He might not be the greatest coach alive but I take my hat off to him as a professional, basketball guy and person.

I’m glad he will remain in the franchise, he adds a lot to this organization.

Check the 20 minute-video just released by the Sixers and tell me if I’m wrong.

Now please get Anthony Johnson (or that Thibodeau guy) here and leave Jordan & mainly Collins doing what they are doing…

Today is my 38th birthday. Wow. 

(Other celebrities that were born on the 30th of April: the mighty Isiah Thomas (…),  hottie actress Kirsten Dunst (in the pic) director Lars Von Trier, but mostly, porn actor T.T. Boy – LMAO)

I would like a nice present from my beloved Sixers, and extending the series to seven would be perfect.

There are the conditions, I guess. At home, no Howard, no Lee (+ no Nelson). I will be there, watching online and I’m expecting ALL of these:

KEYS FOR A GAME 6 WIN

1) attack the rim like crazy. Superman will be wearing a suit and I want Iguodala, Thad, Lou Williams etc to take it to the rack until exhaustion.

I’d expect some points in the paint even from Dalembert and Speights (he MUST play tonight !!): Gortat is big but not particularly athletic, the alley oops would be there.

Also, he and “El basto” Battie will basically be the only big men available, so putting what’s left of their frontcourt in foul trouble would give us an even bigger advantage.

2) dominate the boards, of course. Orlando outrebounded us in Game 5, that CANNOT HAPPEN again, particularly tonight. I expect a double digit edge in rebouding. Also we can’t allow to.. allow them more than 4-5 offensive boards. The paint should be Sixers territory.

3) strong defense on the perimeter. STICK TO YOUR MAN !!! Overall we are doing a great job in these games, tonight we will have one more reason NOT to double team in the low post. We can’t give Lewis, Turkoglu, Alston and mainly JJ Redick & Pietrus (that will share Lee’s minutes) open looks.

4) smart rotations. No need to keep Miller and Iguodala on the court for another 44-46 minutes, use 10-11 men and rotate them. Magic’s bench has never been good, now it has been shortened by injuries. Our is deeper and can give us many options, offensively and defensively, to keep the starters fresh for the final quarter: use it.

5) don’t underrate the Magic. The biggest mistake we can make is thinking that this is gonna be an easy win. WRONG !

They will be pumped up after the injuries, DiLeo’s statements about officiating after Game 5, the Howard episode etc etc, so expect Lewis & co to step up in their team mates’ absence, trying to show they are the better team (check this article, for example). Some bum back up will have a great game for sure, that always happens in such situations. They will work their butts off for 48 minutes, that’s granted.

If we will do the same, we will go back to Orlando for the final game. If not, golf courts are waiting for us. And I hate golf.

Believe it or not, I’m sorry that Magic injured rookie guard Lee will miss game 6, I like the player a lot and he seems to be a good guy.

Of course he was a huge factor for Orlando in the first five games, and for them this is a big loss (again, re-check Pietrus’ & Redick’s numbers in his absence… pretty pathetic), but I would have preferred to face a Magic team at full roster. Even losing to it, of course.

But the most awaited news will be the decision about Howard’s possible suspension. From the same source:

An NBA spokesman said the league is reviewing another elbow by Howard on the Sixers’ Samuel Dalembert that drew a technical foul.

This should actually be a no brainer, with the only doubt being how many games he will miss. Zach Randolph got a two game suspension for punching former Sixer bum Lou Amundson, I think the case here is completeley different of course, so one game wearing a suit will be fair for Howard.

Anything less would be totally unacceptable to me. More to come later, hopefully.

Game 5 went exactly how everybody thought Game 1, 2, 3 and 4 would have gone.

Needless to say, the Magic won, 91-78, gaining the 3-2 lead in the series and some momentum.

Sixers fought well, showed their nice pride one more time, and should be praised for the effort, but fell short in the fourth, for the reasons that I’ll try to explain.

1) our leaders worn out.

