and was fouled.

It was Iguodala’s TENTH turnover of the game (!). He threw away the ball in many ways: a behind-the-back pass to…  the first row at the end of the first quarter was perhaps the worst (he immediately apologized, to be honest, realizing the mistake), but he had many bad ones.

Andre Miller grabbed an offensive rebound but missed the (uncontested) putback under the basket after two minutes. He basically never recovered, finishing with an awful 2/14. I think he took good shots, they simply weren’t falling. Layups, short jumpers, drives, even a three: no way.

As you might guess, with the two Andres having subpar performances, Sixers have troubles in facing any team. What made me nuts yesterday, is that the most damage was actually made by Patrick O’Bryant, Joey Graham, and Quincy Douby (!!), three stiffs that combined for 26 points on 11/15 off the bench.

Yes, Toronto went on that run in the fourth with Calderon, Bargnani AND Bosh on the bench !! CB4 checked back in with 7.36 to play, but Toronto was already up seven (93-86). Bosh did his part immediately, adding two nice field goals. 

So what are we going to do vs Pierce-Allen-Garnett, or Lewis-Turkoglu-Howard, if we get killed by those (I’m sorry) scrubs?

Sixers had SOME reasons to be happy for last night, and I am going to mention them, in a desperate attempt to stay positive.

1) Sam Dalembert played a heck of a game, on both ends. He was very (re)active under the boards, catching some loose balls and converting them into baskets. Again, I honestly don’t get why he isn’t playing more, especially in the fourth (I can’t belive I’m typing this, but it’s sadly true). He avoided foul troubles and should have stayed in.

2) Lou Williams continued in his hot streak and was fantastic, by far Sixers’ most effective scorer. Forget the 0/5 from behind the arc, most of those misses came when the game was already closed.

He was simply unstoppable for every Raptor, drove to the rim countless times, always finishing with authority. The comination of 14 FTs attempted AND 6 dimes in 30 min of action is something to underline.

3) Royal Ivey had a once-in-a-lifetime streak of three consecutive treys in the second, carrying the Sixers to a 39-46 lead. Nevermind.

Few things left.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – Sixers started the fourth with a dumb weird extra-super-small lineup of Royal Ivey, Lou Williams, Willie Green, Andre Iguodala, Marreese Speights (???!!). Guess that, it didn’t work = 6-o Raptors, LOL – We all love Marreese Speights, but the guy should cut the 17-footers, and play more in the paint – Roko Ukic is horrible, in every sense – Bargnani and Bosh combined for 28 points in the first half, closed with a tie at 53 – Andrea is credited with a career high 6 blocks, I think I didn’t see more than two…LOL

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY – S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Ok, Sixers fans, this nasty dunk by Iguodala on LeBron James, to close the first half, is the best thing from last night’s game on Sixers’ side:

While getting swept 0-4 by the New Jersey Nets is simply unacceptable, being down 0-3 in the season series vs the Cavaliers seems fair. And everyone obviously smells another sweep completed in the last game of the season, Wednesday 15th at the Quicken Loans Arena, because Cleveland, guess that, is simply a better team.

Ok, actually my concept of “team” is slightly different. These Cavs are more a one-and-a-half man show, with the other guys on the roster knowing their (marginal) role and able to step up in different games. It works well, though. 

I don’t want to take anything from Cleveland, they have built smartly around LeBron James, I simply like(d) better other squads, that fit more with the word “team” (example: the 2004 Pistons). 

But anyway, Sixers lost their fourth straight (40-39, .506) and the final 92-102 score, in front of a sell out-but-pretty-silent crowd, explains well what happened at the Wachovia Center.

Sixers gave a decent effort, fought hard until the end, stayed close for 48 minutes, but came up short at the end, buried under an impressive three point barrage. Even Zydrunas Ilgauskas, in an off night, knocked down one, from the corner, to give Cleveland an eleven point lead (87-98) and definitely close the game.

While Cavs connected from downtown pretty much at will, finishing with a remarkable 12/23, the stone handed Sixers made their first three with 4.15 left in the game (courtesy of Green), and the second, absolutely useless, came in garbage time.

The total from behind the arc in the three games played between the two teams is Cleveland 23/59 (39%), Sixers 4/31 (12%)…. bball is quite simple !!

Mike Brown kept LBJ on the floor only 36 minutes (that’s like playing  just three quarters) but in his absence Mo Williams led the offense very effectively and the other team mates did their job, knocking down timely, open shots from the perimeter, converting easy baskets, playing tough defense, grabbing balls that resulted into second chances.  

Cleveland finished the third up six (70-76), and LeBron James – who had a spectacular second part of the quarter, in which he scored eight consecutive points, including a very deep three - sat out at the beginning of the fourth.

James checked back in when there was only 6.12 left to play in the game: the score was 78-85, meaning Cavs’ lead was even increased with him on the bench.

Speaking of things that could irk any fan, Szczerbiak had a season high 18 points off the bench, including 4/4 from three point land. I think the last guy I saw just as mobile as Wally was 7′4 Mark Eaton. The immortal Jazz center had more jumping ability, though.

All the four treys Szczerbiak took were completely uncontested, which speaks volumes of our defense on the perimeter.

Another thing I have a problem with is the 12-24 difference in assists. Of course, having LBJ helps, because whenever he drives, you have to come with the double (or triple) team, and that leaves the big men free for an easy two, or puts the shooters in a condition to take open jumpers. And of course, you still have to make the shots.

But if Willie Green leads your team in dimes (4), there is something wrong in your offense and playmaking. I know Clevelands is perhaps the best defense in the League, but yesterday our circulation was poor, same for the spacing, and the two Andres created less offense than usual.

Last thing I would like to complain about mention, is the rotations. I don’t get how the same Green saw 35 minutes of action, given that he was far from hot (3/13 at the end), and I wonder if Donyell Marshall could have got some playing time, to open their defense a little bit. 

We gave up 14 offensive rebounds, too many again, and this time our best rebounder, Dalembert, had no foul troubles. Since Theo is (for the 456th time) not a great rebounder, and since his offensive production is lower than Sam’s (…), as much as I like the guy, I conclude that the 16 minutes given to Ratliff were not a good investment, honestly.

I’m afraid the upcoming game vs Raptors is the best (only?) chance to reach 41 W, because the last two vs Boston and at Cleveland will be ugly. Check Hoop Heads North for coverage about Toronto.

Forget the ‘furious comeback’ (from -20 in the second to +4 in the fourth), forget the BS about the “pride”, the “reaction” etc etc, the game in Charlotte will go down as a 101-98 LOSS, while it should have been a WIN. 

And forget the 4th seed also, with a 40-37 (.519) record, that spot is definitely out of reach, we’d rather think aboout making it to the 5th, because Miami is there with a 1/2 game advantage, and our schedule looks extremely tough: three of the five games left on the road, and the two at home versus Boston and Cleveland, that both have important goals to reach.

And then again, when you get blown out by the Nets and you lose to the Bobcats immediately after, you can’t expect nothing good vs stronger opponents.

How about this: Sixers’ record against New Jersey and Charlotte is 1-7 (!!). So there you already have the answer to the question “Why didn’t we get home court advantage in the playoffs ?” that you’ll ask yourself at the end of the regular season. 

As you might guess, I am SLIGHTLY disapponted after losing for the third time this season to Larry Brown’s team. But after all, there is a reason why Sixers are floating around .500 all year: they could never find any consistency.

So there you have the exciting Ws at LA Lakers, vs Spurs (in a blow out), at Portland, the sweep against the Rockets (yes, we did that. And they had Yao and TMG in both games), and then the Calvin Booth-ugly losses at Minnesota, at Golden State, at O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A f’n C-I-T-Y (+ the 1-7 aforementioned record) that leave you speechless… That’s immaturity in the best case, mediocrity in a more realistic analysis.

After watching the Charlotte game, I remembered what George Karl said after we let another W slip away, in Denver: “The thought that comes to my mind is, bad teams lose games they’re supposed to win, and good teams win games they’re supposed to lose” . Remember that game?

I mean, how can you possibly allow Charlotte, the third worst offense in the NBA (less than 94 PPG) to score 63 points in the first half ??? On 57% shooting (22/38)? And 5/11 from behind the arc ??

Or allow Raymond Felton (good player, nothing more) to score 21 at the break, 32 at the end, setting a new career high ???

Yes, Lou Williams played very well again, the third quarter comeback was nice, we saw a possessed Willie Green almost singlehandedly carrying the offense (13 pts in the quarter on 4/5, including three treys), but we couldn’t finish the job. One more time. Another wasted effort.

Significantly, the game winner came off an airball by the MVP of the game: Gerald Wallace, completely lost by Iguodala on that play, grabbed the ugly, short floater by Felton and put it back with a layup (…), giving Charlotte a 99-98 lead with 30 seconds to go.

Then Iguodala missed a (makeable) step back jumper, Wallace was fouled and made his free throws (101-98), and the final three pointers by Iguodala and Green (at the horn) were off the mark. Another loss.

But several, bad mistake were committed before these plays:

1) Sixers missed three wide open threes in the fourth quarter (Green, Iguodala, Ivey), and I mean w-i-d-e effin’ open. When it’s just you and the basket, you have to knock them down, period. Miller, who had a good game, also misfired on an uncontested corner jumper with 1 minute to play that could have got us a three point lead.

2) Sixers allowed two, very costly, three point plays to Diaw & Okafor in the final minutes. It means we weren’t even good at fouling them.

