Trip West starts well

Yeah, I know the Kings were Bibby/Martin/Artest-less.

Still coming out of the Arco Arena with a 92-80 win (13-16, .448) is a nice accomplishment for our beloved Sixers on their first matchup of a 6 games trip West. And it was definitely worth staying up until 6.30 AM to watch them live again.

I am out for vacation and I don’t have a fast connection so I’ll keep this pretty short.

It was an ugly game with few flashes: in the first Udrih shot 6/6 on a variety of layups, threes and drives: Sixers were not protecting ther paint but stayed closed mainly thanks to Dalembert who had 10 on 4/5: Iguodala with a shot at the buzzer gave us our first lead at 25-26.

In the second our bench made the difference for us: Korver, Smith and Young all started with 2/2 from the field and played finally some tough defense, with many steals, deflections, forced turonovers and hustle plays. It paid off immediately and we could build a 10 point lead (31-41) that later become larger (36-47). But Brad Miller scored 5 points in a 10-3 Kings run that made Sacramento close the half down four, 46-50.

When Calvin Booth outplays Shaq…

…and we are talking basketball, not ugliness, it means it’s a good sign for the Sixers.

Philadelphia whipped Miami basically for two quarters, saw an early 21 point lead (47-26, 3.57 left in the second) reduced to 3 in the fourth (84-81, 5.10 to go) and finished on a strong 12-4 run to win 96-85 (12-16, .429) in front of the second largest crowd of the year at the Wachovia Center, 18.430 fans (was it the Shaq effect or the “New Sixers” effect? We’ll see…).

One thing to be clear: I didn’t watch the game. At least not yet. It was broadcasted on NBA TV and I have League Pass, that didn’t include it: the game was nowhere to be found on the net. But I followed it live on Yahoo.com (by the way, they refresh the boxscore quicker than on Nba.com and the play-by-play update is very precise), that at least gives you an idea of how it went.

So I’m writing this recap basing on that + having seen the highlights: that’s why I will stick only to undisputed facts right now, waiting for an eventual update of the post with comments later. I really hope I will not break my streak of 25 consecutive Sixers games watched.

Facts are: Iguodala and Miller dominated the first quarter (25-17) in which Sixers shot 12/19, Heat 8/26. Iguodala scored 10 on 5/7 from the field, Miller 12 on 6/8: our point guard wouldn’t score anymore, choosing to set up his team mates for the rest of the game. He finished two rebounds short of a triple double in another excellent performance.

Christmas comes at the buzzer

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.

Kobe apparently well “supported”

At least judging from last night’s 106-101 Lakers win at the Wachovia center (10-16, .385).

Sixers lost the first game to the Lakers since 2000, breaking a 7 home games winning streak, and despite keeping Bryant to a very quiet 19 points with 30% FG, including 0/5 in the fourth.

It was the so called “supporting cast” (Bynum, Odom, Fisher) to carry Los Angeles to its 16 win of the year in the second night of a back-to-back. That made me optimistic about the end of this game: I was thinking that Lakers could be a little bit tired, also because their loss at Cleveland of the day before was a tough, close one.

I was thinking that the good recent aforementioned tradition, the atmopshere of a finally crowded arena, the fact that usually Iguodala steps up against Kobe could give us a win.

I was even mopre optimistic when I found out that we were wearing retro uniforms again (yeah !! in the picture, Andre Miller, my MVP) and that Doctor J was attending the game: he even gave a speech before the tip off, stating that “Twenty five years is much too long, let’s get it done !” after receiving an ovation from the fans. Well, it was all useless. Anyway. Here is my recap.

Obie has sweet revenge

Apparently Jim O’Brien wasn’t looking back to his Sixers’ tenure and had mixed feelings about his former team. For sure last night, after the 102-85 win against the Sixers (10-15, .400) he went to bed with a giant smile.

Pacers beat the Sixers and he outcoached his colleague, Mo Cheeks, proving once more he’s a heck of a coach. Even without his starting PG, Jamaal Tinsley, out because of an injury.

What is a Sixers blog supposed to do? Give you some informations that you can’t get elsewhere and provide some original contents, right? Because you can read by yourself that we shot a season low 34% from the field, that our bench was outscored 35-16 shooting a combined 4/22, that Marquis Daniels was a big spark off the bench etc etc

So here is S4G’s perspective.

Blogger MVP/ROY ranking

The first italian Sixers blog had the pleasure to partecipate to a blogger poll that wants to elect the Most Valuable Player and the Rookie Of the Year so far this season.

