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… Sixers defense made him look like a mix between Hakeem Olajuwon and James Worthy

2) allowing Washington to connect at will from downtown and the perimeter… after missing the first four, Wizards knocked down 6 of the next 7 three pointers, + numerous “long two” and many other open jumpers… they shot 71% in the second and at one time they were 9/10. 

In the second, Deshawn Stevenson made a trey, on the next possession Iguodala airballed one, and Antonio Daniels made another (from 51-42 to 57-42 with 1.07 to go): it was the picture of our night.

Sixers defense was really atrocious, on the perimeter and in the paint: Cheeks contributed to this ugly show, leaving Dalembert on the bench while Washington big men (?) were destroying us, and leaving Iguodala on the floor while Andre was destroying our offense: he was 1/9 in the first half, with all missed shots coming in the same way = pull up 18 footers that clanged the rim…

The third quarter was particularly hurting to see, with Washington schooling the Sixers and displaying a complete package of treys, dunks, layups, offensive rebounds… every easy, uncontested basket you can think of, to cut it short. 

During garbage time Lou Williams showed some impressive moves (but he was good also before, when the game was still… a game) and Thaddeus Young was very good too, reaching double figure for the first time in his NBA career. Young was 7/10 from the field, + 5 rebounds. Again, garbage time are the key words to keep in mind….

More.

It’s official: I HATE Willie Green. I HATE his game and want him traded as soon as possible. Even in a sh…ty game like this, and playing “only” 24 minutes, he still managed to be the #1 Sixer for shots attempted (13). Needless to say, he scored only three times.

He’s horrible, HORRIBLE, h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. His basketball IQ is just as high as a wild boar, he has an impressive ability to always do the wrong thing at the wrong time. He must be a good guy, but I don’t want him on my team. Trade him, waive him, buy him out. Just outta here (I hope the picture above will be the last time we see him…as you notice, I decided not to show his face).

Rodney Carney irked me too. Again, don’t look only at the boxscore. He was completely useless for the whole time, and put some numbers only with the game buried. What purpose he serves for, it’s beyond me. By the way, he often had to guard Wizard’s PF… gives you an idea of how organized we were.

Just an idea: put Carney in the starting line up for ten games, and see what happens. With Green we already know how it looks like.  It’s difficult to think it could be worse, honestly. So let’s try.

WIZARDS NOTES: we looked like Washington last night. I mean, the Generals. And the Wizards were the Harlem Globetrotters. It’s their fifth win in a row but I am not that impressed, to be honest with you. They seem to be kind of soft. And they will play the Sixers only twice now.

* According to David Aldridge, Sixers are in need of big move. I don’t know why, but when I hear this kind of “suggestions”, I am scared to death…

* While Phillyburbs informs us that Iguodala blasts the team after the loss. I don’t like this. From my supposed-to-be franchise player I would like to hear something like: “Hey, I played like crap tonight, and I am the #1 to blame for the loss (…) I am embarassed and I want to say I, and we as a team, feel sorry for our fans…. but I think we can improve doing this-and-that…”

He didn’t speak a word about himself, like he should had, and didn’t make any self-criticism. Really disappointing. Man up, Dre.