3) Sixers allowed FOUR OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS in the last 3 minutes of the game, one leading to the decisive field goal, as we saw.

4) Sixers allowed Bobcats a lot of open shots on the perimeter down the stretch: it doesn’t appear on the boxscore, because Augustin and Felton missed them, but you can’t give shooters such a big room.

I have few more things to add before we start thinking about tonight’s game vs the Bulls. I’ll leave those in…

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – Iguodala is 4/11 on free throws in the last two games, Reggie Evans, after an impressive season from the line (for his standards, I mean), is 0/8. Make it a combined 4/19, circa 18 % – I love the blue collar guys, but Ratliff, Evans and Ivey combined for 4 points in 57 minutes of action last night. You detect something wrong there? LOL - Sam is stealing money again. He picked up two quick fouls (something that never happens, right?) but I think he should play more when we need rebounding, Theo is not as effective under the boards, collecting 5 rebounds in 25 minutes of action - Leave Dalembert (who had 9 in 19 minutes) on the floor until he fouls out, no reason to keep him on the bench in the final minutes when he has four, because the second chance points killed us, again - There is no reason in the world also to start Evans AND Dalembert and still get outrebounded by the other team (42-34), that’s completely unacceptable.

Finally the stretch of several weeks of crazy work SEEMS over, and starting from today I’ll “normally” watch and blog the remaining Sixers games.

This couldn’t have been more timely because I just enjoyed the 95-90 W over the Pistons that officially brought Sixers (40-35, .533) to the post season.

And I am 3/3 on the prediction I made some days ago about the last ten games.

But what matters the most is that ALL Sixers, in Thaddeus Young’s absence, picked up the slack and showed some great effort on both ends of the floor in the last three games, not coincidentially all won.

In the last one, vs the Iverson-less Pistons, the two Andres carried the load, not only offensively, because they logged in 90 out of the possible 96 minutes (!!!).

This was an “interesting” move, especially in such a tough, close game, that looked like a playoffs matchup. As minutes, and quarters, were passing, I was asking to myself “Why in the hell we aren’t making any sub at all ???”

DiLeo gave the explaination after the game:

“We took a little gamble playing Andre and Andre the whole second half, but we felt we had to do it,” DiLeo said. “Miller had a great game with the triple-double and Andre Iguodala had the high score, so those two guys really stepped it up.”

DiLeo made a substitution with 5.05 to play in the third (62-61) and then stayed with the same lineup (Miller, Williams, Iguodala, Speights and Ratliff) until 2.02 in the fourth (89-88), when he replaced Speights with Evans: that’s 27 consecutive minutes with the same guys on the floor.

Thank God, I’m not the coach the move paid off, because Evans grabbed a key defensive rebound, was fouled and knocked down two big free throws with 30 seconds left, to give us a four point lead (92-88) that basically decided the game.

That hustle play by my boy Reggie ended a painful series of possessions in which Pistons got a ton of offensive rebounds, getting themselves multiple second chances.

Sixers allowed Detroit a surprising 17 off boards, but made up for it by knocking down 10 of 12 foul shots in the final 3.15 minutes (or 12/15 in the last 4.38, if you prefer).

There are more positives about this game.

1) Iguodala completely dominated Tayshaun Prince this time, starting with a terrific first quarter, in which he shot 7/8 and scored 15 points. Andre’s final 31 points are a season high, and the 13/19 from the field speaks for itself. 

Adding 9 boards and around four alley oop dunks makes his 44 minute-performance fantastic, considering he was playing against one of his worst nemesyses, Prince, exactly.

2) the other Andre didn’t shoot the ball well, but notched his 9th career triple double. Enough said. 

3) role players stepped up again. Reggie Evans did his usual good job, Lou Williams was extremely effective again and Marreese Speights contributed as well.

With Sam facing early foul troubles (and failing to get a single rebound in 10 minutes on the floor…), Ratliff played a season high 31 minutes, and while his 4 rebounds are one of the explainations for Detroit’s (too many) second chances, he did have a huge block on Stuckey down the stretch. We all know Theo, and the fact that he ALWAYS goes up for the help/swat can give us troubles under the boards. It happened yesterday.

I must say the Speights-Ratliff frontcourt gives up too much in terms of  rebounding, I’d use that combo only for limited minutes, leaving one between Evans and Dalembert always on the floor.

But it’s not time for nitpicking, Sixers reached the postseason, already matched the total of wins of last season (40) with seven  games to play and still have a chance to gain home court advantage, being 4th seed Atlanta only two games ahead of us in the standings (43-34).

Taking a look at the schedule, with five of our seven games left on the road, we will more likely fight with 41-36 Miami to mantain the current 5th seed but taking a look back at this year, the coach change, the injury to Brand, all the unbelievable last second losses etc, I must say we should be pretty happy for what we achieved.

