Sixers 18 – Opponents 108

That -90 (!!) is  the updated stat of the points scored on three pointers in the last four games, after the traditional butt whipping in Utah, this time 112-95, (12-18, .400).

If you want more details, Sixers are 6/40 from behind the arc in those games (that counts for 15% !!), while allowed opponents to shoot 36/79, which means a whopping 45.5%.

Indiana shot 6/16 vs us, Boston 7/14, Denver 15/31, Utah 8/18, while we went respectively 0/8, 0/11, 5/12 and finally 1/9 last night, when the only three pointer was knocked down by Young in garbage time, just two minutes before the end.

One would say: “Nothing new here, sorry”. Partially true. While we all know that we are an awful three point shooting team (still dead last in NBA with our 29.5%), the trend on the defensive end is becoming worrying.

Actually we are in the mid of the pack as for three point % allowed (16th with 35.5%), but at this rate we will fastly climb the rankings: currently New Jersey leads this not-too-glorious list with 41.5%, followed by Sacramento (41.3%) and Golden State (40.1%). We have to stop the bleeding asap.

So, getting back to the Utah game, did we lose it because of three pointers? Well, not because of that, or not only because of that. We lost because Utah is a better team, even without forwards Millsap and Boozer (Okur was back, and hurt us a lot with his inside/outside offensive skills).

They play hard, they are organized, balanced (five players in double figure + two very close), focused, tough. And they can shoot the ball, of course – unlike us.

That’s how they completed the second consecutive sweep of the Sixers in the last two seasons (I thank God that we play the Jazz only twice a year).

Actually I was surprised to see it took them that long: they were up only by eight at the half (51-43), and took care of business only in the third, when Deron Williams caught fire, scoring at will, also  from behind the arc (two consecutive threes), and dishing the ball to his team mates for easy baskets.

Not only that: Jazz came before us on every loose ball and completely outhustled us, showing their unselfish basketball, a pleasure to see for every real fan of the game.

Don’t get fooled by the boxscore: a lot of Sixers filled their stat lines in garbage time (Miller and also Iguodala), and I have a hard time trying to name one player that was actually good all night.

Lou Williams and Marreese Speights were ok in the firt half, and Evans did a good job under the boards: too bad he has the IQ of a mosquito (another 2-3 idiotic offensive fouls, when someone else was either in a position to score or make a good play).

Thad Young had some exciting dunks (like in the pic) and flashes, but little impact honestly.

At the end of the second quarter Sam Dalembert had a sequence of turnaround lullaby-spin (missed) shot after an offensive rebound, instead of simply dunking the ball, + a pass to… Okur after a defensive rebound (= layup by Williams). Classic.

Bring on my beloved Clippers on 31st, I hope my buddy Steve from Clips Nation will let us take a win to put this ugly end of 2008 behind us.

SIXERS4GUIDOS’ BONUS STATS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS – How about our 3/8 from the line at the half ?? – Evans got a tech for slapping Korver’s butt after Kyle was called for a loose ball foul on Reggie. I guess the refs didn’t know the two of them played together. I’m not defending Evans, but that was a stupid, useless call – As I said in the preview post, Korver looks much improved as a passer, and his five dimes confirmed it – Jazz started the game shooting 2/12, and missed an unusual amount of layups and putbacks in the first half – I like CJ Miles a lot, nice glue player.