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.

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

It took a mediocre team, a great contribution from the bench and a couple of (nice) surprises, but still Sixers’ 105-110 W in Memphis is an encoraging one (30-30, .500).

Let’s recap what went wrong, and we will quickly remind the good things.

1) free throw shooting was awful, again.

63% and ELEVEN MISSES are really bad, especially in a close game (19 ties, 15 lead changes, biggest lead at 9 – Sixers). Sixers were 15/24 with the score at 93-92.

Miller, uncharacteristically, did the worst part, missing four, Marreese Speights, usually precise, added another surprising 1/3, Iguodala shot 66%.

2) defense was porous, Memphis shot 60% in the first half (!) and remained at that pctg also at the end of the third (34/57). We could get some defensive stops only down the stretch. and fortunately it was when it counted the most.

We could never protect the rim, allowing too many drives, and  couldn’t even foul them hardly/smartly, which led to many three point plays.

Conley (31) and Marc Gasol (30) both had career highs (…), something we shouldn’t be proud of. Duels in the low post between Gasol and Dalembert/Ratliff were an interesting thing to see though, a nice matchup to focus on.

But let’s move to what worked well.

1) perimeter defense, finally (I). Not that Memphis is a good three point shooting team (currently 28th out of 30 teams, with 33.9%, just above Washington and… ok, you got it…), but we denied them open looks.

2) we finally (II) made the right plays down the stretch.

Iguodala had a key offensive rebound, that led to his following, decisive, three (99-106 with 35 seconds left, off a kick out pass by Miller). Huge plays in crunch time. Finally (III).

Lou Williams – great game, finally (IV) - had also an extraordinary sequence, with an assist to Iguodala for a dunk, a tough jump shot and a big three (second of the night as a team, we “reached” 2/12 with that…), to put us up four: 95-99, 2.29 to play.

Sixers scored 24 points in the last six minutes (!!): it was 88-86 Memphis with 6.00 to play when Milicic went to the line. Best way to finish a game.

4) we took care of the basketball, limiting the turns. We had only six in the first half (vs Grizzlies’ 12), and one in the third quarter.

5) our bench was fantastic.

I would like to particularly praise Theo Ratliff,  who gave us a great boost, also offensively (!). Deserving S4G’s front page pic.

The highlight of his night was at the beginning of the fourth, when he had an offensive rebound+ turnaround shot, followed by a block on Warrick, that sparked a fastbreak finished with a three point play by Iguodala (80-84). Beautiful.

6) Andre Miller, phenomenal as usual – ok, except the freebies…

How about SIX OFF REBOUNDS  ??? Eight dimes-vs-1 turnover ??? He got often burned by Conley but scored on him nearly as many times, beating the smaller opponent in the low post.

SERBIAN CORNER

Fellow serbians Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric were H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E.

Jaric got his pocket picked by Lou Williams in the second, in a way that was almost embarassing, like a 12 y/o kid playing vs his older, merciless cousin.

While the peak of Milicic’s night (ok, I won’t mention the two bricks from the line in the fourth… oh wait, I just did it…) was a low post spin move followed by a kick out pass in the fourth row…

Check 3 Shades of Blue’s recap for some extra laughs related to them. And a Grizzlies fan’s perspective, of course.

Sixers play the Thunder in few hours: check Oklahoma City Thunder balls for more coverage about our upcoming opponent. It’s a unique opportunity to improve our record, let’s not blow it.

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

…this time resulting in a loss, 101-86 vs the Hornets, that pushes us below .500 again (21-22, .488).

I couldn’t watch the game last night and I will troubles also catching the upcoming one at Houston.

They both are blackouted on Int’l League Pass and the site that used to put online NBA replaying games was apparently shut down few days ago (…). That really sucks. 

Anyway I think/hope Sixerdave will cover the Houston game for us and I’ll have an interesting Q&A session with a cool Rockets blog before it, so stay tuned on S4G.

Sorry for the lack of coverage of the Hornets loss but from Mon to Fri it’s really tough for me to watch the games live and then go to work the day after, especially when Sixers play on the road vs Westen conference teams.

That would mean going to bed at around 4 AM, sleep less than four hours and then work from 9 to 7… not exactly the kind of rythm you can keep for a long time, especially if you would like to do both things (blogging & working, I mean) pretty well. 

As usual when I couldn’t catch the game, I watched highlights, scrutinezed the play-by-play page, I read a lot of (relieble) reports around so that I’ll stick to some actual facts that can be analyzed.