I have to say this is also a honour beacuse Sixers4guidos is the only non-american blog of the panel, that includes many of the finest NBA blogs you can find on the net.

The original idea for this poll came from Alex of Brewhoop (more power to the Milwaukee Bucks blog and its guys) that also hosted the first installment of the rankings, two weeks ago.

Ouh, yes, I forgot to tell: hosts rotate and the rankings are unveiled every two weeks. A round will be up also on S4G next year, so stay tuned.

This time it was Steve of Clips Nation playing host, and the second installment of our rankings is this.

Interesting how the final rankings differ a lot from my votes (10 is the top):

Sixers steal one in Cleveland

Also litterally.

Dear old Phil Jackson would have said that beside this win should be put “an asterisk”.

Yes, because a questionable call helped us reach a 92-86 victory at the Quicken Loans Arena. Andre Iguodala’s drive on a fastbreak was credited with a field goal due to a (dubious) goaltending with 1 minute left: the ensueing three point play put the Sixers ahead 89-84 and Cleveland could never recover.

I honestly had the impression that Iguodala (in the picture) was fouled, but that the block by Gooden was clean: the ball was swatted before it hit the backboard. 

Don’t get me wrong, Sixers’ win is deserved. And perhaps had they called only the foul, Iggy could have basically closed the game by hitting both of his free throws. But stil…

To be fair, no one of the Cavs argued the call that much, and in the post game comments I couldn’t find any controversial reference to that play: even Cavs’ beat writers don’t complain. This means I am probably making a big deal out of a BS, but I want to call it like I saw it

Kings pound Sixers down low

A little step back.

I know you, average Sixers fan: you were pumped up for the four games winning streak, you saw a Kings team coming to town with a 0-9 record on the road and you were expecting a blow out: ADMIT IT !

Now after the 99-109 loss  (9-14, .391) you feel like Sixers are a D-League team, Iguodala is overrated, Dalembert is a bum, Korver sucks etc… you perhaps might even think that it was a bad mistake to let dear old John “Summer league” Salmons go, because you saw him scoring 19 points on his former team. 

Yeah, that’s because you are a typical philadelphian ass, with a perennial negative attitude and a tendence to cry, regret and complain. To sum it up, you are a bitching fan that simply follows his flows instead of fairly judging your team and your players. 

Hear a guido, the reality is just this: the 2007/2008 Sixers team was a 31 W team before the streak, and it still is. It’s not that we became a 8th seed team because of the winning streak (I read this somewhere…), it’s not that we are that terrible now. Sixers are what they were a week ago, we simply faced a team that exposed our weaknesses in the worst way, and we deservely lost to them, period.

T’wolves rejected !!!!!!

Nine blocks in a game are an amazing line.If one of these makes you win the game, that is even nicer.

If the nine blocks are paired with 18 points and 11 boards, it becomes something impressive: one block short of a triple double, exactly.

Add a perfect 8/8 from the line and you realize that Dalembert’s game vs Timberwolves was really special. We have to thank him for the 98-94 win (Sixers’ fourth straight, 9-13, .409).

“I’m not going to kiss Sam’s butt, and I let him know when he is good and not good,” said forward Reggie Evans. “I feel he can be an all-star in the East if he plays like he did tonight.”

Considering the lack of big men, he might be right. Especially on the “kissing the butt” part, I am not going to do it either (LOL).

The game was closer than everyboy thought: everybody was expecting a blow out, after all Minnesota was 3-16 and in the second night of a back-to-back. But the T’Wolves showed some pride and fought until the end, with a great contribution from their bench, that had 44 points vs Sixers’ 21.

I think this gives more value to our win rather than being a bad sign (like we are not capable to close games etc). I am very happy with the win then. Winning games down the stretch gives you perhaps even more confidence.

Stefanski effect or what?

Now this is funny.

Last time we played the Rockets at the Wachovia Center it ended like this, a 50 point trashing that meant the worst home loss ever for our beloved franchise.

We tasted a sweet revenge last night, trouncing the Rockets more than the final 100-88 score would tell. It might be the Stefanski effect (3-1 our record with him, 8-13 overall, .381) but for sure Sixers look like a different team after the third consecutive win. And Minnesota comes next.

To me, the big news is actually that we wore the retro uniforms again… the throwback love is spreading and even the Rockets commentators on League Pass said they like them more that the current ones !!! A specific post about Sixers uniforms will be up on S4G soon, so all of you jersey freaks stay tuned… in the picture, you can take a nice, clean look at them ! How can you not love them ?????

Some flashes will be enough to recap the game: