Weighing Sixers’ playoffs “experience”

Making this quick before leaving for the weekend (maybe I’ll be able to update the post later, with all the sums etc).

Ok, it’s a given that this is a pretty young team, with some veteran presence only in the back up department.

So I tried to check our players’ playoffs experience, making a small research through the years.

My source has mainly been Basketball reference and here is what I found.

In order:

SPEIGHTS, IVEY: 0 playoffs games played.

Barely a surprise: the first is a rookie, the second sucks (LOL) and has always played for bad teams (feel free to add the Sixers to this category).

YOUNG, WILLIAMS: 6 playoffs game played (2-4 record)

They were members of 2007/2008 Sixers, that were eliminated by Pistons, 2-4.

IGUODALA, DALEMBERT, GREEN: 11 playoffs games played (3-8 record).

They were members of two Sixers teams that made it to the postseason, in 2004/2005 with Jim O’Brien, and in 2007/2008 with Maurice Cheeks. Sixers lost to Pistons in both occasions, 1-4 in 2004 and 2-4 in 2008.

MILLER: 21 playoffs games played (5-16 record)

Here is the recap of his career in the postseason:

• 2004 (Denver Nuggets), lost 1-4 in the first round to Minnesota
• 2005 (Denver Nuggets), lost 1-4 in the first round to Spurs
• 2006 (Denver Nuggets), lost 1-4 in the first round to the LA Clippers (LOL)
• 2008 (Philadelphia Sixers), lost 2-4 in the first round to the Pistons

(uhm, I think I gave some strong arguments to his critics, LOL)

Sixers blow another one in Charlotte

Forget the ‘furious comeback’ (from -20 in the second to +4 in the fourth), forget the BS about the “pride”, the “reaction” etc etc, the game in Charlotte will go down as a 101-98 LOSS, while it should have been a WIN. 

And forget the 4th seed also, with a 40-37 (.519) record, that spot is definitely out of reach, we’d rather think aboout making it to the 5th, because Miami is there with a 1/2 game advantage, and our schedule looks extremely tough: three of the five games left on the road, and the two at home versus Boston and Cleveland, that both have important goals to reach.

And then again, when you get blown out by the Nets and you lose to the Bobcats immediately after, you can’t expect nothing good vs stronger opponents.

How about this: Sixers’ record against New Jersey and Charlotte is 1-7 (!!). So there you already have the answer to the question “Why didn’t we get home court advantage in the playoffs ?” that you’ll ask yourself at the end of the regular season. 

As you might guess, I am SLIGHTLY disapponted after losing for the third time this season to Larry Brown’s team. But after all, there is a reason why Sixers are floating around .500 all year: they could never find any consistency.

So there you have the exciting Ws at LA Lakers, vs Spurs (in a blow out), at Portland, the sweep against the Rockets (yes, we did that. And they had Yao and TMG in both games), and then the Calvin Booth-ugly losses at Minnesota, at Golden State, at O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A f’n C-I-T-Y (+ the 1-7 aforementioned record) that leave you speechless… That’s immaturity in the best case, mediocrity in a more realistic analysis.

After watching the Charlotte game, I remembered what George Karl said after we let another W slip away, in Denver: “The thought that comes to my mind is, bad teams lose games they’re supposed to win, and good teams win games they’re supposed to lose” . Remember that game?

I mean, how can you possibly allow Charlotte, the third worst offense in the NBA (less than 94 PPG) to score 63 points in the first half ??? On 57% shooting (22/38)? And 5/11 from behind the arc ??

Or allow Raymond Felton (good player, nothing more) to score 21 at the break, 32 at the end, setting a new career high ???

Yes, Lou Williams played very well again, the third quarter comeback was nice, we saw a possessed Willie Green almost singlehandedly carrying the offense (13 pts in the quarter on 4/5, including three treys), but we couldn’t finish the job. One more time. Another wasted effort.

Few Sixers show up in loss to Bobcats

I’m out on a four day business trip and I completely missed the 96-88 W over the T’Wolves (37-33). Two things I noticed about that game.

First, Minnesota started Kevin Ollie (!!), Bobby Brown, Brian Cardinal, Rodney Carney and Craig Smith: that has to be the worst starting lineup in the history of the League.

Second, former Sixer bum player Carney went 7/8 from behind the arc, but Sixers, led by Thaddeus Young (29) and with only two other plyers in double figure, won the game, playing basically just one quarter (the third) and holding off Minnesota down the stretch.

I did watch the 95-100 home loss to the Bobcats, though (37-34, .521).

Not an enjoyable show, to be honest. Talking about a 33-50 half time score, that included Sixers’ 36% FG pctg (13/36) vs Charlotte’s 51% (19/37), with a -15 difference in rebounding (12-27). The first two quarters included multiple three seconds violations, tons of second chance opportunities allowed, limited circulation of the ball, no movement offensively.