Quicky:

1) we allowed the second consecutive barrage from three point land. After Knicks went 15/32, Hornets followed with their own 14/31. Make it 29/63 (46%) in the last two games.

Pedja Stojakovic had a streak of FIVE threes knocked down in the fourth (!), scoring all of New Orleans’s initial fifteen points, and the game looked pretty much over (81-66). To our credit, we had a great effort after that, and were able to cut the lead to only seven in the final (89-82) but Paul with a jumper and Posey with another three closed the game

2) we struggled shooting the ball from behind the arc and from the line. It’s something that we hoped and thought had been addressed, but evidently we still tend to repeat the same mistakes.

The free throw thing is really annoying…

Lou Williams is going through another shooting slump (6/22 in the last two games) but I saw he filled the stat line nicely, in terms of rebounding (7 !) and dishing the ball (6), so he must have contributed somehow.

3) we didn’t take advantage of Hornets’ (important) absences. David West and Tyson Chandler form a pretty formidable front court, but they both were out with injuries. Judging from the aforementioned facts, we couldn’t dominate the paint, also because Brand AND Speights had off nights.

When you play Hilton frikkin’ Armstrong, Julian friggin’ Wright and Sean suckin’ Marks and you lose by 15 points, you can only shut up.

4) C-H-R-I-S P-A-U-L (in the picture). Enough said. Stunning.

Check Ryan’s Hornets 247 blog, he has some great points about what was decisive in New Orleans’ favor: leaving it all on the floor. The game was “non stop-excitement” from Ryan’s standpoint, and it’s not that difficult to believe him !

Simple as that.

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

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

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

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

That was too much for the Sixers of these days.

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

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

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

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

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

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

(BRING THE OLD SIXERS UNIFORMS BACK ! S4G CAMPAIGN – SIGN HERE)

You see how it’s nice to knock down those effin’ free throws.

A perfect 4/4 from the foul line by Andre Iguodala in the last 22 seconds of the game gave Sixers a key 91-87 win against New Jersey, lifting our record at .500 again (35-35).

It was one of the ugliest and most boring close games I’ve ever seen (LOL). All I wrote on my paper for the first two quarters was “airball”: Harris started, Carney followed, Nachbar continued. All of them on wide open jumpers.

You see, it wasn’t exactly an exciting show, but still Sixers held a seven point lead at halftime (49-42). The “best” part came in the first quarter, when a motivated Dalembert had eight points, and fellow serbian Nenad Krstic replied with three long jumpers, showing he has range.

The worst part for the Sixers was yet to come: at the beginning of the third quarter Iguodala had an exciting alley oop dunk that seemed to spark a possible Sixers run (51-42) but, instead, Nets went on their own, reaching a 58-66 lead with 4.5 left on a basket by Josh Boone that capped a 13-0 spurt.

It was Thaddeus Young to keep us in the game in those moments, with a tap in + a steal that led to a dunk by Iguodala. That shaked a little bit our stagnant offense, and at the end of the third it was “only” 68-75 Nets.

Sixers fortunately woke up in the fourth, playing great defense and finding ways to draw fouls and get to the line: Lou Williams gave us the lead at 78-77 with a couple of free throws, while Iguodala missed both one minute later, after Vince Carter picked up his fifth foul.

Samuel Dalembert came up big down the strech, with two huge blocks on Carter and Josh Boone and an offensive rebound: he clanked both free throws with 1.35 to go and the score at 86-85 Sixers, though. This play came after another costly miss by Thaddeus Young, a blown layup that could have put us up five at 88-83 (Carter made it 86-85 with a dunk).

Another series of misses followed: Carter (jumper), Thaddeus Young (blocked by Krstic), Dalembert (tough fallaway jumper as the shot clock was winding down) and Boone (contested layup).

Then Iguodala finally decided that it was time to go to work and took it strong to the basket, drawing a foul by Richard Jefferson. He made both from the line (88-85, 22 seconds left) and on the next possession got the rebound and was fouled after Carter misfired on a three pointer. His second trip to the charity stripe with 14 seconds to go iced the game (90-85).

It wasn’t the kind of win that makes you celebrate, but still it showed some good signs:

1) Sixers improved to 13-7 in the second game of a back-to-back and, mainly, showed an ability to regroup after a bad loss like the last one in Orlando

2) Lou Williams played a great game off the bench, with key baskets and a good mix of drives and outside shots. Well done. The awful choices he made in Orlando are hopefully left behind.

3) Dalembert stat line is pretty impressive and he had a great impact indeed. If he could only make his free throws under pressure… he is a better shooter from the line than the stats tell. After he got embarassed by Howard last night, he recovered.

4) Iguodala showed leadership and some balls: his last four foul shots were simply perfect, a sign he was confident: his body language was good as well

Andre Miller did his as usual.

Thaddeus Young crashed the boards like he can do, he still has to improve finishing around the basket: he will do that. Anyway, he did contribute to our final run, especially on the defensive end.

SIXERS4GUIDOS BONUST STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS

Nachbar and Green had a remarkable brick-shooting contest, that Willie won thanks to his fourteen misses in less than 25 minutes of action… – The best play of the night came in the second, when Jason Smith blocked a dunk attempt by Nachbar, starting a fastbreak concluded by Young with a monster dunk

A hectic week is coming, with four games in seven days, starting from Monday night in Boston. Can we steal one vs the #1 team in the NBA or will we get swept this year ???

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

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

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

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

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

So we beat a Memphis team that after trading Gasol for ..well, garbage, will likely drop deeper, maybe even fall at the bottom of the rankings by the end of the year: Miami got Marion and Minnesota is at least fighting and lately won some games, that’s why I think THESE (horrible, sorry) Grizzlies have a good chance to end with the League’s worst record. I hope my friends from 3 Shades of blue will take the best part of this: the possibility to get the #1 pick in the 2008 draft.

Not much to say about the game, again: Sixers led from start to finish for the second time this season. I’ll write down just some points that I took note of while watching the game, in chronological order:

* “Sixers wear white throwback uniforms tonight… they had so many design changes through the years….”. “But this is the best of the pack, it lasted the longest !!” (even Memphis commentators on FSN/League pass notice it…). My campaign to bring the old unis back - full time !! – will be up on Sixers4guidos over the All Star weekend, stay tuned

* my boy Darko (in the picture…LOL), one silly turnover and two misses in the firt two minutes. He’s not focused. He’s awful, I have to admit.

* Sixers shoot 3/6 from three point in the FIRST QUARTER (26-21), with Lowry beating the buzzer with a nifty layup

* Reggie Evans, three bricks in two possessions to start the SECOND QUARTER, including a lefthanded layup that nearly breaks the glass. Ouch.

* Darko dribbles on his foot and the ball falls out of bounds. I feel sorry for him, really. He’s embarassing. I am embarassed. I don’t know why, it’s him doing it, not me, but I feel like that.

* Grizzlies GM smartly paired Darko with Kwame Brown. I know he only wants his 9 millions to come off the books in few months, but in the meantime the effects of the move are nearly comical. Kwame catches the ball, goes up for a dunk (or a layup? It could be… anyway, a shot !!) and… comes down with the ball. HE FORGOT TO SHOOT !!! Traveling violation. The embarassment reaches its peak.

* Rodney Carney comes off the bench and plays some nice full court defense, with a couple of steals, a (not completed) three point play and another basket. Good spark again.

* Rudy Gay is excellent: 19 on 7/14 AT THE HALF, after starting 1/7. Iguodala has 20 for us, he’s destroying Memphis with 9/12 from the field.

* Iguodala’s start of the THIRD QUARTER: airball – three pointer made – assist to Thaddeus Young – miss – thunderous dunk: 62-45 Sixers. Sam does the rest, blocking Grizzlies in the paint and finishing on the other side (72-50). Phily scores on 8 of its first 10 attempts.

* Hakeem Warrick shows some pride and fights, but the game seems over: 84-68 at the end of the third

* no, wait, Grizzlies unexpectedly come back IN THE FOURTH QUARTER and cut the deficit to only six: 92-86, 4 minutes to play ! Warrick rocks.

* Never mind, Andre Miller closes it with a jumper and a fantastic assist to Iguodala for another impressive dunk. Sixers win 102-88. 

SIXERS4GUIDOS BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS

In more than two hours of broadcasting, Grizzlies commentators never said anything remotely negative about their team, not even a single, soft critic. Are they used to these kind of games or they are just afraid to lose the job? Jeez… – Jason Collins’ fro is nice !! - Lou Williams missed a dunk in the fourth because he pulled a Rodney Carney and tried to do “the one” instead of a “simple” dunk – Grizzlies coach and former Sixer Marc Iavaroni, 1983 champ, was honored before the game. Congratulations guido Marc. – Dalembert had a very solid game, and Thad did his usual, nice, silent, effective job on both ends. I like this guy more and more, he really plays like he’s a veteran – Mike Conley apparently played – Sixers reportedly are interested in Kyle Lowry, he looked good - There are good chances that my 31-51 predicton will be off the mark, I don’t know whether to be happy or not, LOL – I was and I still am a Cheeks critic, but he deserves a lot of praise for what he’s doing with this team, honestly.

Check 3 shades of blue’s recap for a Grizzlies fans’ standpoint on the game.

Who’s next? Minnesota after the break. A good chance to make it six. Uh.

Andre Iguodala did his best Santa Klaus impersonation and sank the Grizzlies with a tough fallaway shot at the buzzer over Mike Miller, giving Sixers a 99-97 win in Memphis and all fans a happy Christmas (11-16, .407).

Iguodala’s last second 18 footer (in the picture !) capped a fantastic fourth quarter, in which he shot 7/9 from the field and scored 17 points, after going 2/12 with 6 points in the previous three.

That’s exactly what a franchise player is supposed to do. I wrote this several times and I am happy to see him playing like this. The point is he can do it almost on a daily basis, but he rarely does (did?). Let’s hope that the first buzzer beater of his NBA career becomes a turning point of his, and Sixers’, season.

The sweet end of the game – and the red uniforms – could make us forget all the things that happened before, good and bad ones, but I think it’s fair to remind them all. Let’s start with what didn’t work :

1) Dalembert could NEVER stop Pau Gasol in the low post. You can read by yourself Gasol’s stat line (31 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 65% FG…), what is worse is that Gasol scored 7 points in the last 1.20 minutes of the game, and all on Sam.

First came a three point play off an alley hoop from Navarro, and it was Dalembert fouling him (from 92-87 Sixers to 92-90, 1.18 to go), then a left handed layup after an isolation play to bring Grizzlies within 1 (96-95, 15 seconds to play), then an IDENTICAL shot to tie the game at 97 with 5 seconds left. Sam, take a look at the tape, you got schooled again: you can/have to do better than this.

2) Korver missed two clutch chances to ice the game. First a wide open, “easy”, three pointer that could have given us an eight point lead with 1.25 left: on the next possession it came Gasol’s “and one” play, so instead of a possible 95-87 it became 92-90. Then, after being fouled with 15 seconds to play, he missed the second of two free throws, that could have given us a three point lead: it remained 97-95 Sixers, and Gasol tied it moments later.

You would expect better from a 90% FT shooter… especially considering he committed the same mistakes in similar situations last year.

3) Carney played like garbage, again. He “had” to start because Willie Green was out due to a “muscle strain”. Well, in front of his many Memphis friends he showed he still lacks personality and fundamentals (is it actually true that he went FOUR FULL YEARS to college? I am starting to doubt it, he is still unbelievably raw and unconsistent).

Some Carney’s “highlights”: he started on Mike Miller, got beaten twice off the dribble, missed a couple of shots and was pulled out after 8 completely meaningless minutes in the first.

In the second, just before the half time buzzer, he had a nice steal on Stoudamire but he turned it over immediately and fouled Damon on the loose ball: 52-47 Grizzlies after the ensuing free throws.

In the third he got blocked by Mike Miller (!!!) –  I found a nice picture of this but it’s Christmas time and I decided to keep it in my computer…  – and missed a layup on a one-on-one fastbreak because he doesn’t know to go left and stubbornly tried to score with his right hand.

Then he missed his sixth consecutve shot in a row on another fastbreak but somehow managed to put it in the hole, off his own miss, just under the basket. He ended the quarter, and his embarassing game, airballing a jumper at the horn: 2 points, 1/8 from the field in 19 minutes and a dramatic sensation that he’s really a complete bust. Send him to the D-League, NOW.

Sam, Kyle, Rodney: take Iguodala to dinner and thank him.

So let’s conclude with the sweet notes:

1) Andre Miller played another wonderful game, reaching his season high already in the third (27) and knocking down a clutch mid range shot (94-92 with 28 seconds left). He was amazing, he understood that the team needed his scoring and he did that, drawing a lot of fouls with his set of pump fakes and post moves.

2) Thaddeus Young was very good, contributing on both ends of the floor and hitting a couple of perfect shots from the line under pressure (96-93, 22 seconds to play). He showed some balls and had only a couple of turonovers that are more than forgiveable for a rookie.

I had a special look also on fellow serbian Darko Milicic but the guy is still a mystery to me: four nice blocks in eleven minutes but also four fouls and only one rebound. It looks like he doesn’t care about what’s happening on the floor and maybe he doesn’t care at all about basketball. Pretty sad, the guy is apparently wasting all his talent.

Merry Christmas Sixers fans worldwide !!

(Thought this could be funny..) 

If you think they didn’t/don’t get along, you are wrong.

Kobe Bryant & Shaquille O’Neal actually found something in common, the passion for lovely Serbia and one of its traditional national symbols, “tri prsta” (=three fingers):

Here is proof n.1:

And here is proof n.2.

Case closed.

(Influence of serbian “culture” on Kobe was well documented even before)

LOL !!!

(Small break from Sixers related topics) 

Serbia is new Under 19 basketball world champ, having defeated US team in the final game of the World Championship played in Novi Sad (Serbia).

Serbian guys won the final 74-69, with Mladen Jeremic scoring 24 points and Milan Macvan 19 (+ 10 rebounds).

For the US team the best scorer was Deon Thompson with 16 while Patrick Beverley had 15 points + 8 rebounds.

Milan Macvan was named MVP of the championship.

Take a look at the roster of the new champs: there is also a 2.21 m (7′4) 19 y/o center…

This might be no big news for many of you guys but I hope that real knowledgeable hoops fans care: it basically means that a new generation of serbian players is going to come soon and hopefully some of these guys make it to the NBA. So you better start to get used to their names quickly (Billy King please take note !).

Last time it happened, it was 1987, but it was Jugoslavija (still one country, with Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia etc united). That 1987 team, who won the gold medal in the Under 19 World Championship played in Bormio (Italy), included guys such as Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Dino Radja etc etc

In a famous game vs US junior team, my boy Kukoc scored 37 points going 11/12 from 3 pt land (it’s not a typo, eleven-out-of-twelve three pointers…).

I hope that Sixers take a serbian player soon and/or that in the next drafts we can pick someone better than notorius (bosnian) bust Edin Bavcic…

Serbian B 92 site has a nice coverage of the event, if you can read serbian you will find many news starting from here.

Napred Srbija !!!

(Back to Sixers related topics soon)

Ok we have some good news, just before the All Star Game (that, by the way, has won the “Most boring sports event ever” prize).

The first is that Sixers went back to red uniforms, which is something I was really waiting for. Hey, each of us has some fetish passions, right? Well, mine are uniforms and logos (besides foot fetish, I mean… but I’m digressing)… so my opinion about the new unis is: not bad, but not great either. The good thing is that the colour is close to the one we should ALWAYS use, the bad thing is that our current logo still suck. Now if we could only go back to the 1978-1997 logo… but I’m confident we will.

The (four) readers of this Sixers blog perhapes noticed we changed our main colour to red too… and this BEFORE the team uniforms… it’s clear Billy King is an avid reader of Sixers4guidos…

The last cool uniforms we had were actually during Iverson’s rookie year. You can take a loot at them by the picture of Clarence “Ricky believed in you” Weatherspoon below. Then, the influence of the hip-hop culture made our marketing jeniuses switch to black (!!??), and even an unbelievable electric blue. I will write again about unis for sure, but right now I’m pretty happy. Still a step in the right direction.

Other good news are the following.

We lost our last three home games (vs Clippers, Dallas and Washington) and so, before the All Star Game, our record is 17-36 (.321), still the third worst in the league. I can hear many ping pong balls bouncing… but watch out for other teams clearly slumping, Milwaukee, Seattle, Charlotte…

Lakers dropped their last five (wow !! a record for Phil Jackson, apparently) and my man Aleksandar “Sasha” Pavlovic killed them twice. In Cleveland he had a wonderful all around game with a season high 21 points, I watched it live and I can tell you it was really sweet to see a fellow serbian destroying the team I hate the most.

Speaking of teams I hate, the Boston Celtics welcomed Paul Pierce back, and PP helped them stopping their losing streak at 19, with a W over Milwaukee (congratulations to “Dumb & dumber”, Ainge and Rivers…). It’s a shame that Celts got that game because now they will start a western trip that could have taken them to the next level, at 20 and more losses… anyway…

It also seems that Andre Miller is not going to be traded. This is other good news. Now I can log on to the Sportshernia site, and enjoy the post-All Star Game comments.