Sixers finally get a defensive stop, and it’s decisive.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Boy, can we blow leads…

I seriously risked a heart attack looking at how Sixers progressively let a 22-point lead (27-49 in the 2nd) got cut to two (79-81 in the 4th, that became 97-99, then 99-101) without playing a lick of defence and allowing Knicks a barrage of three pointers and countless layups in the second half.

But when it came down to the decisive play, Thaddeus Young stepped up and blocked Duhon’s layup, securing Sixers’ 103-108 W over New York (29-28, .509), a game that completed the second season sweep in the last two games (Wizards 3-0, Knicks 4-0).

Few plays before that timely (in any sense) block, Young had airballed a wide open 17-footer with Sixers up four (99-103). But Harrington couldn’t knock down an open three in the following possession: that shot from the corner could have made it a one point game with exactly one minute to play.

So instead of the possible 102-103, two free throws by Andre Miller put us up by six with 41 seconds to play (99-105), setting the stage for Thad’s final swatting of Duhon. That’s how we made a pretty unbelievable comeback by the Knicks good only for some deserved praise, and not for a W.

Sixers sweep Wizards. Wow.

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY – S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Maybe I should say “yawn”, not “wow”.

After 48 minutes of poor basketball, several embarassing turnovers, a ton of layups missed and a couple of highlights, Sixers escaped from Washington with a 98-106 W, one of those victories you really can’t be proud of (28-28, .500).

The (only ?) good thing is that we avoided the fifth consecutive loss, and that we snapped that losing streak. Another loss, particularly against THIS Wizards team, would have been a memorable disaster.

But I saw only slight improvements from the last games, and a team that is still struggling.

I won’t even bother recapping the whole stuff, Sixers won in the third quarter when they played some decent basketball, and went on a 12-0 run sparked by Iguodala, who played an excellent overall game, as his stat line should suggest (but yes, he had also seven turns).

We extended the lead to 18 early in the fourth (67-85) and pretty much controlled the game until the end, despite some sloppy play and more really stupid mistakes that allowed Wizards to come within eight with 1.20 to play (89-97).

Let’s keep the few good things.

1) Iguodala was really good, scored when needed, dished out many good dimes, played some solid defense. He gave what you should expect from your best player, basically.

2) Miller had a nice game as well, despite shooting 3/6 from the line down the stretch, again. I noticed he was EXTREMELY NERVOUS at the end in a couple of occasions, shaking his head when some of his team mates was either committing a turnover or a dumb foul. He wasn’t happy with himself either, and every missed foul shot was followed by an expression of disappointment.

In the third, he went up (!) for a block (!!) on Mike James, sparking a fastbreak finished by Young’s two handed dunk, off a pass by Green (!!!). Read the whole sentence again, until you 100% believe it.

We have to re-start from “that” game

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Your 27-28 (.491) Sixers, coming off four consecutive losses, meet the Wizards in few hours and this gives me the chance to do some things that in those really busy days at work – with 10+ hours in office every day… – I couldn’t do.

First off, put a link to Bullets forever, one of the best NBA team blogs overall, maybe the best one (to me, up there with Golden State of Mind, The Dream Shake and few others). Get there the Bullets Wizards fans’ perspective.

Second, make a few considerations a couple of days after “that” shot and “that” game. The 98-96 L at New Jersey, I mean.

EXCUSES

Yeah, the shot was released on time, I saw that, we all saw that. But yeah, the clock started few tenths later (3, 4, 5..? who cares). There is no way in hell you can take an inbound pass, dribble, try to get a shot off, lose the ball, re-catch it and launch it towards the basket in 1.8 seconds.  Hey, it took me 3 minutes just to type this (LOL).

Again, a heck of a shot, maybe the shot of the year, and for some thousands reasons (NBA as “a show”, PR purposes, some homerism etc) it was 100% sure they would have considered it good anyway, but come on….

STILL…

Sixers should have never come to that point, and should have closed the game WAY earlier. We should blame only ourselves for creating the conditions to be eventually f’d.

Which takes us to the upcoming game and the…

THINGS WE NEED TO ADDRESS:

1) free throw shooting.

F’n unbelievable. I lost the count of the close games we… lost because of poor free throw shooting. Vs Nets it was a two point loss with FOURTEEN misses from the line. How many single digit losses with 10+ missed FTs we saw this year ????

Sixers, where shit at the buzzer ALWAYS happens

So now you can add this

…to this

..to this

..to this (technically not a buzzer beater, but anyway…)

How does that feel?