Sixers meet the Nets tonight in the first of a three game road trip, I’d better not remind how the previous three games vs New Jersey went (not only we are 0-3 vs them, but remember how the losses came…).

Avoiding an embarassing sweep against the (horrible) Nets would mean adding another reason to smile in this pretty good second part of the season.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHS – Rip Hamilton scored only three points in the first half – Sad to say, but Rasheed Wallace looked like a former player last night, jacking up seven threes and showing no focus and interest – Will Bynum gave us troubles again, and Kwame Brown completeley embarassed Dalembert (& Theo) in the first quarter, scoring 10 points on 4/5 – Pistons reached a 12 point lead in the seconds (24-36), the biggest of the night, but Lou Williams came off the bench to spark a nice run that helped us close the half down only four, 46-50.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ MISSING RECAP: Due to a business trip, I could watch only the final 4 minutes of the previous 105-95 W over the Bucks (39-35), a game in which Sixers started Evans in place of Young - I like the idea - and got a huge boost by Lou Williams and Marreese Speights off the bench - This is how the guys at Brew Hoop saw the game - So we swept the season series vs Milwaukee in a comeback win, and this gives me the opportunity to post a funny pic of  Evans to end this post. Take a look at “the Evans shake”:

And Marreese Speights, actually, but there was no room for another name in the title.

The 98-85 W over Atlanta (38-35, .521) was a costly one, because Thaddeus Young got injured and is going to stay out 2-3 weeks (= will miss the rest of the reg season and perhaps be back at a certain point during the playoffs).

With 2.15 remaining in the first quarter, Young landed on Josh Smith’s right foot, sprained his ankle and didn’t return. Today Sixers released an official statement to clarify his conditions.

A pretty serious injury for the forward, that was perhaps playing the best basketabll of his (young) career, and a tough break for the Sixers. The good thing is that we have a deep bench with lot of solutions, and many guys can/MUST step up in Thad’s absence.

They started doing it yesterday night.

And the thing I’d like to underline is that the role players had a key… role in the win over the Hawks. In this order:

1) THEO RATLIFF, coming up big in the fourth, when Sixers went on a 14-2 run to close the game (from 80-79 with 8.30 to play to 94-81 with 4 min left). “The rattler” had a dunk, a jumper (!), some boards, a block and a key steal on Pachulia, coming off a Hawks timeout, that led to a fastbreak dunk by Iguodala. Tremendous addition off the bench.

2) W-I-L-L-I-E G-R-E-E-N, providing consistent, timely scoring all night, coming off screens to knock down the elbow jumper, now officially his best weapon.

3) REGGIE EVANS, a warrior that went out for another of his 20 minute-fights, playing hard nosed defense (see the pic), going for every board, picking his opponent’s pocket, and even providing some extra-offense in the third (6 pts), with a couple of unlikely lefthanded layups/hooks.

4) MARREESE SPEIGHTS, finally coming out of his recent slump (4/17 in the last four games) with a nice series of crafted shots around the rim (hooks, layups) and mostly a couple of thunderous dunks in the fourth that woke Sixers up after Atlanta came close, too close. 

While his three rebounds in 25 minutes of action aren’t exactly great, he did a lot of good things, and always at the right moment. His accuracy from the stripe (4/4) was also appreciated, in a night when Atlanta shot 100% (21/21) and Sixers needed all of their 22 free throws.

You see, I mentioned all these blue collar guys before our two best scorers (Iggy and Miller), because I think last night we won the game with the small things and the fighting attitude.

We were there for every loose ball, we got the offensive rebounds, we forced a lot of turnovers (Atlanta had seven in the first), we knocked down the free throws.

We played excellent defense on Hawks’ much feared guards. Johnson and Bibby combined for 0/10 in the first half (!!) and while it’s true they missed a lot of wide open shots that they usually make, it’s also true that we made them work hard to get their shots off.

Ivey played a sequence of great D on JJ in the third, forcing him to bad choices.

Atlanta basically was just Josh Smith, who missed his first shot and made the following THIRTEEN (!!!), including three from behind the arc, and some high flying dunks of his, in a pretty unbelievable streak against what-could-have-been-his-team. The 33 points are a season high for him, I guess he had something to prove, another time.

Too bad the rest of his team was really in an off night: Hawks didn’t score a field goald in the last 8.27 (making only six freebies), and the four starters not named Smith combined for a 9/31 that is telling a lot about their struggles. Remember I told you we match up well with Atlanta.

Hawks stayed in the game in the third “only” thanks to their 5/10 from three point land, because Sixers played better basketball, taking care of the ball and finding different men on offense.

Sixers held a sixteen point lead near the end of the second (49-33) and halfway in the third (64-48). Overall, a deserved, encouraging W.

I really wish we meet Atlanta in the playoffs. With Thad, possibly.

