When Sixers can run, they are magic

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

(UNIFORMS UPDATE: guys, I’ve been in contact with the Sixers organization about this topic over the last days. I received a first, encouraging feedback and I’m waiting for a further follow up. Stay tuned on the first italian Sixers blog, as I could have interesting news soon. In the meantime, sign on the link above !!)

I’ll keep the recap of the 101-89 win vs Orlando (26-32, .448) very short, as it comes late due to “technical” reasons.

Sixers played one of the best halves of the season, the first one, to build a 19 point lead (61-42) that Magic could never overcome.

Andre Miller had a terrific 22 points (on 9/10 from the field !!), 6 assists and 3 rebounds stat line at the break, and abused Jameer Nelson and Carlos Arroyo all night with a complete set of low post moves, mid range jumpers, drives (like in the picture).

Willie Green, a player I really love(d) to bash, had a fantastic all around performance: not only his 26 points are a season high, but he also dished assists (5), played defense and even had two blocks, one on JJ Redick, one on Jameer Nelson, that sparked nice fastbreaks on both occasions. 

Blogger MVP/ROY rankings – Round 7

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This time it was Tom from Celtics blog to collect and publish the votes from a panel of selected bloggers.

So here is the link to Round 7 of the rankings, enjoy !!!.

Unfortunately Tom didn’t allow Sixers bloggers to vote receive my votes, due to his spam filter blocking italians my mail, so this time the rankings, with my BS votes not counted, are reliable.

It’s the first time actually, since I messed up partecipated to all of the previous six rounds, and even hosted Round 4 in mid January, if you remember.

Round 8 will be up in two weeks, this time hopefully with my votes again !!!

Luck and pride give Sixers a nice W in Miami

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I think this game can have a huge importance. Not for the win in itself but for how it came.

Sixers got out of Miami with a 96-101 overtime win but to me this has to be considered more as an “avoided loss”. Still, it goes down in the left column (25-32, .439). 

In my opinion it was a combination of many and very different factors to give us this win, in the second night of a back-to-back and in the fourth game in five nights. In no particular order:

LUCK: Jason Williams misfired on a WIDE OPEN three pointer from the corner as the regulation time expired. Sixers allowed this “dangerous” shot with a BAD defensive possession, trying – only trying, that’s the point… – to double team Wade and leaving a very good shooter all alone in a position to win the game. So we didn’t cover Wade well and we didn’t rotate to guard Williams either.

This play came immediately after an AWFUL offensive possession, in which we coulnd’t create a decent shot. With the game tied at 91-91 Iguodala, put under some pressure by Heat defense, gave the ball to Dalembert in the low post (…) and Sam turned it over attempting a horrible, nonsense pass in the paint (……).

So make it four poor decisions in the two plays that could have… decided the game.

Sixers got shot in Orlando

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I wrote many times and in many places that Sixers are perhaps the only team in the NBA that lacks BOTH low post scoring AND outside shooting: basically, we can score easily only on fastbreaks and in transition, which we do very well.

Well, how about meeting a team that has BOTH (great) low post scoring AND (terrific) outside shooting? The outcome is often close to the 115-99 loss in Orlando (24-32, .428), a game that saw Sixers trailing wire-to-wire.

It started with an alley oop for Howard on the first play (an emphatic dunk for the 2-0 Orlando initial lead) and it ended with Jameer Nelson’s three that marked the last points for the home team (115-96) and Magic fifteenth triple (!!).

I think it wasn’t just a coincidence, because between these two field goals, Ron Jeremy’s Stan Van Gundy’s team used a balanced mix of inside and outside offense that was too much to handle for the Sixers.

Howard simply dominated Dalembert, the comparison between the two stat lines is merciless but it also tells exactly the truth of how the matchup went. There was a play in the first quarter when Howard, guarded by Sam in the low post, took a couple of dribbles to get into the paint and shoot a little lefthanded hook: he missed it but pushed Sam aside so strong that he could go up again easily and slam home his own miss.

More Mo ball

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If Sixers players wanted to show they were happy that Mo Cheeks got a one year extention, they did it pretty well. And if this is how they will play until the end of this season and for the whole next one, Stefanski’s move was good.

Ok, we all know it’s not gonna be always like yesterday, but still the 124-84 thrashing of the Knicks (24-31, .436) was nice to watch for many reasons.

The NBA is fun, and its schedule puts teams in weird situations. This game was the second of the back-to-back for both Philadelphia and New York: Sixers were coming from the AWFUL loss vs the Timberwolves, one of the worst teams in the League, Knicks from an amazing win at Washington, where they set a franchise record for points scored in overtime (23).

Guess what, Sixers TOYED (I’m stealing this from Walt Frazier) with the Knicks for 48 minutes and the game was over after one quarter (37-17). I have really troubles trying to describe what happened last night. Basically Sixers outplayed the Knicks in every possible way, scoring a ton of points in transition and even knocking down threes. On the other side New York was throwing a sort of “turnover party”, getting killed under the glasses and on every hustle play.

Sixers lose to T’Wolves, extend Cheeks !!!

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

Who said that the All Star break was coming in one of the worst moment for the emerging Sixers was right.

The 88-104 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves put an end to two 5 games streaks: winning for us (now at 23-31, .426), losing for them. 

But the big news came after the ugly night in Minneapolis: Sixers just extended Cheeks’ contract for one more year. Wow !!!

Few points to cover last night’s game, that Sixers lost because:

1) overall didn’t put enough effort, maybe thinking that just looking at T’Wolves record would have been enough to come out with a W

2) gave up too many second chance points, mainly off offensive rebounds, not doing their usual job under the boards

3) didn’t make free throws, as usual (Iguodala was 1/6 at one point…)

Bring the old Sixers uniforms back ! (S4G petition)

Dear Sixers marketing department,

please read these few lines by the first italian Sixers blog, to explain something that actually shouldn’t even be explained.

Thanks.

So here we go.

My point is that Sixers current uniforms and Sixers logo SUCK, they are damn ugly and that the franchise should go back to the “old” uniforms (1978-1991) and the “old” logo of its tradition.

Actually it would be more correct to call them “our” uniforms and “our” logo, because they are not old, or not just old. Anyway, you see them here left, in the picture (thank Andre Miller for modeling…). 

(Hey, on Sixers.com, you can find a brief history of the Sixers uniforms and the reasons for all the changes through the years)

Q&A QUICK SESSION

1) why do today’s Sixers uniforms suck, according to you?

Answer: they are anonymous, they have nothing to do with the long tradition of this franchise, they contain colours that were added in 1997 only for (idiotic) marketing reasons, such as gold and black (??).

2) are you aware that it’s pretty common for teams to change their uniforms through the years? Ever heard about “marketing”, “selling a product”, “trends”, “fashion” etc? Are you perhaps stuck in the 80’s?

Answer: Yes, of course, and it’s not that I would like to go back to the “Short Shorts Era” or something. I am not 60 y/o, I have some marketing knowledge and I can live with some changes or “updates” of our uniforms. Also I remember that the influence of the hip hop culture in the 90’s was huge and that was one of the reasons that led to our changes and the creation of the black unis. But… as far as I know now it’s 2008 and we should correct the mess that was made.

Sixers win fifth wire-to-wire, see playoffs

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”. 

Miller the real leader of surging Sixers

It looks like everybody finally realized Andre Miller (in the picture) is a very good player.

It took a “Eastern Conference player of the week award” and a series of excellent games, capped by last night’s 84-76 home win vs Dallas (22-30, .423, still 1/2 game away from the 8th seed) where Andre was by far the best Sixer on the court.

Actually I knew it even before. Now I’m not here to brag or anything, I missed so many predictions and evaluations it’s not even funny (wanna know some? I picked the Nets to easily win the Atlantic Division, ahead of Boston, and Miami to dominate in the Southwest…) but about Andre Miller I’ve always had a clear idea: he’s a keeper.

Let’s cut the recap of the Dallas game short, because this post comes late (I couldn’t watch the game live and just finished watching it taped).

Mavericks were on the second night of a back-to-back, coming after a bad 82-101 loss in New Jersey where they allowed the Nets a 0-21 run… they were without Devin Harris, Eric Dampier and Jerry Stackhouse, Dirk Nowitzki missed some minutes in the first quarter and Josh Howard, hit by Reggie Evans, had to leave in the fourth.

Blogger MVP/ROY rankings – Round 6

This time it was Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm to collect the votes from a panel of selected bloggers, included myself, and published them, in a stylish way !!

So here you go with Round Six.

As you will see, rising Thaddeus Young (in the picture) got some love in the “Rookie of the year” ranking and this is no wonder, given his recent improvements and the fact that with him playing a starting role, Sixers are emerging in the East.

Just for the record my votes this time were as follows:

MVP

10 – Paul (33-15, #3 in the West with that roster and that bench, you can’t tell me that he’s NOT the perfect MOST VALUABLE PLAYER in the true sense of the word)
9 – Howard (stat wise he would be #1 IMO but his team is third in the East and this should affect his ranking a bit.. I assume the fact he ‘s leading my fantasy team to an excellent season doesn’t qualify)
8 – LeBron James (you can call me crazy but after all these years in the league I came to the conclusion that he’s pretty good)
7 – Garnett 
6 -Nash (Suns are #1 in the West while I am tryping this, and this 34 y/o guy is leading them… can’t wait to watch him with O’ Neal, will Shaq try to wear Steve’s shorts?)
5 – Bryant
4 – Billups
3 – Nowitzki
2 – Deron Williams (turning back to the level of the beginning of the season. Now with Korver they have one more weapon, and it shows)
1 -Pierce (excellent all year and taking the load now, in KG’s absence, for NBA top team. Damn, I hate them)