DiLeo again played Iguodala & Miller WAY too much, 46 and 44 minutes respectively.

This is short-sighted, if not plain stupid, as I already pointed out after Game 4, when they both got 45 min. Imagine how fresh their legs & their minds were at the end of Game 5… bad decision definitely.

Consider that Dwight Howard,that is 23 y/o and is a beast, logged in “just” 37 minutes, with no particular foul troubles.

And Magic depend on him just as much as we do on the Andres, if not more (you might want to check his stat line…).

2) ZERO contribution from the bench.

Of course the initial assumption should be that ‘in order to contribute you first have to play’, which is correct, but anyway this time Lou & co. didn’t do a damn thing worth mentioning.

In fact Marcin effin’ Gortat alone scored as many points as our whole bench, which should tell you everything you need to know. The second unit combined for a miserable six points, eight rebounds and five assists – all by Williams.

It’s the first time that our bench is outscored – and outplayed – by Orlando’s, and this is pretty worrying. Also because Magic backups are nothing special, and I’m being kind.

3) we were dominated under the boards.

The final 45-33 margin in Magic’s favor, even if huge, doesn’t give you the idea of how tough life was under the boards for us. Howard collected 20 rebounds at the end of the THIRD quarter (!), of which 9 offensive. Orlando finished with 15 offensive rebounds, something that really killed us, because basically all of them resulted into putback dunks or easy tip ins. 

Howard’s big game leads me to another point that has to be addressed.

4) Sam Dalembert  should [profanity avoided] go play soccer.

But not at the end of the season, immediately !!

Every Sixers fan is unfortunately used to his MORONIC fouls, a complete set that he has been showing us for (too many) years. Tonight he managed to surprise us, though. This time he took it to another level.

Two of his first three fouls were committed on OFFENSE, one dumber than the other. His fourth came after 15 F’N SECONDS of the second half (!), on a less-than-useless double team on the baseline. Sam, evidently not satisfied with this, thought he would add two of his trademark goaltendings in the fourth quarter. He’s the complete package (LOL).

5) few minutes for Sam = few defensive rebounds = few fastbreak points.

We were able to run only for a stretch in the fourth, when we cut the 80-68 Magic lead to six, 82-76. This made things complicated as our jumpers were not falling tonight, even the good, open ones.

Lewis had a great game for Orlando, posting up smaller opponents: a couple of times he was guarded by Miller ! More bad news, his outside shot is apparently back, 3/5 from behind the arc.

We couldn’t take advantage of Lee’s injury: the rookie went down early in the game with a shoulder injury and didn’t return (hope everything is well, I’m sorry for the guy).

His back ups, Pietrus and Redick, actually didn’t do much, especially considering the lot of minutes they got (they had 10 points in 60 minutes, on 2/9 !!), but the combination of Howard (terrific, again), an effective Alston and Lewis was enough for the tired Sixers I saw.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – When Willie Green is your best player, you are going to be in trouble.. still much props to him for the good game - Funny how both teams shot 16/37 and had 20 rebounds at the break (45-39), the difference was that Orlando had five threes, Sixers two, and bench points were 15-4 - We turned the ball over badly on three consecutive possessions in the third, helping Orlando take a ten point lead, 52-42 – Marreese Speights collected his third consecutive DNP CD. Another nonsense, to me – Howard did everything he wanted to do tonight. Including elbowing Dalembert in the first, that was a cheap shot. Will he get suspended? Mmmhh…. (UPDATE: Enrico at ‘The 700 level’ has the video, pretty clear, uh?)

What kind of Sixers fan are you?

If you are a half-empty tipe of fan (= born in Philly & burbs)

you will probably think that this

is only the last chapter of a season long story, that is apparently far from an end.

If you are a half full-type of fan (too lazy to re-post the picture, scroll up and look at the lower part of the glass, LOL), you would likely remember that Turkoglu’s shot, even if tough to swallow, came after this

and after this

…so that we are still up 2-1 in the “painful end” category, at least in the post season. That is when it actually counts, right?

So cheer up and look at Game 5 with some optimism !!

Well, perfect way to end a shitty bad day. A last second loss.

Hedo Turkoglu hit a tough three with one second left (in the Getty Images pic) to give Orlando a 81-84 W at the Wachovia center, and tie the series at 2-2.

We saw Turkoglu countless times on You Tube in these days, reviewing the game winner that Iguodala scored on him in Game 1 over and over. Now the Magic forward will be on the right side of some footage soon. Payback time.

Hedo hit a lot of game winners in his career, building himself a reputation of being a clutch player: maybe this is the most important shot, as it avoided an overtime that could have easily put his team into a 1-3 hole. Not to mention he was having a crappy series so far (11 PPG on 23% from the floor !!) so this play was huge, unfortunately.

Sixers came only close to another memorable comeback: trailing by ten with 4.32 to go in the fourth (69-79), and honestly looking in a slump, they went on a  stunning 12-2 run and tied the game at 81 on a dunk by Dalembert, off a nice feed by Iguodala when there were 14 seconds to play.

But Orlando had the last possession and Turkoglu made sure it was the decisive one, knocking down a contested three over Thaddeus Young. You can only tip your hat off to him, we couldn’t play better defense. Iguodala’s desperation shot at the buzzer hit only the side of the rim. Series even.

There are few points I want to address before going to bed.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

1) shooting. Despite a nice 8/19 from behind the arc, we shot poorly, staying at 35% at the end of the third (22/62), that not coincidentially saw us down nine, 55-64. You are not going to win many games like this, obviously. 

2) poor rotations. I could say “no rotations” because DiLeo tonight decided not to use the bench. Three of our five starters logged more than 43 minutes (!!) which is something I really don’t understand, and disagree with.

First because it’s known we have a HUGE edge over Orlando as for bench contribution (even tonight, with few substitions made, we outscored them 15-4…), second because two of our starters were in an off night. And I’m clearly talking about the Andres.

3) not only they should have got some (deserved) rest, because they carried us to this point, but Miller and Iguodala weren’t playing well tonight, so others should have checked in, and perhaps picked up the slack. Marreese Speights had his second DNP CD (and I disagree with this also), Marshall and Ivey played a meaningless seven minutes combined. Not a smart idea, really, especially considering it’s gonna be a long series and we need fresh legs down the stretch.

I won’t blame the Andres for their subpar performance (many will do that, I know, but I don’t care), in a series it can happen to have a bad game. I’m blaming the coach for not taking them out.

Of course there are other things that keep our hopes pretty much intact, despite the hurting loss.

Here is WHAT WORKED:

1) rebounding. We outrebounded Orlando again, and allowed their first of a ridicuolous three offensive rebounds with 8 minutes left in the fourth (!).

2) three point shooting, of course. This should give us confidence for the next games. We can hit them from outside.

3) “limiting” Howard. I know it sounds stupid after he had 18 + 18, but he was less of a factor than in the other games. His 6/12 from the line is encouraging also, the reggiemiller-esque performance of Game 3 was accidental, I assume. Unlike the other games, this time he was double teamed on many plays.

4) related to 3), Sam Dalembert had another good game, working well on defense and boxing out their big men (ok, man…) to secure the rebounds. He contributed also offensively, which is always a plus.

5) perimeter defense was ok. We denied Orlando the open looks in the first half (1/8 from three point land). Magic shooters got hot only in the third, when they knocked down three threys in the mid of a 13-2 run that put them up by ten (41-51). But the final 6/20 from behind the arc is acceptable.

Too bad the sixth trey was the decisive one (at least we didn’t pull a Chicago, that tonight left Ray Allen wide open on the last shot for the second time in a series….).

Back to Orlando, but also back to Philadelphia, because there will surely be a Game 6. The series is getting even more interesting, with all these last second shots piling up, game after game…. I’m proud of my team, even after the loss.