We have to continue like this, starting from tomorrow night’s game vs the Bucks, we need to sweep the series with Milwaukee and go on. Check the mighty Brew Hoop for coverage about the Bucks.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Ten games are left after the 101-97 loss at Detroit, Sixers stand at the 6th place in the Eastern conference with their 37-35 (.514) record, and their schedule doesn’t look easy.

Tonight Sixers meet the 43-31 Hawks, that already secured a playoffs spot and hold a comfortable four game-lead over 5th seed Miami (39-35). Atlanta seems in a great position to keep home court advantage in the first round.

The game is the first of a three game homestand. Here is Sixers’ remaining schedule, with my predictions:

• Atlanta (W)
• Milwaukee (W)
• Detroit (W)
• @ New Jersey (W)
• @ Charlotte (L)
• @ Chicago (L)
• Cleveland (L)
• @ Toronto (W)
• Boston (W)
• @ Cleveland (L)

In my opinion tonight’s game could spark us to a small winning streak: I am afraid we will lose again to the Bobcats, good and rising, while for the last two games we could perhaps take advantage of the fact that Cavs and Boston will probably already be sure of their 1st and 2nd/3rd spot and maybe rest some starters.

But I am predicting a L at Cleveland, just not to be too optimistic: if Sixers really go 6-4 in this last stretch, they will finish the season 43-39.

That would mean a +3 improvement in wins versus last year (= still mediocre), and matching the record of 2004/2005, which by the way was Sixers’ last winning season (…).

If you remember, it was Jim O’Brien’s year, with Iverson & Webber. Sixers lost 4-1 to the Pistons in the first round. That costed Obie the job, and it costed all Sixers fans six more years of Dalembert (LOL), because after that – good - series by Sammy, King rewarded him with that infamous notorious deal.

I think 2008/2009 Sixers are ready to finish the season strong and make some noise in the playoffs.

More than likely they will NOT pass the first round, because we match up pretty bad with Orlando AND Boston, but I think a series with the same Hawks could be very interesting, and give us a good chance for the upset.

Yes. Because despite what the rankings tell us today, we are 1-1 vs Atlanta this year, with both games played on the road, and with the loss coming on Nov 1st after we blew a 23-point lead, remember ??

But before talking about the post season, we have to get to it. To be sure of that, we have to avoid some mistakes made vs the Pistons (and here comes the short recap I still have to write, due to a shitload of work…).  

Like letting Will Bynum score 9 points in the fourth quarter (!). Williams’ defense on Pistons’ reserve guard was horrible, to the point that DiLeo put Green in for the last minutes.

Or letting a six point-fourth quarter lead (83-89, thanks to two fantastic fastbreak baskets by Iguodala) quickly turn into a six point deficit (97-91), capping a 14-2 run.

Sixers played a good game overall in Detroit, but stopped pushing just when they could (and should) have closed it.

They were too happy with the (small) lead, smiling on the bench during Detroit’s timeout, and came out of it not focused and ‘angry’ enough, leaving Pistons the stage, and letting the crowd play a part in their comeback. Talking about immaturity, or lack of killer instinct.

Also give Rip Hamilton a lot of credit, he knocked down a tough shot that rattled in with 14 seconds to go (101-97), he took it nearly behind the backboard, with his right foot almost touching the baseline.

I was happy to see Iverson finally back for the Pistons after a long absence, I’ll always love “the lil’ guy” and wish him the best.

Ok, enough of the past, bring on the Hawks, we want to RUN WITH THE SIXERS TO THE PLAYOFFS !!!

And sweep the Blazers !

Pretty amazing way to end a tough five game road trip: a 108-114 OT W over Portland to lift us up to a 36-33 record (.522).

So here was the situation for the Sixers at tip off: fifth game in seven nights (!). Second night of a back-to-back. A raucous, sellout crowd. An opponent with a 28-6 home record, coming from its own 3-2 road trip.

Not exactly the best scenario, right?

But Sixers pulled out a heck of a game, a total team effort on both ends of the floor, coming out of Portland with one of the biggest wins of the season, in a key moment of the year.

I just managed to finish watching the game replayed – this time without any idiot friend telling me the final score… – and I am still pumped. Crazy game, it would took too many words to recap.

To give you an idea of how weird of a night it was, let’s start saying that Sixers had only a five point lead after the FIRST QUARTER (26-31), in which they shot 13/16 (81%) !!!!

In the SECOND QUARTER, despite Blazers’ big men literally partying under our rim, we progressively extended the lead: thirteen on a jumper by Thaddeus Young (36-49), sixteen (the biggest) on a three point play by Williams: 40-56 with 1.20 left.

Lou had nine points in the period, but what shocked the Blazers (and not only them perhaps, LOL) was the mighty Reggie Evans adding ten: Portland shooting 1/14 from behind the arc obviously was also a big factor to explain the 44-58 halftime score.

