M2M (Memo to Mo): you have a bench…

…so please use it !!!

I’ll keep this post short, I went to lovely Venice this weekend, to celebrate the 3rd wedding anniversary with my lovely wife.

You know, the kind of occasion when you really CAN’T say “Get into the kitchen and cook me some pasta, Sixers’ game will start soon”… once a year, exactly 🙂

That’s why I watched the (replayed) games only between Sunday night and today, and why these recaps come late. Still, I want to keep track of every game, so I’ll leave some random thoughts anyway.

The 116-87 thrashing of the NY Knicks (1-1, .500) isn’t worth a long analysis.

When Willie Green knocks down his first SEVEN shots, including a long three to beat the 3rd quarter buzzer, and when one of the highlights of the night is an alley oop pass from Reggie Evans (!!!) to Marreese Speights, you really have few things to add. It was nice to see Elton Brand slowly getting back in good shape, and Andre Miller absolutely abusing all Knicks guards, playing a fantastic all around game and looking more like our MVP of last year.

The “Guido note of the night” was Guido Danilo Gallinari scoring his first points in the League and getting a taste of the NBA. The fellow guido got in in garbage time and first turned the ball over with a lazy pass that let Iguodala get the steal (= easy layup by Andre Miller), then got schooled by the same Marreese Speights, who burned him with a step back jumper from the corner. 

The 88-95 loss at Atlanta  (1-2, .333) was more interesting.

Had I watched the game live, I would have repeatedly crashed my head against the wall, because letting a 23 point lead evaporate is really disappointing. You can pick that, or the 13 point fourth quarter, or the lucky stunning long three by Joe Johnson that basically decided the game down the stretch. All facts that could really piss off every average fan.

Even more, if the same fan remembers that last year happened EXACTLY THE SAME, in the same arena (Brian/Depressed Fan beat me to the “deja vu” comment), when we wasted a 20 point lead with Josh Smith carrying the Hawks.

This time I loved to see Young playing that well, but the thing that actually left me wondering was the rotation. Let’s see.

Second night of a back-to-back. On the road. Third game of the season. A deep bench.

This means a lot of players just waiting for their opportunity to prove their value. Perfect situation to give them a chance, right?

Not really. The starter that played less was Dalembert, with 34 minutes. Two starters logged up 40+ minutes (!), Brand played 45 (!!??). On the other side, the sub that played most, Reggie Evans (!?), got less than 17 minutes of action. Lou Williams stayed on the court only 12.46 minutes, while Rush, Speights and Ratliff were all DNP-CDs…

This makes ZERO sense in my opinion. Barely a wonder that the team scored only 13 points in the last quarter, or that allowed a 22-8 final run. They simply ran out of gas.

If last year Cheeks had few options on his bench, loaded with the Ollies, the Giriceks, the Amundsons, and the Randolphs of this world, this year the situation is completely different. We have a lot of players ready to contribute: rookies and young studs, solid former starters, experienced veterans. Many of then can cover different positions, as I pointed out many times, giving us flexibility and creating favorable match ups.

SO LET’S PUT THEIR ASSES ON THE FLOOR !!!

It’s ok, I can understand this lineup is new for its 3/5 (actually only one player is new, Brand, but two changed spots, Iguodala and Young) and Mo wants to create some chemistry pretty quickly, getting the startes used to play togehther… but for God’s sake, use all the weapons you were given.

Also I want Williams on the floor in the fourth. The guy is clutch, can create his own shot and has three point range: against  teams with no real center, like the Hawks, why not trying a line up with Lou at SG, Iguodala at SF, Young at PF and Brand at C, with Sammy on the bench?

And why in the hell we are burying Rush under the bench, since he’s perhaps our best perimeter shooter ??? Let’s open those defenses and create space for some low post plays for Brand !

The good thing about he NBA is that you don’t have much time to look behind, the schedule gives you a chance to fix things immediately. The 0-3 Sacramento Kings coming to town APPARENTLY are the best chance to prove this team can bounce back.

But, speaking of deja vus, last year Kings came to Philly being 0-9 on the road, and this is what happened… We have to be careful and play hard starting from tip off.