SIXERS4GUIDOS BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – Magic started the third draining all of their first seven shots… – Willie Green was excellent in the first quarter, with eight points – Sixers shot only two free throws in the first half, not a good sign – Orlando had nine turnovers at the break, but two for the rest of the game – After the (pathetic) 16.492 attendance of friday, the arena was NOT sold out, again: 16.464 tonight, LESS than in Game 3…. I am speechless.

And I’m glad that my 4-1 Magic prediction can already be filed under the “BS” category.

Sixers lead the series 2-1 after the 96-94 W in Game 3 that I just finished watching.

It was a typical playoffs game, intense, overall well played, that gave me a lot of mixed feelings through the quarters, from joy & pleasure to angryness & fear. Real stars shined, role players stepped up, (supposed) stars choked. We saw everything this night.

Basically it was a 48 minutes rollercoaster run, with the happy end that is making everything sweet now, at 5 AM, while I’m typing this recap.

Let’s start from the finish: Thaddeus Young scored the decisive basket with 2 seconds to go on a lefhaded layup (in the pic), after Sixers inbounded the ball with 7 seconds left.

I honestly think he traveled before the spin move that preceded the release of his shot, but maybe he didn’t have complete possession because a defender tipped the ball out of his hands before, I have to review it more times before having a clearer idea.

Anyway I think Sixers’ victory is completely deserved as we led for the whole night and showed we are a feisty team, with a fighting attitute, that never gives up and can give anybody troubles. So yes, we are still the underdog, but Orlando realized (assuming that was necessary) they have to play their butt off if they want to advance to the second round.

WHY WE WON THE GAME?

1) total team effort. DiLeo used ten players, EVERYBODY gave a significant contribution: not coincidentially all Sixers scored. Evans & Ivey, the guys that got less minutes, had several good, hustle plays, especially on defense, being instrumental in building our early lead.

2) the two Andres taking it to another level. Miller’s and Iguodala’s stat lines speak for themselves. They carried us for 48 minutes.

Iguodala missed two big free throws that could have actually closed the game with 42 seconds to go and Sixers up three (94-91) , but that was the only thing I can blame him for.

It’s a pretty scaring sign, because this is a deja vu from Game 1 (minus the game winner…), I know, and the fact that he was 9/11 from the line before bricking those two won’t help his confidence much. But I won’t complain after such a happy night, I’ll take Iggy’s 29-7-4, the 9/15 from the field and live with it. Andre, take Thad to dinner, he saved your ass (LOL).

Miller came close to a triple double and there is NOTHING he did bad that I can remember.

3) bench edge. Again, our second unit outpalyed Magic’s reserves. We outscored them 21-10. Orlando used basically only eight players. Anthony Johnson went back being the old bum he is, Pietrus had a couple of threes in the third, but that’s pretty much everything THEY (not he) did.

4) signs of life from players previously MIA. Green finally had a decent game, with hot start (3/3 in the 1st) and a huge basket down the stretch (94-91 lead). Dalembert managed to keep his fouls in control and stayed on the court for a good 30 minutes, rebounded the ball well and patrolled the paint (3 blocks). Well done, we need both of them if we want to keep the dream alive.

Howard – that can not be considered human, I think - had a career high 36 points and was an unstoppable freak, but believe me, Sam couldn’t do much better.

Sixers’ FIRST HALF half was fantastic, we scored 60 points (vs Orlando’s 49) on 57% shooting (23/48), outrebounded Orlando 18-13, shot 12/13 from the line, kept them to 45% (15/33) with only 3/7 from three point, had a 17-4 edge in bench points, 9-2 in fastbreak points. Howard (15 pts) was the only effective weapon they had.

In the THIRD QUARTER we extended the lead to seventeen (72-55, 74-57 on a tough fade away shot by Iguodala with 6.17 left) before Orlando went on a 17-2 run that included three treys and silenced the crowd. We run too isolation plays (I wrote that down on my notes, and was happy to hear DiLeo saying the same thing to the ESPN at the end of the period, LOL), turned the ball over (four in six possessions) and when the horn sounded it was a three point game, 80-77.