In the THIRD QUARTER Blazers shooters started getting hot, and with a 12-0 run the game was open soon (56-58, 7 min to play). Blake had all of his three made threes in this period, while Sixers relied mainly on Thaddeus Young, who was 8/9 at the end of the third, including a nice three: 72-75.

The FOURTH QUARTER was amazing, Marreese Speights put us up seven (72-79) but here Portland went on a stunning 13-0 run that included a four point play by Rudy Fernandez (dumb foul by LW), who scored eleven points in less than three minutes.: 85-79 with the crowd going crazy.

Sixers didn’t lost composure and continued to play hard and play defense: Iguodala was guarding Roy, making him things extremely tough, Young had to keep the taller Aldridge, and had his hands full as well.

The major problem for us was r-e-b-o-u-n-d-i-n-g t-h-e b-a-l-l: I lost the count of the offensive boards we allowed (I checked it at the end: 20 !! Leading to 30 second-chance points…), with our bigs forgetting to boxe out or grabbing the damn rock.

After a couple of wild possessions (a stupid alley oop attempt by Iguodala swatted by Outlaw, and a rushed shot by Young, blocked by Aldridge) it came down to the final plays.

Blake drove in the paint and found Oden for a nice dunk (98-96, 30 seconds to play), Iguodala was fouled under the rim by Aldridge and calmly swished both free throws, to tie the game at 98 with 20 seconds left.

Roy wanted the last shot, with Ivey guarding him, but he couldn’t do anything better than airballing a fallaway turnaround jumper as time expired. Overtime, and good D by Ivey on the play.

In OVERTIME we jumped to a four point lead, Blazers had the last run/comeback (103-102 on another three by Rudy) but we eventually closed the game with three baskets by Miller, Iguodala (high flying dunk off a feed by Willie Green, to finish a great fastbreak) and Young, who tipped in a missed layup by Miller: 103-108. 

Dalembert (pathetic all night, 4 boards in 33 minutes, are you kidding me ??) finally woke up and had a block and a rebound to ignite those plays, and Green also played a big part, with a steal on Roy immediately after that dime to Andre.

EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

How about some boxe out drills ? No less than two hours per day.

It’s nice to make those free throws, uhm? We won the game at the line, more than doubling them (39-16) with Iguodala going 4/4 at the end of regulation, great sign.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – I watched the game with Portland’s commentators (Mike Barrett and Mike Rice, if I recall well) and I swear, they are among the biggest homers I’ve ever listened to. They make their Celtics’ colleagues look fair… pretty annoying - Roy was 2/7 with 4 points at halftime – Check this: Sixers won five of the last seven games in Portland - At the beginning of the third we had a 21-0 lead on fastbreak points – Reggie Evans tied a season high with 12 points – This is Bust a Bucket’s recap of the game: Blazers’ fans are complaining about the officiating but I think it’s their own coach to explain better what happened. From the AP report:

Portland coach Nate McMillan didn’t think it was dead legs as much as the Blazers’ offensive mind-set. The Blazers tied a season high by taking 34 3-point shots. The passive attack resulted in only 17 free throws for Portland, as opposed to 39 for the Sixers.

“We played the perimeter instead of going to the basket, and it cost us” McMillan said.

See?

Sixers went back home after the game and face the T’Wolves on Wednesday. Expect DiLeo going deep in the rotation after this huge, long, winning effort.

Check T’Wolves blog for coverage about Minnesota, that has lost sixteen of its last eighteen games (…).

Today, they are just a bad team, unfortunately.

And I say this as a former Kings fan: I used to root for the team with “deda” Divac, Bibby, Peja, Turkoglu, Christie, Webber etc when they were battling for the supremacy in the Western Conference with the fucking Lakers… now it’s just a nice memory.

Sixers (35-33, .515) made a quick work of Sacramento, on coast to a 100-112 W that wasn’t as close as the final score might tell.

We led by as many as 29 points, and let the Kings get closer only in the final period (92-103 with 5.40 to play), quickly putting them to sleep again after that “threat”.

The game was basically over after one quarter – which saves me a lot of typing, LOL. Sixers jumped to a 20 point lead (13-33) and closed the period at a comfortable 17-35. 

Iguodala simply DESTROYED Sacramento from the start, scoring 17 points in the first (!), on 6/6 shooting, including two treys and a couple of dunks. In the same period, Kings turned the ball over eight times (!!), many of them unforced.

Sacramento is a bad team, badly coached, and with horrible playmaking. Garcia did his best to keep them into the game (he was 4/5 from behind the arc at a point in the second) but he was pretty much left alone by his team mates.

Kings play few-to-zero defense, always fall for shot fakes and pump fakes, and when a man is beaten off the dribble no one comes to help, turning the painted area into a sort of a pool, where is fun to dive at will.

Don’t get fooled by Spencer Hawes’ stat line, he filled the sheet but his impact on the game was close to zero.

Iguodala, on the other side, continued his hot shooting night, going 10/10 before finally missing a jumper: too bad for Sacto, it happened just in the third !!!

It was the kind of game you can’t draw many conclusions from, given the value of the opponent. ome considerations could be the following:

1) Kareem Rush got finally some minutes. And not in garbage time, but in the second quarter (ok, we were already up by twentytwo, 25-47…). He played well, immediatly drained a three and showed some effort on D. The last time he played more than 10 minutes was on Dec 29 at Utah… The nice thing was seeing all his teammates cheering for him on the bench.

2) Lou Williams had a very effective game off the bench, except for a forced shot in the fourth, when Garcia knocked down his sixth three of the night, to cut our lead to thirteen, 90-103.

On the following play Kings scored again and “technically” it was still an open game, up eleven with 5.40 to play (92-103). But it was the same Lou to close it immediately with two consecutive baskets, so more power to him.

3) Marreese Speights was also very good, and his stat line shows it. He knocked down a lot of jumpers, and had 12 points at halftime. Good boost, one more time.

4) Thaddeus Young scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, finishing the job initiated by Iguodala.

But to me the most shocking sighting of last night’s game was… CALVIN BOOTH ON KINGS’ BENCH !!! He is always as ugly as ever, of course.

I thought (better, hoped…) he retired, but it looks like he didn’t. Wanna know a funny thing? I think he’s still getting paid by the Sixers (maybe partially), because – and this is 100% sure - Billy King gave him a PLAYER OPTION for the second year of the two-year deal he signed with us… LOL

From Vlade Divac and the best Chris Webber (“When we were kings“, a fantastic movie I suggest you to watch) to Spencer Hawes and Calvin Booth…

The great Sactown Royalty blog is praising Hawes’ passing ability and links to a story that tells how Udrih’s days as a starter are numbered… anybody surprised??

Sixers improved to 2-2 in their five game road trip.

The upcoming game vs the Blazers will hopefully tell us something more about this enigmatic team. Check newly found Bust a Bucket for coverage about Portland, cool blog there.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Sixers’ 126-116 L at Phoenix was blackouted in Italy, I couldn’t watch it.

As usual when this happens, I watched the highlights, I read the boxscore, the play-by-play page and many reports so I’ll try to focus on some sure facts and try to make some points.

Sixers now stand at 34-32 (.515), 6th in the eastern conference rankings, 1 1/2 games behind the 5th seed Miami (36-31).

The western conference trip has three stops left, Golden State (tomorrow), Sacramento, Portland. I think we have good chances to win the next two games, vs weaker opponents, while the final matchup vs TrailBlazers will be a tough one.

Ending the trip at 3-2 would be very good.

Speaking of yesterday’s game, here is what the crew at Bright side of the Sun thinks of us:

The 76ers are a good team with a lot of nice pieces. They run the floor really well and move the ball in the half court. Unfortunately for them, against the Suns they were outmatched inside giving up an 80 to 50 “edge” in points in the paint  and 26  to 8 second chance points.The 76ers are 2nd on the league in offensive rebounds so that’s quite a feat.

In its recap the Suns’ blog is underlining how Suns now have some good “chemistry” and “balance”, that were all lacking before. 

Interesting how four Suns (elderly Nash, Shaq – in the pic: he destroyed Dalembert – , Tyrone Grant Hill + Jason Richardson) combined for 41/65 from the floor (63% !!) and 96 points. Difficult to lose like that uh?

Sixers scored 116 points, shot 55% from the field, 47% from three point land (8/17), and turned the ball over only six times. It wasn’t enough to win the game. It doesn’t happen often.

Apparently we couldn’t get any defensive stop. I’ve read on the Sixers board that officiating was pretty poor, and many travels by Shaq weren’t called. This is not surprising but I won’t complain.

Kate Fagan on Deep Sixer is focusing on some positives about last night’s game: Donyell Marshall, Lou Williams and Andre Miller are playing well.

So there is some room for optimism, even after a loss.

GETTING READY FOR THE WARRIORS GAME.

Every game against Golden State is fun. I always liked that team and its crazy, passionate fans.

And I like to meet them also because it gives me the opportunity to put a link to Golden State of Mind, one of the best NBA blogs in my opinion, and a site just as fun as Nelson’s team.

Recently I added another nice Warriors site to my blogroll: so make sure to check also The Warriors rundown to have a full coverage about our next opponent.

Warriors play the Lakers tonight (go Warriors !!) so maybe they will be a lil’ bit tired tomorrow, in the second night of a back-to-back. (Now that I am typing this, I have to remind that Suns had played their last game on Sunday).

