Sixers set new, dubiuos record in 4th L to Nets

I guess deciding to watch live the 96-67 L to the Nets (40-36, .526) wasn’t a brilliant idea.

But I was pumped after the win over the Pistons and I was curious to see whether we could carry on the momentum after that tough, emotional game. We couldn’t. And I stayed up until 4 AM to realize it. Nevermind.

Unfortunately it was one of those games in which the boxscore says it all. Sixers look exhausted (also mentally), confused, lost, not focused, their minds empy, their legs heavy.

The result was an embarassing fourth season loss versus (what to me still looks like) one of the worst teams in the League, that, another time, didn’t do anything special to win the game other than taking advantage of our atrocious performance. 

Let’s recap the “highlights”.

– Nets NEVER swept the season series vs Sixers before this season. Talking about making history here (LOL).

Keep in mind that Nets went to the NBA Finals two straight times in recent years, so it shouldn’t have been embarassing being swept by THAT team with Kidd, Kenyon Martin etc. But this, with a fading Carter, and the Doolings, the Boones & the Hayeses ???

– Nets shot better from three point (11/25, 44%) than Sixers did from the line (9/23, 39%). LOL !!!

– Nets placed SEVEN players in double figure vs Sixers’ ONE. Our “hero” was Lou Williams, though, and he shot 27%, with a -28 in plus/minus, worst in the team. You do the maths.

– Sixers scored 28 points in the SECOND HALF (LMAO). Before the Sixers game, I watched Dallas burying the Suns under a 81 point first HALF (!!) that included Mavs going 10/13 from three point land, and the (inevitable) comparison was really… uhm, embarassing?

Once they were Kings

Today, they are just a bad team, unfortunately.

And I say this as a former Kings fan: I used to root for the team with “deda” Divac, Bibby, Peja, Turkoglu, Christie, Webber etc when they were battling for the supremacy in the Western Conference with the fucking Lakers… now it’s just a nice memory.

Sixers (35-33, .515) made a quick work of Sacramento, on coast to a 100-112 W that wasn’t as close as the final score might tell.

We led by as many as 29 points, and let the Kings get closer only in the final period (92-103 with 5.40 to play), quickly putting them to sleep again after that “threat”.

The game was basically over after one quarter – which saves me a lot of typing, LOL. Sixers jumped to a 20 point lead (13-33) and closed the period at a comfortable 17-35. 

Iguodala simply DESTROYED Sacramento from the start, scoring 17 points in the first (!), on 6/6 shooting, including two treys and a couple of dunks. In the same period, Kings turned the ball over eight times (!!), many of them unforced.

Sacramento is a bad team, badly coached, and with horrible playmaking. Garcia did his best to keep them into the game (he was 4/5 from behind the arc at a point in the second) but he was pretty much left alone by his team mates.

Sixers finally pull out a 48-min effort

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

And the outcome was the final 115-106 W over the Raptors, a game that wasn’t close as the score might suggest (31-31. 500).

I am happy to keep this recap short: Sixers started to run away in the second quarter, progressively increasing their lead, that reached 20 points with 1.10 to play: 56-36.

Give credit to the Sixers because they continued to stay focused after the break, making five of their first six shots.

Toronto tried some (crappy) zone defence but Sixers never panicked, attacking it with patience and hitting basically all outside shots (finally !!), including a rare set up three by Andre Miller. Guido Andrea Bargnani had a three just before the buzzer to end the quarter 92-74.

Raptors cut the lead to nine points early in the fourth (99-90, 7.04) but Williams nicely fed Evans for a layup on the following play, Iguodala had a steal and knocked down a couple of free throws and Sixers completed the job, without scaring their fans. Good win.

Thaddeus Young will receive honours because he scored a career high 29 points, and he actually played great, scoring from everywhere, but I’m happy to praise two guys that IMO had an even bigger impact on the game, and that I ripped on this blog many times this season.

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 ????

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

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

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

Red hot Philly peppers

Your Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers (19-20, .487) are the hottest team in the League.

No kidding.

If you don’t believe it, just ask the Spurs, buried under a 22 point-deep grave (109-87) after being schooled all night long.

Make it six consecutive Ws, and counting.

Remember how they toyed with us in the first quarter of that unbelievable game played on the 3rd of December?

Spurs shot 8/11 from downtown in the first period, and finished with 15/28. Remember our impressive comeback (from -21 to +1) and the hurting end, with Parker’s high arcing buzzer beater? It seems like two months ago now, not thirteen days. Payback time.

To complete the picture of our 180° turnaround, read this excerpt, taken from S4G recap of that game in San Antonio:

in the last seven games Sixers have been outscored 48-189 (- 141 !!) on three pointers. As for the percentages, it’s Sixers 21% (16/75), opponents 43.4% (63/145).

There is more, unfortunately.

The New Jersey Nets, currently the worst team in NBA as for opponents’ 3 pt percentage, allow other teams to shoot 41.2% vs them. It means that over the last seven games we are doing worse than the worst team in the League !!!

Forget that all.

Looking like a team. A hot team.

The last time we met the Blazers at home, it ended like this. One of the most exciting and incredible comebacks I ever saw.

Last night, it was a larger, encouraging win, 100-79, our fifth consecutive (18-20, .474), a season high – just like the ELEVEN THREES SCORED. And the 21 point margin marks the worst loss of the season for Portland.

Those are all good signs.

Evidences of a team that has (hopefully) turned a corner in its season, that is starting to play with confidence, as a unit, having added some new weapons and having re-discovered other, older, ones, that looked lost just some weeks ago.

Since Di Leo gave his players “the green light” to take more threes – an apparently idiotic move for the franchise that has been dead last in the NBA for months in this category, at 30% and even below that mark – shots suddenly started to fall.

The guido Sixers’ coach stated he would have liked to score five threes a game, and his players knocked down EIGHT on seventeen in the first half alone vs Portland. The score said 55-33 by then. That’s + 22, baby. 

But that fantastic, and even shocking, half time lead wasn’t built only on threes. It was the defense, the deflections, the steals, the ability to run whenever there was the chance, the usual lift provided by the guys off the bench (Williams, Evans, Speights…), the intensity, the unselfishness by everyone. 

W over Bobcats: when the boxscore lies

Or at least tells  only a part of the truth.

Yes, the win is confirmed, 93-87, Sixers’ thrid consecutive, and our record too, 16-20, .444.

But recapping the Charlotte game I would like to focus on some things that aren’t evident on the boxscore.

If you remember I am not obsessed by statistics, let’s say I usually give them less importance that many analysists and fans, especially american ones, do.

And I want also to give some credit to guys that I often criticized bashed, let’s call them “Sixers4guidos’ favorite whipping boys”.

The first one is Dalembert – in the picture – , who has been a-w-f-u-l for large part of THIS season. Judging from the boxscore you would say: “Another bad night”. Only four points, 2/6 from the field, while Okafor had 24 on 10/13… WRONG ! Sam actually played well !!

Nice when those shots are falling

Especially when they come at the right time.

A rare, may I say unprecedented, accuracy from behind the arc (8/15, 53%) and at the foul line (32/39, 82%) gave the worst three point shooting and the second last free throw shooting team of the NBA – that is right, your Philadelphia SeventySixers, now at 15-20, .429 – the second consecutive win: 105-110 over the Bucks.

It was a come-from-behind win, because the Bogut-less Bucks were up eight at the beginning of the fourth (89-81 with 10 minutes to go, when Sessions had an uncontested layup). That’s when Sixers’ run started and our shooters got hot. And I can’t believe I’m actually typing this.

And guess who sparked the decisive break? Former Buck-seldom used-back up point guard Royal Ivey, who had two of his three treys in a quick 9-2 run that, completed by another long distance shot by Lou Williams, put Sixers back in the game just when it looked like they could have slipped: 92-90.

Then a spirited Ivey – uncharacteristically but correctly left on the floor by Di Leo in the final, with Williams sitting on the bench – completed a good game versus his former team with some smart defense on Bucks’ last shot. 

With Sixers up three and eleven seconds to play, Bell’s potentially tying three pointer was way short because Royal contested it well and, after the miss, Iguodala rebounded and secured the game from the line.

Before those two plays, it was Miller putting his signature on a fantastic game with a three pointer (!!) that gave us a four point lead with 28 seconds to play (103-107). You see it in the pic.

You got it well: it was one of those nights, exactly, but in the good sense.

But to be fair, Miller already scored two decisive three pointers this season, in back-to-back home wins vs Clippers and Golden State in November. So give him all the credit, he is not a three point shooter but he steps up when it counts.

Speaking of long distance shots check this: last time we outscored our opponents from the three point line was… ten games ago, Dec 17th. Guess who we were playing? The Bucks (!). Guess who won? Sixers. By five, again (!!). Guess how many threes we scored then? Four (LOL). And they had two (…).

The scaring thing is that we will match up with Milwaukee again only one more time this season… Even worse, it will be on April 2nd. I hope we won’t have to wait for the next THIRTY-EIGHT games before prevailing from behind the arc again…

What went well last night? Some interesting things.