The FOURTH QUARTER started with an ‘interesting’ Sixers lineup of basically 2 and 1/2 playmakers (Ivey, Miller, Williams) + Young and Ratliff. Howard continued torching us, with an incredible series of dunks, and Lewis, lost by Williams on a pick and roll, tied the game on a three pointer with 6 minutes to go, 86-86.

We went on our own little run, 6-0, with great team defense and some easy points in transition, but Lewis connected on another, this time contested, three: 92-91 (1.45) and I was fearing an awful finish.

Despite Green’s nice runner (94-91), that feeling became even worse when Iguodala missed the two aforementioned foul shots and mostly when Howard – a 59% FT shooter this season – went 3/4 from the line in the next two possessions and tied it with 7 seconds left (94-94). Then came Thad, to fix everything, and I could lie on the sofa, completely exausted, without any strenght left – even to party.

While Howard (12/14 at the line) suddenly turned into “the black Mark Price”, Sixers missed FIVE freebies in the fourth (Lou 0/3, Iguodala 2/4), and that is something that always drives me nuts.

Turkoglu continues to suck (2/12, 5 fouls, 5 turnovers), Lewis was held in check again, rookie wonder Courtney Lee had a ‘normal’ night: Magic trail 1-2 and surely are in troubles.

Good night morning from Italy, home of the happiest Sixers fan. The sun is rising. In every sense.

The first italian Sixers blog would like to send a special message to the NBA and its shitty mighty Int’l League Pass, that is blackouting Sixers’ Game 3 here in Italy (like Game 1, and like Game 2…):

This won’t stop me, as I’ll watch the game on another streaming.

“International League Pass: where stealing money to Sixers fans happens”

I just hope the 40 Euros I gave Stern as a gift (zero games watched on LP so far…) will be used to buy him drugs to cure his male menopause. 

Since I am a gentleman, I’ll send some regards also in my mothertongue language, to make sure the message is delivered:

Da Sixers4guidos, il più cordiale vaffanculo a tutto lo staff di League Pass, fottetevi voi e i 40 euro che mi avete rubato.

Ricky

After watching live Game 2 and recapping it, I slept three hours, went to work, had a meeting.

Now I am here in office at lunch break thinking again about a WINNABLE game that we let slip away, and that we eventually might regret not having won.

I already said in my recap what basically didn’t work (read the post below this), I’ll add some more points to conclude the analysis.

I agree with Iguodala that Magic were better in “the small things”:

“We feel like we had some opportunities,” Iguodala said. “They did all the little things. They hit a big 3. They got all the little loose balls. They made the shots. They got all the rebounds. They did a great job of sealing the game this time.”

True that.

Like failing to get the defensive rebound off a missed free throw by Orlando, giving them an extra possession, that resulted into a three pointer (70-61 Magic, end of the third).

Or miss four shots from the line in the crucial third quarter (5/9).

Or, mostly, let them score on four of the first five possessions after Howard fouled out (3.11 left to play, 84-76), making the crowd go wild.

All of the above contributed.

Few more points to mull over.

1) we are keeping two of their three “bigs” in check. Through the first two games Lewis is shooting 9/25 for 36%, Turkoglu is even worse, at 5/18 for 27%. A bargain, right? Well, since I think this won’t last long, please take advantage of it as much as we can.

2) for the 356th time, we have to make those damn free throws. The current 23/38 (60%) is ridiculous, even for Sixers’ standards I mean. Please fix it…yesterday.

3) trade Green for Lee. Uh, you think Magic won’t do it? Ok, well, at least not now, right? 21 PPG on 53% vs 2 PPG on 18% (LOL)… the SG matchup isn’t exactly turning well. We all know Green is garbage not an all star, but we need him AT LEAST at his reg season productivity.

Small tip: Willie, the goal of this game is to put the ball INTO the basket !! Hitting the rim is a good start, but you have to take a step forward. At least try, thank you !!

4) trade Dalembert for Howard. This would be a great move also, even if Sam (80% FG) is shooting better than Dwight (a modest 78%), so maybe I’ll have to re-think about it, LOL.

5) Alston would like to thank Miller for the PG classes he took last night. Andre is playing fantastic basketball, I’ve heard some fans criticizing him for playing too “selfishly” in Game 2, they probably didn’t realize he was the only offensive weapon we had… 21 points in the first half on 9/13, when none of his team mates, withthe exception of Young, showed up.

I’ll try to have a post about Game 3 up tomorrow. Back to work, damn.

(This is Third Quarter Collapse’ recap, nice post again from Ben & his crew, check the Magic fans’ standpoint)

I don’t know why but after the buzzer sounded, to announce the final 96-87 Loss at Orlando I had the feeling we missed a pretty unique opportunity for a 2-0 lead. Instead, now we are tied, 1-1.

We were in the conditions to steal also Game 2: Magic played another subpar game, Howard was limited, also by foul troubles, and picked up his sixth with 3.11 to play with the score at 84-76… Lewis & Turkoglu played like crap and shot poorly again… so how could we lose this game?

I’ll go with some bullets, and write a more complete post tomorrow.

1) we basically give away two starters to the Magic. Every game I mean.

Green and Dalembert were not ony useless but even detrimental. Green missed at least three wide open shots and got killed on D by Lee (in the pic, the MVP of the game), while all Dalembert did was piling up fouls: the first two after six minutes, as usual, later he added the third + a tech, then the fourth, before being eventually benched until the end.

2)  we turned the ball over like crazy (16), and picked the worst time for the turns. We had eleven in the first half, three in the decisive minutes of the fourth. They were often unforced.

3) we gave up too many offensive rebounds (14). And not to Howard, that would be acceptable, but to Gortat, Pietrus, even Anthony Johnson etc.

4) our offense was sloppy and predictable. Few circulation, no movement with and without the ball, too many isolation plays, ZERO low post scoring.

Only two Sixers scored in the first quarter, Miller with 13 and Young with 8. At the half those two had respectively 21 (!) and 10, while all the other players combined for a mighty SEVEN points (Speights chipped in five, Lou Williams two, just before the horn). Yes, Iguodala had ZERO points in the first half, on 0/3, same for Green, Dalembert, Evans, Ratliff !! 

Iggy did recover later, exploding for 13 in the third and not giving up until the end. Overall, a good game.

As a team, we didn’t score a three until the fourth, when Young cut Orlando’s lead to 72-65. Surprisingly, we ended up knocking down five treys in the final period again, exactly like in Game 1, but this time it wasn’t enough.

5) we dug ourselves another 18 point hole in the third (64-46) before going on a 15-2 run that put us back in the game (66-61). This second comeback was nice, but we went 5/9 from the line in the period…

6) in Howard’s absence, also before he fouled out, instead of making a strong run, we let them to extend the lead, carried by Lee (again) and Johnson (…). This due to a combination of poor defensive rotations, leading to open shots allowed, bad turnovers, no second chance points.

7) our bench didn’t give a great lift this time, if you take out an encouraging flash of Speights in the second: the rookie scored his first playoffs points. Lou and Marshall were in an off night, Theo was ok defensively, Ivey useless on both ends as usual.

To Magic’s credit, they played solid defense all night and showed pride and a variety of offensive options we actually lacked.

At the end of the day (well, here is actually starting, it’s 4 AM…) a deserved loss, with a really bitter taste of “unfinished business”. 

Of course I would have signed to split the series after two games, but now I think that it won’t happen that often to have such favorevable conditions, and not take advantage of them.

For more, “live”, feelings and thoughts, check Liberty Ballers’ Game Thread, I posted there during the game, it was fun chatting with the guys.

Good night, see you tomorrow.