I hope you “enjoyed” those, more to come tonight, after I’ll watch the complete game.

I always knew that

but perhaps not to this point.

Sixers lose to Denver, keep (injured) Miller

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS JERSEY !! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Here is when the six-hour time zone difference vs the US f’s you up.

So that’s what happened between last night and tonight, CGT (central guido time).

I stayed up a little bit longer and started following the Denver game on Yahoo.com, until the end of the first quarter.

At around 1.40 AM I finally went to bed (you know, have to work the day after etc etc), with Sixers up twelve, 25-13. Not too bad of a start vs the #2 team in the Western Conference, I thought.

This morning at work I couldn’t resist and I immediately checked the boxscore. Mmmhhh, we lost 89-101, damn it (27-26, .509). Wait, not only that, but Miller got injured !! Double damage. Jeez.

So I worked my butt off for the usual 10 hrs in office, then finally went home and, after spaghetti and meatballs dinner, started watching the replaying game on League Pass, of course already knowing the end….

But in the meantime the trade deadline was approaching (10 PM CGT), so I had to watch the Nuggets slowly killing us, but always keeping another window of my laptop open to see whether Stefanski would deal Miller or not.

At the end of the day the two bad news (loss + injury to Miller) were countered by a good one: our PG is not going anywhere, injured or not.

I’ll keep the Miller part short: if you follow this blog you know I was, am and will be a fan of Andre Miller, so I’m happy we kept him.

Coincidentially, Sixers showed how bad they can be without Miller in the last two games. Actually in the first one he was simply in an off night, while yesterday he had to leave, with his team mates creating a total mess on the court for the rest of the game…

I hope WITH Miller we won’t have to enjoy such horrendous bball in the future.

While watching the Chauncey & Melo show, I tried to send him a question to John Hollinger in his chat on ESPN.com asking him about Miller, but another guy anticipated me. Anyway, here is Hollinger’s opinion about Stefanski’s decision:

Chris Laurel Springs: Were you suprised the Sixers did not trade Andre Miller? 

John Hollinger: For what? There wasn’t much available in terms of point guards and shooting specialists, so you’re better off just re-signing him at a lower number in a depressed market this summer.

Hey John, how about I hire you for Sixers4guidos ? Does that opportunity sound intriguing? Send me your resume, LOL.

So back to the Nuggets game. I’m glad we play them only twice a year.

A game of shortcomings in Indy

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S SIXERS #2 JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

I saw that pretty much coming (just check the title of the post below this one…).

So I really can’t say the 100-89 loss to Indiana, breaking a four game winning streak (27-25, .519), shocked me.

Still, it pissed me off enough.

First, we lost to a team that was 21-33 before the game.

Second, Pacers are bad enough with their full roster but last night they were without Dunleavy Jr. and Foster.

Third, we should, and could have won, despite playing bad basketball for large part of the night, horrible bball for extended stretches, and trailing for 48 minutes. 

Let’s make a short recap and then try to analyze good things and bad ones.

In the FIRST QUARTER we started sluggish, to say the least, immediately digging double digit deficits: 12-2, 17-4. We didn’t get back on defense quickly, we missed a ton of easy shots, Hibbert (…) and Nesterovic (……..) abused Dalembert. The 28-18 final score was even a bargain. 

But the worst part was yet to come, because in the SECOND QUARTER we forgot to guard Granger (9 pts) and Murphy (7 consecutive pts), letting Pacers building a 20 point lead (49-29, 4 minutes to play). A nice 14-1 run put us back into the game, and at the break Indiana’s lead was cut to eleven (55-44).

I think we lost the game in the THIRD QUARTER, particularly when we had the chance to make it first a three point game, then a five point game, but with the score at 66-60 and 68-60, Thaddeus Young and Willie Green misfired on w-i-d-e o-p-e-n threes on two consecutive (key) offensive possessions, leaving the door open to Daniels to push Pacers’ lead to double digit again (70-60).

Untimely (All Star) break for Sixers

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S SIXERS #2 JERSEY ! S4G PETITION – HERE)

Ouh, and happy Saint Valentine’s day everybody, it’s been a f’n busy week at work, I can finally relax now and take care of my blog.

So Sixers got to the All Star break with a 27-24 record (.529) after the 91-87 W over Memphis of three days ago – the (late) recap follows below, at the end of this post.

As many noted, included myself, the break…breaks a nice streak of games: four straight Ws, 5-2 in the seven game-homestand, 14-4 after the loss at San Antonio (Jan 3), 18-10 since Di Leo took over as head coach (Dec 13, W over Wizards).

Sixers clearly found their rythm, a nice balance offesnively and defensively, good chemistry, so I think this interruption comes at the wrong time.

And I’ll pass on the fact that the All Star Game is still #2 in my “Things I could not care less about” list, just after maths.

Still the All Star weekend it’s the chance to take a look at what happened in the last weeks and, mostly, try to make an analysis of the future.

First off, while trade rumors are becoming crazy (yesterday an actual deal was concluded, Raptors sent Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon to Miami, in exchange for Shawn Marion), I’ll state one more time what I think Sixers should do before trade deadline: NOTHING.

While it’s crystal-clear what our biggest need is (get a SHOOTER to upgrade the SG position), it’s apparently less clear what we would miss if our biggest asset (Andre Miller) is traded.

Welcome to the high-flying Sixers show

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Too bad the All star-break is coming soon.

Because these Sixers are rolling, and the nightly show is just as exciting as it could be.

The 108-91 W over Phoenix, third straight (26-24, .520) is just another example. 

A 48 minute-rain of dunks, alley oops, high flying blocks, spectacular passes, hustle plays. To cut it short, a rout, that Suns could only witness, without offering much resistence.

I was really amazed by the show, one of those games that you would like to extend for a couple of extra quarters.

Yes, the Suns were in the second night of a back-to-back (tough W @ Detroit the night before). Yes, Nash and Shaq have lost a step, maybe two. Yes, it’s not the same squad that came close to the NBA Finals a couple of years ago.

Still, a 28-21 team came to town, and it was absolutely destroyed by the YOUNG Sixers, outplayed in every aspect of the game, basically from the tip off. 

Few flashes , that could help us understanding what happened

Our bench players hotter than Heat

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The 2008/2009 Miami Heat have to be the most boring team in NBA history.

Really. This must be said, but it shouldn’t take anything from our 94-84 W of last night (25-24, .510).

Our bench gave us a great lift, especially in the fourth quarter, sparking the decisive break that put us in condition to secure the win.

I’ll keep the story of the first three quarters VERY short, because it was really an ugly display of basketball on both sides.

Miami is a team that does NOT play in transition, does NOT have a passing game, does NOT have a great circulation and does NOT have low post scorers. So how did they stay in the game, and even build a 8 point lead in the third (57-65) ??

Some good zone defense, taking care of the ball, getting easy baskets off pick-and-roll situations. Enough.

Sixers had a nice start, with Young closing the first period with 8 points on 4/5, but then a bad second quarter offensively: poor circulation, forced shots, unforced turnovers. And we allowed a lot of layups, again, due to slow rotations on the pick and roll.  

Sam, is that you ????

(RETIRE MOSES MALONE’S #2 SIXERS’ JERSEY ! – S4G PETITION – SIGN HERE)

Few hours after Sixers learned that Elton Brand would have been out for the season with the shoulder injury, the often criticized (also here, of course) Sam Dalembert picked up the slack and pulled out a monster performance in Sixers’ 99-94 W over Indiana (24-24, .500).

Sixers desperately needed this game, coming off a memorable fourth quarter (offensive) collapse versus the Nets and the hearbreaking last second loss against the reigning champs, Boston f’n Celtics.

They needed a total team effort and a great night from another whipping boy, Willie Green, and the two Andres to avoid another late comeback by their opponent. It was a fun game, in which both teams saw pretty big leads evaporate.

Since this recap comes one day late, I won’t go with the quarter-by-quarter analysis, instead I will try to focus on some facts that I found interesting.

Indiana (the team) has a hole in the paint just as big as Indiana (the State). Dalembert dominated for the whole game on both ends of the floor: he had 7 rebounds in the first quarter alone and could have ended with 20+20 had he not missed a couple of layups and putbacks under or just around the basket.

Ok, not so difficult to do when you face Foster, Nesterovic and Hibbert, but still Sam was a presence like he should always be, and changed the game.

 His 6/6 from the line has to be underlined also, Sam is usually a pretty good free throw shooter (around 70% over the last years) but this season he has rarely been involved much offensively and his pctg from the line decreased a little bit, also because the number of attempts has been significantly reduced. Clearly, he found his rhythm last night.

Sam’s rebounds started a lot of fastbreaks, and we could score many easy points in transition. Speaking of first quarter nice stats, Andre Miller had seven dimes in the period, and Sixers knocked down nine of their first eleven shots (23-14).