From someone who watched him closely for the last two years.

What follows is the result of a Q & A session I did with Romy from Hoop Heads North, the Raptors site of Bloguin network. I think it’s worth a read. We owe Romy also the nice pic, taken at Bosh’s birthday party..

S4G: are you happy for the Kapono/Evans trade? Were you a Kapono fan or critic?
 
HHN: The biggest thing missing from the Raptors this past season was “toughness” The team knew it, Bryan Colangelo knew it, the fans knew it and it was an area that needed improvement for the offseason. 

We had a little bit of it with J.O. but lost it when he was traded to Miami. So when I heard about Reggie Evans, I know it was Colangelo’s attempt to cover that void. From what I’ve ever seen from him, he’s a great rebounder and can bang around down low. He has all the skills that Andrea Bargnani lacks. I can see Evans as one of those guys can grab 20 boards but won’t do much offensively.
 
I liked Kapono in Miami but not so much with the Raptors. He just didn’t fit into the system but will probably flourish in Philly. The Raptors were overloaded with mediocre swingmen, so dropping Kapono was a step in the right direction.
 
S4G: can Kapono play SG or is he more of a SF? can he create his own shot?
 
HHN: Create his own shot? I think he’s better as a catch and shoot guy. Creating his own shot can be disastrous. I’d say he’s more of a SF, and he’s a perfect fit for the Sixers as they’ve struggled with the three point shot.
 
S4G: it’s pretty safe to say that Kapono is not a great defender (and Sixers didn’t get him for defense, obviously), but can he play SOME defense or, to quote the immortal Donnie Brasco, we have to “fuggeddaboudit”?
 
HHN: Fuggeddaboudit. (S4G: LOL)
 
 S4G: do you see Kapono being a good fit in Philly, with Eddie Jordan’s Princeton offense system? will he thrive or struggle?
 
HHN: Well, I think the Sixers were missing that Kyle Korver type of player to knock down threes, so I don’t see him having a problem fitting in. 

The Sixers have a great crew of players that can create their own shots, Kapono can wait on the wings for the big shot. He’s a great team guy and off the court seems like a pretty easy going and funny guy. I honestly think this is a trade that works for both sides.
 
S4G: any skill or flaw he possess and that few analysts/fans noticed during his career?

HHN: Well he’s a shooter and that’s what he does best, outside of that don’t expect much more. The problem is that his one major strength wasn’t utilized in Toronto.

(Note: I will return the favour and reply to Romy’s questions about Evans later, I’ll edit the post to add the link – EDIT: here it is, my answers to his Reggie questions)

Wow, just reported !

Sixers are trading Reggie Evans for sharpshooter Jason Kapono.

If you have been following this blog you know I have always been a Reggie Evans fan but to me it’s a very good move, and here are the reasons:

1) obviously, it addresses a desperate need we had, three point shooting.

Not much to add here, really: we are getting a  former 3 pt shooting contest winner (see the video above) and a real threat from the perimeter. Exactly what we lacked.

2) no lost of depth in the frontcourt.

Elton Brand will be back, Jason Smith will hopefully be back, we still have Sam, Speights + another veteran big man that will be probably signed to replace Theo (Jordan made it clear in the blogger conference call).

Reggie Evans was clearly the odd man out in what is still a very solid four man-rotation, that will be extended to five. Also, Evans’ game was surely a difficult fit in Jordan’s system.

3) no cap troubles

Kapono’s deal expires in 2011, same as Evans’, with 6.2 and 6.6 mill owed for the next two seasons, slightly more than what was making Reggie (4.9 and 5).

Remember in the same summer of 2011 the dumb huge contracts of Dalembert & Green will come off the books, and this will mean a good 22.8 million relief for the Sixers.

Unlike many Sixers fans, I say I will miss Reggie Evans but this is a move that will help us (and actually also Toronto, but we don’t care much about that, right?).

More to come about this in the next days. In the meantime, well done Mr Stefanski.

Ok, first let’s take the hat off to the Orlando Magic.

They played a great t-e-a-m game despite all the absences, won 89-114, and deservedly advanced to the second round, 4-2. End of the story.

Now let’s talk about the Sixers’ game. Horrible. Awful. Atrocious. Embarassing. I don’t know what to say.

We simply weren’t ready to play, we didn’t come out to play. Not “play hard”, play. We didn’t show up.

I won’t waste time recapping the game, analyzing this and that, breaking down individual performances. Sixers were outplayed, outrebounded, outhustled, outfucked by the Orlando Magic’s reserves in a 48 minute-butt whipping.

Forget the stats, while Bulls and Celtics were making history (third overtime just started as I’m typing this), Sixers pulled out a memorable choking act, losing all of the four periods, giving up 62 points and 57% from the field (23/40, including 6/9 from three) in the first half and trailing constantly in double digit until the final buzzer, with margins from eleven to the final twentyfive. 

I could mention at least four embarassing plays for each Sixer that was put on the floor: turnovers, airballs, dunks on, shots blocked etc. I won’t go on details as it could be very painful.

Gortat = a polish David Robinson. JJ Redick = Ray Allen part II. Rafer Alston = the new Dennis Johnson. It was that kind of night.

The truth is Sixers are far from being a good playoffs team, and many things have to be re-evaluated this summer, taking this crappy game into consideration.

The sad end of course doesn’t take anything from the good things that were done before, including the two wins versus Orlando, a team that was supposed to blow us, but it’s a clear sign that something is still lacking, especially in the players’ minds.

2008/2009 Sixers improved of only one game from the previous regular season (from 40 to 41 wins) and repeated the exact sequence of last year’s playoffs series, winning the first game on the road and going up 2-1, only to see the season end with three straight losses.

The season perhaps didn’t, but the final game surely deserved all the boos that the crowd rained on the team. A shameful finish indeed.

Let’s leave the main stage to the grown folks, we still have a lot of homework to do.

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.

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?)

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.

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.

Ok, Game 1 is over and after shocking half the League with our fantastic comeback we are heading into tomorrow with an unexpected 1-0 lead.

With this post I’ll try to prove how Game 2 is a golden opportunity for the Sixers to put the Magic into a (too ?) big hole and I’ll provide few, unrequested tips to win it.

And before you remind it, yes, I said Magic in five, but I’ll gladly miss also this prediction… I won’t be ashamed, one more time.

So here is the situation.

The pressure is now on both teams, I think.

Orlando, that still is the better team, of course can’t afford to lose both games at home. Sixers can’t afford a blowout in Game 2 as well, because it would mean that what happened Sunday was accidental (which I don’t believe).

The (shifted) home court advantage is not a factor in Sixers’ favor yet, that’s my point. It would be so with a 3-2 advantage, not now. Sixers should remember that the Magic already won TWICE in regular season in Philly, therefore thinking that we could advance to the secodn round by ’simply’ winning the three games at home would be stupid.

Psychologically the conditions are completely different, though, and here we could have an edge.

Not only the loss per se, but the way it came (the 18 point lead squandered, the last second shot etc) clearly could a negative effect on Orlando players’ minds just as big as the positive effect it had on ours. But they had three days to regroup, analyze the mistakes, and move on.

Now Magic’s mental toughness will be put to a test. If they are a great team, they will bounce back immediately and react, trying to bury us quickly in Game 2 and show the world who’s the best team. If they really lost (some?) confidence, then it would be smart to work on that and gain even more momentum. 

I don’t know the exact stat about teams winning also Game 2 on the road after stealing Game 1, but the number should be very, very low. And all Game 2-s played in these playoffs so far seems to confirm it. To repeat is very tough. Wait, I just found this article, that should give us some hope. Excerpt:

To be exact, 78.8 percent of NBA teams that won Game 1 of a best-of-7 series have advanced

I think that if we manage to stay in the game for the first three quarters, starting the fourth with a single digit margin, say, Magic could feel some pressure and perhaps repeat the collapse. They are not much used to these situations: unlike the Celtics, that just won Game 2 with a last second shot, to make an example.

So how we can stay in the game TECHNICALLY?

It’s pretty safe to say that:

• Sixers won’t shoot 7/12 from downtown again, nor will make five treys in the fourth
• Orlando won’t shoot 5/18 again. Not only I expect them to have a better percentage but I think they will take a lot more of those threes, around 25 or something
• Turkoglu will play better than in Game 1 (even if he apparently is thinking about opting out this summer, which could have an effect, on himself and his team)
• same for Rashard Lewis, who had a subpar game

But also:

• Howard won’t make 9 of 12 from the line that often
• Lee will be hopefully guarded better 
• Anthony Johnson won’t dunk on our centers anymore (LOL)

To conclude, here is SIXERS4GUIDOS’ GAME PLAN:

1) try to put newly named DPOY Howard in foul troubles soon. Tough task, I know. Few touches in the low post could help.

Yeah, Sam Dalembert is not exactly a scoring threat and his set of offensive moves is just as wide as Jim McIlvaine’s, so how about making Thaddeus Young work in the low post more? How about our guards strongly taking it to the rack and trying to get themselves some free throws? Iguodala shot his first foul shots with 1 minute to play in Game 1, that’s not good.

Speights should play more in the paint also, reguardless of the minutes he’ll get. Enough of his 17 footers, time to earn his salary in the lane. He will get blocked? Fine.

2) continue to defend strong on the perimeter. Quick rotations should deny their shooters open looks. Stay with your man and contest the shot.

3) (related to #2) do NOT double team Howard. I don’t care if he goes 11/13 again, we already won that way. For us, it’s worse if Magic score 12-14 threes. Ratliff and Dalembert combined for “only” seven fouls in Game 1, Evans had one. Foul Howard and send him to the line for another dozen of shots, I’d bet he won’t connect for 75% again.

4) dare Alston to shoot from outside. A career 38% shooter, 5/15 in Game 1. I’m fine with him taking a smilar amount of shots.

It could work.

(Uhm. Actually I’m glad I’m NOT the coach. LOL)