You think that after such a poor effort, Sixers would have come pretty spirited after the break.

Instead, on their first offensive possession, Bobcats found Okafor under the rim for an easy dunk, extending the lead to nineteen (33-52), their largest. Sixers gave few sign of life, and Charlotte remained always in control, thanks to great circulation (they played even too unselfish bball, passing up on many open shots) closing the period at 60-73.

Sixers finally woke up in the fourth, sparked by Thaddeus Young and mainly Lou Williams, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the quarter, but the best they could do was cutting the lead to two (92-94 with 1.20 left). Nevermind, Okafor from the high post found Diaw for an easy layup (92-94), Miller missed a shot and Bell secured the game from the line (92-96).

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 !!

Crappy game in Charlotte. Even worse uniforms

Good picture, though.

Barely a consolation, after the disappointing 93-84 loss vs the Bobcats, that only yesterday’s Sixers (7-7, .500) made look like a half-decent team.

Instead, they were, are, and will remain, one of the weakest teams in the NBA, I’m sorry for their fans.

Bobcats entered the game with a 3-9 record and a 86.8 ppg average (worst in the League), numbers that speak volumes about their limits. Still, they managed to pull a rabbit out of their asses, and Sixers helped them in the best way.

I don’t feel like recapping the whole game, I would like to focus on some points that I think are keeping this team on the ground, instead of letting it fly like it’s supposed to do.

1) uniforms. Back to the sucking black ones, with the ugly logo = sucking, ugly loss.

2) perimeter defense. Pathetic. We allowed Charlotte to shoot 57% from downtown (8/14), something I’m sure they didn’t even dream of before the game. Slow rotations, lazy “help and recover” moves: we let them shoot wide open most of the times. Some use of Ivey would have helped last night vs Charlotte quick guards.

Sixers are 2-0 with the old uniforms

Enough said.

And not coincidentially, they are over .500 for the first time in the season.

Who follows this site knows I’ve been lobbying for the old, classic, Sixers uniforms since day 1, and even started a petition to bring them back full time at the beginning of 2008 (125 smart Sixers fans signing so far, and counting…).

As I said many times, I’ve been in contact with Sixers franchise (marketing and PR dept) about this specific topic, that is taken into serious consideration by the organization.

Pretty obvious, since uniforms = merchandise = $$$$…

Imagine my shock few minutes ago when I realized that ESPN.com put a link to Sixers4guidos (!!!!!) – scroll down, to “Uni watch: NBA throwback update”, Sixers – , to this old post of the last summer.

Yeah, that was actually an update of the first one – the petition I mean – but anyway, I should thank the crew from ESPN.com.

Santa Klaus came earlier this year

…and brought Sixers fan a nice gift: THE FIRING OF BILLY KING.

Yes, King got the axe in the late night in Philly, as David Aldridge and Phil Jasner reported.

I’ve read it this morning on the best Sixers blog, Passion & Pride, (congratulations guys), and could not believe it.

But it’s actually true. Ed Stefanski, former GM of the New Jersey Nets, replaces King, and a press conference is about to be held in Philly in few hours to introduce the new general manager.

I am happy. I never liked Billy King.

The second post of this blog, more than a year ago, was about his flaws. Since then, nothing changed.

I wanted him gone after the Iverson trade (a move that I liked, though), I confirmed that he doesn’t have a plan, that he sucks, and I repeated it few days ago.

To his credit, I liked the Hunter-Evans trade and I thanked him for not being Danny Ainge (LOL).  Damn, the Internet is nice…

The overall record of his 10 years tenure in Philadelphia speaks for itself: Sixers lack of accomplishments, current mess, cap hell situation is all on him.

Back from the past

First it was a whistle, then a breeze; now it looks like it’s going to be a wind.

The news everyone of us was waiting for is about to materialize: 3 years and 4 coaches later Larry “fresh air” Brown is ready to be back as part the organization. Officially, this time.

If you are a typical Negadelphian, and you perhaps might think this move sucks, well… you are right. Just take a look at Brown’s smirk here left !

Talking about “fresh air”

Think for a second about “fresh air”. Concentrate on the concept for a minute, please. What does come to your mind? Green fields? Cherrytrees? Beautiful young girls in bikini? New explosive basketball talents? An innovative, charismatic, self-assured coach in his forties?

Well, keep this images in your head ’cause according to this article Sixer’s new breeze of fresh air might be a bit older and, frankly, a bit stinky. More like backwater than a mountain lake, to be honest.

Yeah, fellas, while looking at the future the Sixers decided to rely upon the past. Which means, dear guidos, that the good ol’ Larry‘s back with us, apparently consulting Billy King on how to rebuild the team and get the best out of Iverson.

The funny thing is this new job (for which we don’t know yet if Larry gets paid or not: we got some ideas, though…) is – his agents words – “fresh air”. To Brown, of course. But to us?