I can’t wait to watch the game, I’ll be there for sure this time.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY – S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

The title of this post could have been “More timely three point shooting“, following the one below this. Or “Finally a buzzer beater that goes the right way”. Whatever.

All I can say now is I am one of the happiest bball fans on earth. I could have been the happiest overall. Becasue of this (I love how the video is 100% Lakers until the 2.10 mark…LOL): 

(PREMISE: as you might easily guess, from Monday to Friday it’s extremely difficult for me to watch Sixers games live. When they play in Philly, or anywhere in the East, games start at 00.30-1 AM. It means going to bed at around 3.30-4, and get up at 8, to go to work my butt off for 10 + hrs in office…. when Sixers play West, that’s completely impossible, because games start at around 3.30-4 AM GT – Guido Time)

So I had this plan for today: resist and DO NOT check the score of the Lakers game all day (that’s always a pretty tough task for a die hard fan, believe me), RUN home from office, watch the game replaying, but… “live”: without knowing the score, I mean !!

Had this plan be completed, I would be the happiest fan on earth now. Really.

INSTEAD…

Fellow guido and f’n idiot Raffaele, co-founder of Sixers4guidos, that I hadn’t heard from in like 3-4 weeks (not missing anything, btw…), decided to drop me an email that consisted in these few words: “Biggest win of the season. Why no post up yet?”.

The response was like: 1) (tons of profanities) I was trying to avoid knowing the score, you idiot. Your useless ass completely ruined me the surprise… And 2) the post will be up as soon as I’ll watch the game, you retard. 

So here I am now, trying to recap (yes), the biggest win of the season, (too) many hours late, I know. What can I do?

Let’s start from the finish. Andre Iguodala, whose clutchness has been questioned many times - also on this site of course - hit a fantastic three pointer over Trevor Ariza at the buzzer to give Sixers a 93-94 W over the Lakers at the Staples Center:

Sixers have won four straight games now, and their record is 34-31, .523.

That shot couldn’t have been more timely, for many reasons.

First, it came to overcome another big shot, a “long two pointer” by Kobe Bryant, that put Lakers up two with 6 seconds left, 93-91. Notice that Kobe was 0/5 from the field in the 4th quarter before knocking down that jumper…. Notice also he scored over Iguodala !

Second, Iguodala was 0/6 from three point land before d-e-m-a-n-d-i-n-g the ball for the last shot. That stat included two airballs, one pretty embarassing because he was wide open. So he showed some guts, I like the attitude. Iguodala shot 2/12 before making SEVEN OF HIS LAST NINE attempts !!! Paul Pierce anyone ???

Third, let’s be honest, with all those buzzer beater losses, and with Sixers/Iguodala’s track record in the last seconds of games (excluding this one), I’m pretty sure few Sixers fans believed in that kind of outcome.

But it came. On the road. Against the Lakers. Wow.

That’s why this win has a special taste. And it could have been even sweeter hadn’t Raffaele f’d me up with bla bla bla…

I would like to mention few more things in this special day (unfortunately we can’t party much because we meet the Suns in…well, few hours).

1) Donyell Marshall played another fantastic 4th quarter, hitting all of his three field goals, that, you guessed it, were all three pointers. How about 6/8 frome behind the arc in the last two games ???? And all of them in the final period?

2) this time I have to take my hat off to Lou Williams, that was phenomenal off the bench, especially in the second quarter, when he scored 12 points, coming from three “and one” plays and a three pointer.

But he did committ two big mistakes in the final 1.30 min, not converting a layup and getting blocked by Gasol on a forced drive. Lou, take Iguodala to dinner, he saved your ass.

3) another played that deserves a lot of praise is Reggie Evans, finally used properly. He was a BEAST under the boards, even more than usual, and had two big baskets in the fourth, in the middle of Sixers’ run.

4) finally, a big applause goes to the whole team, that played terrific defense on Bryant for the whole night.

Iguodala guarded him most of the game (which makes his offensive performance even bigger), but also Miller and Green took the challenge, doing a great job of denying him open looks, and forcing him to five, costly turnovers.

5) last but not least, this was a pretty impressive come-from-behind W, because when Farmar hit a three from the corner at the beginning of the 4th, Lakers’ lead was at fourteen, 76-62. It’s a 17-32 run to finish the game, baby.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – Sixers started 1/11, Lakers 10/16… Willie Green carried the load offensively for us in the first – Lakers were 59% from the floor at halftime (50-50), Sixers 40%. Lakers had 11 turnovers though – Sam was horrible offensively but very good under the boards, especially on the offensive end – Gasol was unstoppable in the first half, I liked also his vision, he finds the open man extremely well, also with kick out passes – Lakers went on a 10-0 run to close the third (73-62), with Kobe on the bench because of foul troubles.

I want to see more scenes like this: