When Sixers will grow up…

… I wish they become the Utah Jazz.

Thirty-two assists (32) on thirty-nine field goals (39). I don’t know if this is a record, but I dont’ care, it’s truely impressive. That’s what I want my team to be.

Jazz gave the young Sixers a lesson of veteran team basketball, coming out of the Wachovia Center with a 95-106 win after a nice game and a good effort (uhm, I am starting feeling happy even after losses: low standards or tanking mode already approaching?). Sixers’ record is 4-10 (.286).

It was the second night of a back-to-back for Philadelphia and it showed: Sixers’ start was terrible, with three turnovers in the first two minutes and an immediate 2-13 Jazz edge. 

We reacted pretty quicky, and a balanced offense orchestrated by Andre Miller made us  tie the game at 15 and then have our first lead at 19-17 on a three by Andre Iguodala. On the other side Deron Williams (a MONSTER) started creating for himself and for others, finding Okur and Boozer (in the picture) for easy baskets: that lasted all night.

After a close first quarter (27-25, Okur 8 pts), Jazz’s second unit struggled at the beginning of the second: back to back steals and an assist by Kyle Korver (he eventually had even a block !!) gave the Sixers a 33-27 lead, our largest.

More than a W

Yeah, we still are a mediocre team, we still are at the bottom of the Atlantic with our 4-9 record (.308), we will still lose tons of games this year and get angry over it, but we  managed to escape from the Bradley Center with an enjoyable 99-114 win over the Bucks, whose home record was a perfect 6-0 before last night.

I think that this could be more than a simple win for many reasons:

1) we led basically for the whole night, facing a tough team in a tough arena = showed some confidence

2) many key players that so far sucked or at least played below their usual level, went back to their good old standards. I’m specifically talking about Andre Miller (in the picture), phenonemal last night, nearly posting a triple double, Kyle Korver, back after 4 games with (finally) a strong performance

3) our only center Sam Dalembert was dominant on both ends of the floor, nearing his career high of 24 and knocking down 8 out of 10 free throws. The only Bucks run (19-4) happened in the second quarter, not coincidentially when Sam was sitting on the bench. 

Experiencing new ways of losing

I don’t know which hurts more, getting buried under -30 deficits or letting a game slip out of your hands like this. Kinda like “pick your poison”, I guess.

Sixers could, and should, have won last night, instead the Golden State Warrios somehow pulled out a 100-98 OT win at the Wachovia Center. The seventh loss in our last eight games combined with Knicks’ W over Chicago puts us at the bottom of the Atlantic, with a 3-9 record (25%).

It was a weird, enjoyable, even fun game, that started very well and ended in the worst way. The turn was pretty impressive. Sixers first half was simply fantastic: in the first quarter we started knocking down 7 of our first 8 shots and at 19-6 all Sixers had already scored a basket.

I saw Dalembert assisting Reggie Evans for a lay up and Reggie Evans returning the favor few plays after that (!), I saw Sixers’ big men patroling the paint and intimidating the opponents blocking and changing their shots, I saw Andre Miller and Lou Williams leading the team and making shots like we would like to see every night, I saw Sixers scoring 14 points on fastbreaks (0 for the GSW), I saw Willie Green dishing out five assists in less than 24 minutes.

I repeat: I SAW WILLIE GREEN GIVING FIVE ASSISTS in the first half. It’s not a typo.

Our 57-45 half time lead was a result of all these facts combined.

No need4sheed

Don’t worry, the famous Pistons blog is always on, but Detroit beat the Sixers 83-78 without Wallace, sidelined because of a sore knee. Now our record is 3-8 (.273) and we lost six of our last seven games.

It was an ugly, close game, kinda like a Panathinaikos-Ulker in the Euroleague, with low scoring percentages. I didn’t see particularly tough defenses but post game comments talked about them, so maybe it’s me. “They didn’t play too well and I thought some of that was because of our defense,” said Andre Iguodala.

Before the start I honestly expected a blow out, but to our team’s credit, we always stayed in the game, and came back into it when I thought it was over.

Sixers were trailing 73-62 with 6.42 in the 4th – a pretty big margin considering the kind of game -and still fought back to make it a 1 point game on a three by Iguodala: 79-78 with 14 seconds to go. But Billups made a pair from the line and Dre missed another (tough, contested) three pointer at the end.

Detroit led basically all the night, but with margins always around 3-8 points. At the end of the first half it was 40-38 Pistons.

Red alert

Yeah, Sixers finally wore red uniforms again, but that was the only watchable thing during a horrible night, that I “enjoyed” live.

Don’t get fooled by the score, the final margin may look respectable but the loss wasn’t.

Sixers surrendered to a Arenas-less Wizards team 116-101, fifth defeat in the last six games, fourth straight on the road. Now our record is 3-7 (.300), and only the sliding Knicks are worse of us in the Atlantic.

No late miracles this time, and winning the fourth quarter (33-18) made us simply trim a deficit that reached embarassing levels. Sixers were down 37 in the third, 55-92…

Our game basically lasted 12 minutes, just the time to realize once more that our guys look very nice in red, and that Lou Williams and Jason Smith are two very good players.

Sixers were outscored 74-42 in the second and third quarter (!) reaching multiple negative goals. Among them I would like to mention:

1) allowing Andray Blatche (!) to reach his new career high (16 points) AT HALFTIME (!!!!!!!!). Dude shot 7/8 from the field in the first half, including a trey at the buzzer, his seventh of the career… he continued in the second, scoring in every possible way in the low post and in the paint, and finished with 26 points on 12/14…

Young Sixers make true fans proud

I guess bandwagon fans, negadelphians, critics, haters, “experts” were all gone by halftime, probably to get drunk and try to forget one of the worst display of Sixers “basketball” ever experienced.

Well, I’m glad they were, because they missed one of the most exciting comebacks in the franchise history, the 92-88 win vs the Blazers (that “lifts” our record at 3-6, 0.333). Gotta believe Mo Cheeks when he says: “I’ve never been involved in a game like that”. 

It’s the story of how a scrappy-but-proud team turns a 25 point deficit into a 4 point win, the story of a new franchise record set (25/33 from the field in the second half, 76% !) and another record tied (27 points in the first half…).

Hey, I admit, I never believed this could happen (who could had?), but nonetheless I stuck to my team until the end (=3.30 AM guido time). It was worth.

No more Hornets games left !!!

You see, the first italian Sixers blog is trying to stay positive even in these hard times… 

After the blow out at the Wachovia center of some days ago, Hornets kicked our asses for the second time, this time at home, for a 95-76 loss, Sixers’ fourth consecutive, that keeps us at the bottom of the Atlantic division with a 2-6 record (25%).

I know this post comes around 36 hours late but I didn’t want to break the streak of Sixers games that I watched and commented, so here are my impressions – and I hope you will forgive my delay. For a nice (& hard) recap immediately following the game read what Brian from Depressed fan explained here.

As for three points barrage that New Orleans threw on us, all I have to do is “copy & paste” what I wrote following Toronto’s game or the first game vs the same Hornets. Don’t bother finding, here is the text:

“if you think our perimeter defense sucked vs Toronto (remember? Raptors shot 9/18 from downtown) then find an adjective to describe the 10/20 from three point land that we allowed tonight. Partials for the Hornets were 5/9 in the first half and 8/12 at one time in the third…”

So now it’s Toronto going 9/18, Hornets 10/20 and Hornets again 11/20… and counting ???? We play Portland tonight, is the list going to be updated ? Is there a coach that gets paid to fix that ???

Even more remarkable,

A loss in black

Watching a game already knowing how it ended gives you the opportunity to focus on many other little things.

That’s what happened to me with Sixers’ 99-84 loss to the Dallas Mavericks that sets our record at 2-5 (.286). This morning I couldn’t resist and I logged on to NBA.com to see the score. So tonight I “enjoyed” the show.

Actually our first half was very, very good: so good that at the end we were leading by seven points at 43-50. Sam Dalembert had a heck of a game, with a couple of three points plays, an alley hoop dunk (fed by Iguodala) and a couple of 18 footers in his best game of the season. Jason Smith was strong again: two blocks at the upper level and a basket with a mid range shot of his. Hey, I could even have a good laugh seeing the monster called Popeye Jones behind Dallas’ bench.

Then the second half, and the night, came. A 16-2 Mavericks run immediately turned the seven point deficit into a seven point lead (59-52). Desagana Diop closed all the ways to Dallas’ basket, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry started going to work and Sixers could never went back into the game.

Mavericks lead was stretched to 14 points at the beginning of the fourth (84-70 with 9 minutes to go), and Sixers were done at that point, falling to a maximum of – 21 points (97-76) before trimmering it in garbage time.

Now I have some comments, after all that’s what a Sixers blog must do:

Just an awful game

And a horrible way to finish the weekend.

Sixers were blown out by the Hornets 72-93 (record: 2-4, 33%) in a game that basically lasted 24 minutes, that’s what it took New Orleans to build a 14 point lead that we could never recover (37-51 at halftime).

A 6-20 break by Byron Scott’s guys put us in a hole that was too deep for this night’s lazy, confused, effortless Sixers team. It’s actually the first time this season that we couldn’t stay in the game.

The sign that it was over came already in the third quarter, when Cheeks decided it was time for Amundson and Ollie to make their debut (!).

Louis Amundson came in with Sixers down 13, his first play was a foul on West that didn’t prevent the Hornet to score. That 3 point play helped New Orleans go on another run and the worse of our two Louises quickly went back seating (3.59 played), leaving Sixers down 23. This means the partial in those four minutes was 0-10. So much for the Amundson fans.

Kevin Ollie did his best Amundson impersonation few moments after that, when he also fouled an opponent before he scored. It was his first play of the game, and his only “1” in a stat line full of zeroes.

Other considerations: if you think our perimeter defense sucked vs Toronto (remember? Raptors shot 9/18 from downtown) then find an adjective to describe the 10/20 from three point land that we allowed tonight. Partials for the Hornets were 5/9 in the first half and 8/12 at one time in the third…

There is another GM named Billy that sucks

I just finished watching Hawks-Wizards, which means few things:

a) my other options for this sunday evening weren’t exactly exciting

b) I am a NBA junkie

c) in every NBA game, and I mean every, you can find at least a dozen things that it’s worth watching: players, plays, facts to analyze

Here are some of the things that came to my mind following this game

1) dear old Randy “juicy face” Ayers (in the picture) is still around, and he’s the assistant to Eddie Jordan. He must be a nice guy and a good assistant.

I mean, he even looks like an assistant coach, you see him and you realize it’s like he was born to do that. Actually someone named Randy Ayers HEAD coach of a NBA franchise one time, but I’m digressing…

2) Josh Smith is a great athlete but his shot selection makes Antoine Walker look like John Stockton

3) you think your favorite team (whatever it is) is disfunctional? Take a look at the Hawks roster. Today they played basically the whole fourth quarter with this line up: Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Al Horford.

This means a SG as point guard, a SF at shooting guard, two forwards (you pick who is the small and who is the power one, I honestly have no clue) and a PF as center.