Sixers rip Bucks for record setting win

Simple as that.

It doesn’t happen often to see this kind of trashing so even a tanker like me has to enjoy the 112-69 win over the Bucks (18-28, .391) that will go down as “the largest win in 12 seasons at the Wachovia center”.

I was almost embarassed to see Milwaukee being buried like that and with our margin getting wider and wider I was thinking about my friends Alex & Frank from Brew Hoop, the fine Bucks blog. Hey, no bragging at all here, we’ve been so many times on the other side, the losing one, that we know how it feels and don’t want to can’t make fun of our opponents.

Bucks were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and starters Micheal Redd and Desmond Mason didn’t even suit up because of injuries, bust this doesn’t take anything out of the Sixers performance, and shouldn’t be used as an excuse for them either. We simply outplayed them in every possible way, from start to finish.

No need to go with the quarter by quarter analysis this time (to sum it up: we gained the lead at 8-6 in the first and progressively extended it to 51-32 at the break, 77-47 in the third and 99-52 in the fourth: that was +47 folks…),  let’s focus on few interesting flashes.

1) Jason Smith started for the first time in his career. It was the second consecutive debut for one of our rookies, and always at PF, at Reggie Evans’ expenses: remember how Thaddeus Young was put in in Charlotte, to match the quick Gerald Wallace. Smith facing the other seven footer, Yi, made sense as well (wow !!), I liked Cheeks’ decision. Smith played a bad game overall – got blocked twice and committed five fouls – and even twisted his ankle in the fourth, but still the move is anyway a good sign and a step in the right direction. 

2) maybe stimulated by the aforementioned move, Reggie Evans had a heck of the game off the bench, matching a season high with 13 points (+ 9 rebounds) in only 17 minutes of play. He could have scored a lot more had me made better than 3/13 from the foul line. No, it’s not a typo, read it three-of-thirteen. That has to be a record as well, 10 missed free throws in 17 minutes…

3) Milwaukee shot 13 free thows AS A TEAM, IN 48 MINUTES (at least they made 11, though…), getting to the line for the first time with 2 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Add that to the 68 points in the paint allowed (vs 30 scored) and you get the picture of Bucks’ effortless, passive, uninterested game.

4) Sixers’ offense was balanced and controlled, with seven players in double figure (three at the half: Iguodala 12, Dalembert and Miller 10) and only 8 turnovers, that were 2 at the break. That was one of the nicest thing to see.

5) the crowd (? 12.507 announced, but I guess the number included players, referees and table officials…) enjoyed a lot of spectacular plays during the game, including some alley oop dunks by Sam & Iguodala and a couple of amazing finishes by Carney in the fourth, like the one in the picture (yes, he played well !!).

6) Thaddeus Young played another very good game at both ends and even Bucks’ commentators were impressed by his all around skills. With a stunning +34 he has the best plus/minus ratio of the night, I usually don’t pay too much attention to this stat because it can often be misleading, but this time it’s good and “real”.

Now looking at the “scaring” things, Sixers are only 1 1/2 games away from the eight seed, where the New Jersey Nets (19-26, .422) would currently make the playoffs. Combine the trade talks reguarding Jason Kidd with Sixers’ “favourable” schedule, with 6 of the upcoming 7 games at home before the All Star Game – including four vs teams that are under .500: Atlanta, Miami, LA Clippers and Memphis – and you see what I mean… hard times coming for us tankers (LOL).

SIXERS4GUIDOS BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS

Milwaukee had 8 turnovers in the second quarter, with at least 4 traveling violations – Reggie Evans posterized Charlie Villanueva in the first quarter. I repeat it: Reggie freaking Evans drove and dunked over Charlie Villanueva. Not something to be proud of, Charlie… – Gordan Giricek had two turnovers in like less than a minute in garbage time but knocked down his first shot, a three from the right corner, and eventually did well – Brew Hoop wrote a perfect breakdown of what happened on Bucks’ side  – Carney’s 12 points are a season high… good or sad ????

Sixers meet Orlando on Friday and Evans will likely be back in the starting line up because of Smith’s injury. Check Third quarter collapse for some good Magic coverage.