Wow, that was easily the worst game I have ever been to in every aspect. To be at a playoff game and only have 14,130 in attendance was disappointing but something I expected. I knew once they lost on Tuesday the fans would officially give up on the team and not come out and support Thursday night. And with the performance the 76ers gave, could you really blame them?
I have all these notes I took from the game, but I don’t think it’s necessary to beat a dead horse here. Everyone watched the massacre that occurred. The Detroit Pistons could do no wrong, and our team could do no right. With that said here are a few random game observations.
- The crowd started booing the home team with 1:20 left in the first quarter! Considering the 76ers didn’t actually started playing the game until 3 minutes into the 2nd quarter, the booing was probably warranted.
- A clear sign that the Sixers were tight and nervous in this elimination game was all the over passing. I had to stop counting all the times someone had an open shot and decided to pass it up. The best example, and pretty much how the game went, was Andre Iguodala raising up for a nice 15-footer, in which he had no one contesting him and went on to pass the ball off Samuel Dalembert’s mohawk and out of bounds.
- Andre Miller could have built a new gym with all the bricks he was throwing up. What made it so much worse live was the microphone on the basket that just amplified how poorly he was shooting.
- People first started going home with 2:24 left in the 3rd quarter with the score 48-72. By the start of the 4th quarter, at least half of the crowd was gone.
- The starting line going into the 4th quarter was: Thaddeus Young, Rodney Carney, Lou Williams and Jason Smith. Besides Thad, no starter played the entire quarter. These guys played pretty much the entire 4th quarter until about 6:47 left when Mo Cheeks brought the vampire into the game.
- At the beginning of the final quarter the 76ers were down 28 points. At the end of the game the final score was 100-77, a 23-point loss. This was back-ups vs. back-ups and we could only cut that lead by 5. Does that bother anyone else besides me?
- Finally you know the game was horrible when two of the “Plays of the Game” were Samuel Dalembert and Reggie Evans chest bumping each other and worst, a Dunking Dancer flushing one with two hands off of a trampoline. Can’t get any worse than that.
Ok, that is enough misery; let’s move on to the future. Pete and I did two posts back in December when the team was on its way to the lottery about the upcoming offseason. Check those out while we start putting together the Recliner GM’s Sixers Big Draft and Free Agent Board.
The Philadelphia Spurs – Pete’s fool-proof blueprint for the 76ers future.
You’re the Sixers’ new GM – What would you do summer 2008? – Many things have changed since I wrote this post so make sure you take it in the right context (December 2007).
Finishing the year below .500 and getting your collective can handed to you in the first round, brings up the age old questions.
Should the Sixers have torched the season in the hope of getting a better draft pick?
Should the Sixers give up on their best player Andre Miller and get a younger player in return? It doesn’t seem like this crew will be ready before Miller starts getting too old.
Same for Iggy too if he demands max money.
Both players are TRADEABLE, If you assembled a Bill Simons style top 100 players in the league, i’d imagine there’d be 40+ players I’d rather have than either of these two.