That is if you fellow Philadelphia 76ers fans even care what the Pistons faithful are saying about their team’s game 1 demise.
Need4Sheed, a blog I absolutely love, is Stunned at The Palace. They offer up 30 key points in their game recap. So that means 30 miniature Rasheed Wallace heads accompanying each point. It’s comical. My favorite point Natalie made “Bad things happen when Rasheed tosses the headband. As soon as I saw him out there headbandless, I cringed.” Love that observation. Something only a die hard Pistons fan would point out.
Reader comment that should make all Sixers fan smile with pleasure: uyen said… “Natalie, this game actually made me threw up my food.” Priceless!
PistonsNationblog is clearly shocked, evidenced by the title of their post game recap – Ehhh…what? That made me laugh out loud when I read that. But, kudos must go out to them for giving the 76ers the credit they deserve: “Hats off to Philly’s D. They really turned it up in the 4th holding Detroit to 16 points on 28% shooting. They played free and with nothing to lose and were the better team.”
There was a great game thread over at Detroit Bad Boys. Just following their fans’ comments through the game might be as entertaining as actually watching. One of my favorite comments comes from Rob G: “If they lose, I vow a tremendous night of drinking until I am blind.”
Now I have the perfect Philly quote for the Detroit Bad Boys: “You ain’t so bad, you ain’t so bad, you ain’t nothin’. C’mon, champ, hit me in the face! My mom hits harder than you!” – Rocky III
That is exactly what happen in the first half. Detroit hit the 76ers in the face, and they took it like a champ. Came right back and stunned the team most people gave them no chance of beating. Including myself. Now – I believe! Sixers in 6. I will be center court for game 4 on Sunday just in case the impossible happens and we sweep ‘em.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I went over to the Bad Boys blog to comment, and they still have no respect for the Sixers, think it was a fluke, etc. I’m not sure how the 2nd win in a row in Detroit is a fluke, but okay.
Morty, tell me about it. I don’t understand where the lack of respect comes from. The players clearly respect the Sixers evidenced by all their pre-game comments. Chauncey Billups said A. Miller is one of the most underrated players in the NBA.
Honestly I think the disrespect comes from over confidence with in their own team. Well guess what Detroit isn’t that great anymore. They are very good but they don’t play at the same high level as consistently as they did in the past and now they are getting beat. 5 straight playoff games they have lost now. That should be a dose of reality that the team has some issues.
Morty (the one and only?),
Getting to be a big b-ball fan, I see, I saw you chat up some of the Detroit posters.
I hate what they’re doing at Deep Sixer, I know they wanted to clean it up, but it was like re-carpeting a whole room just because you find a little stain (that’s a horrible analogy, I know, but I suck at analogies).
About this series, what do you think Detroit’s counter-punch will be? Seriously, for the Pistons, it’s like the Sixers were just created yesterday, I don’t think they even know how to counter-punch us; I’m hearing stuff like, “the Pistons have to do a better job on Willie Green”, and I’m thinking, “Damn, who told? Shoot, it’s back to the drawing board for us. Man, if you guys send double-teams at Willie, we’re just screwed, royally screwed, that’s the focal point of our offense right there…”
For the adjustments we have to make, the Pistons were so bad, I can’t think of anything mind-blowing we have to do. It was mentioned here before, I hope Iggy can take better shots. And I don’t know if you noticed, but Jason Smith did a great job just keeping Maxiell and Theo Ratliff from being a factor. Seriously, if the Pistons are so darn good, you should’ve seen flashes of that talent, but the only one who showed up last night was Sheed.
If I were the Pistons my first adjustment would be more than 5 shots for Billups. I don’t think he can guard Miller but he can at least make him work more on the defensive end.
I honestly don’t think Rip Hamilton will be as effective in this series as he normally is because Willie Green and Iggy defend him well. Especially since we are playing Sheed straight up with Sammy.
Honestly both teams pretty much played straight up basketball and when you play that way it comes down to which players execute better and who wants it more. Game one our guys simply wanted it more than the Pistons. And I don’t think that will change in any games in this series. I just think our guys are hungrier.
I will probably do a quick Keys to a Game 2 victory for the Sixers post tonight.
Well, you know, Detroit is just not as athletic as us, I think that has a lot to do with it. Mo tried to stay one on one with them as much as possible which is good because they don;t have that one player who can kill you.
I would say our keys are getting Igoudala in some better spots, Sammy doing a better job on the boards, Lou doing a better job at drwaing fouls, and overall just keeping the energy level up on the defnsive end, staying in front of their man.
As for Detroit fans, I guess they just didn’t do any homework to learn about the Sixers. Only so many hours in the day, I guess.
Personally, I was treally impressed at how we won without our A game, but that’s similar to how we’ve beaten them before.
Dannie, I was just thinking – how much of Rodney Carney do you think we’ll see in game 2, and the rest of the series? How would you use him?
They will know its real after tomorrow and they are in danger of getting swept. Billups said tomorrows game ISNT a must win. I love that attitude. Two more games after tomorrow’s and he’ll be right. It wont be a must win. It will be a must go home.
Given how Carney played against them earlier this year I would defeintly have Carney of speed dial if Green does not come out hitting shots. His ability to hit a 3 ball and to guard Hamilton and Prince will very useful as this series goes on.
Should be a very enlightening game tonight as the Sixers will have to take a punch. How they respond is our chance to learn about their skills.
Sixerzguy – I wasn’t big on Carney but he grew on me as the season went on and he started helping the Sixers with a core weakness; 3-point shooting. Not sure I trust him enough to play in the playoffs but the only way to find out is to throw him out there. Preferably sometime midway through the 2nd quarter when the game isn’t as pressure filled and see what he can do. Maybe he can provide a spark.
The counter to that thought is, in game 1 the Sixers only attempted 5 three-point shots (made 1) and were able to come back from 15 without that weapon to win the game. So do we really need his shooting that much?
The fact that rotations get a little tighter in the playoffs might mean he doesn’t touch the court unless we get into really bad foul trouble at the 1-3 positions. I expect A. Miller and Iggy to play heavy minutes and that puts Lou at the two for most of the time he is out there, like the end of the game. Not sure where Carny fits in, especially since Willie Greens seems to play better against Detroit.
Dave T, I just wanted to echo your earlier comments regarding LouWill – watching the Sixers this year, I don’t remember ever thinking, “Lou made a lot of good passes today.” If we did go to him full-time as a PG, we’d need a different offense, like the Lakers’ offense, for example, where there’s lots of ball movement. I’ve been killed for this idea (cough Morty cough), but I think Willie Green would be pretty decent as a PG. I’d still prefer him gone from the team for next season, but while we got him, let’s take advantage of his positives.
Dannie, right on, I think the 2nd quarter is a good spot for Carney, he could be for the 2nd quarter what LouWill is to the 4th?
Game 2 tonight, I CANNOT WAIT, I LOVE THIS SEASON!
Willie Green a Point Guard? I don’t care what he is called as long as he isn’t on the court next year, which would be realized if Cheeks wasn’t coaching this team. He has too much of a mancrush on Willie to cut him from the rotation.
Willie is right there with Rafer Alston, Larry Hughes, and Eddy Curry in my book for worst players in the NBA that see significant PT.
Sixerzguy, while I’m glad we staunchly agree Lou Williams should never EVER be the guy manning this team now or in the future…Willie Green at PG would be awful for us. Aside from the fact that he’s flat out not good enough to play the position…the way this Sixers team is set up…in the future we’re going to need a pass first guy, not a scoring PG.
A scoring PG would absolutely destroy this team…right now we have no go to scorer, and therefore it is absolutely essential our PG post Andre Miller is a guy with high bball IQ that understands floor spacing, how to distribute, and can make passing seams available where there seem to be none. Willie Green, while I like his tough nosed play and slashing ability, has none of those abilities.
I really think we need a 2nd mid – late first round pick in this draft…I would love to grab DJ Augustine if he comes out to groom for the future.
Also Joe…why the beef against Rafer? He’s not an elite PG by any stretch of the imagination…but “worst player that see significant PT”…that’s pretty harsh. Rafer can play man…he can break anyone down off the dribble, is a pretty clutch three point shooter, and over the years has really matured into a solid distributer.
Is he a top 10 PG? No. Does he sometimes make bad decisions? Yes. Does he literally have no mid range game…absolutely. But don’t say the guy is one of the worst talents at this position in the league…he’s always given a big boost to the teams he’s played for. And his transformation from street ball king Skip to my Lou, to a pretty savvy NBA veteran that understands the game…just shows the hard work and dedication he’s put into learning the game at a higher level.
Zeru – I am with you. I bought tix for game 4 just in case Philly pulls off the sweep. That is a once in a lifetime event I wouldn’t want to miss.
Sixerzguy – 3 must-haves to run the triangle offense the Lakers and ’90s Bulls ran.
1. Legit post up threat, doesn’t have to be a big guy either Kobe and MJ played that role very well.
2. Very good passing bigs to play the high-low game (Odom and Gasol play it very well together)
3. Three-point shooting
I don’t think the Sixers have any of those pieces right now to play that style of offense whether Willie or Lou was at the point. I think that is part of the reason they aren’t very consistent in the half-court game as it is.
Joe – Not a big fan of Willie Green playing 35+ minutes but I am cool with him off the Sixers bench.
Dannie that’s an excellent point about the triangle…it’s a system predicated on needing players that have a very high intelligence about floor spacing and ball movement in the half court.
The Sixers (with the exception of the two Andre’s) between Carney, Thad, Jason Smith, Willie Green, Dalembert, and the other Motley Crew random talent we have…aren’t a high bball IQ team in the half court. We don’t have good passing bigs, we don’t have wingmen that move particularly well without the ball…and that’s exactly why we need a dominating PG personality.
On teams like San Antonio, Lakers, Detroit, San Antonio…the current Boston team, the 05-07 Mavs teams…I agree that you could get away with having a non-top tier PG, out of position SG, or combo guard, running the show, because of the higher level of halfcourt offense those teams played…and because they all have court savvy forwardsor swingmen (Sheed, Rip, Dirk, J Howard, KG, Pierce, Duncan, Manu, Kobe, Pau, Odom, etc)…but it’s clear the Sixers do not have that type of talent nor personnel to run a successful halfcourt offense with a scoring or out of position PG.
Willie Green would be an abysmal failure, we need to pray that never, EVER happens lol.
Dave, I feel the opposite way about Willie in that his slashing and offense are terrible, but he makes really good non-shooting decisions. The more he passes and the less he shoots, the better. He’s our 2nd best passer behind Miller… but I don’t mean that as praise at all, the gap in ability is huge, but it’s what we have. Notice how a lot of Iggy’s and LouWill’s passes are risky and oftentimes they’re to people when they’re in the wrong place. LouWill especially just doesn’t have that certain “touch” on his passes.
Dannie, agree with Dave about the good points regarding the Triangle. Just saying that if LouWill became the point, Mo would have to run something very different from what he’s running now, and yes, the personnel would have to be changed, but LouWill is not the guy you want to build around.
I’d like to edit what I wrote a little, I was too hard on both Iggy and Lou’s passing. Iggy’s usually a good passer, but when he does make mistakes with his passing it’s because his timing is off, like a player will be in the right spot at just the right time, but Iggy comes just a little too late with the pass. LouWill takes good care of the ball, and actually his passes aren’t risky, which is his problem – if he’s got the distributor role for a possession, what you’ll see often is him just pounding the ball away, waiting to make that safe pass, whereas Miller takes some chances with his passing. They’ll have the same A/T ratio. LouWill will have less turnovers but less assists, whereas Miller will have more turnovers but more assists.
Zeru, nice to have you here, but surprised. I thought you’d be the first name I’d see under the new format on Deep Sixer. You know people are starting to trickle back there? You said you’re in the military, are you special forces or something, so you can’t sign up because of some non-disclosure agreement you signed? Maybe officially, you don’t even exist… lol… Anyways, you oughta give it to Narducci for messing with Sixerville at this point in time. The only other worse time would’ve been right after the draft.
Sixerzguy, I like the revision you said about Iggy’s passing, I completely agree. He’s proved time and time again that he has a really high “court awareness”…by that I mean I think he is able to see the flow of the game a few steps in advance, and he understands where people should be on the floor, when they should cut, and how they should be moving without the ball.
So I think you said it nicely…his problem is that he’ll recognize a situation, and then the pass comes a split second too late or too soon. To me, while I obviously don’t like that, it’s a great sign, because I only care about the fact that he’s the type of player that naturally understands that, and has grown in that area. He’s a guy that “gets it”…things like timing and precision will improve every year with age and experience…and especially with him…100% confidence in his ability to take over a game without needing to score.
To me, Willie Green doesn’t “get it” as much. While I agree he is less turnover prone, I don’t necessarily equate that with a high bball IQ and court awareness, which I think is essential on any team that wants to have a well run half court set. I think Willie Green makes good passing decisions, yes…like the Spurs, he’s a guy that won’t beat himself risking a dumb error…but I think a system where a PG really needs to RUN an offense, needs a PG that sometimes has those balls of steel to know when to be selfish in order to break down the defense and draw attention to open for others that have gone stagnant…I just can’t see Willie Green in that role at all.
Dannie, where’s your take? Come on man, you’re really good, the Pistons finally gave us something to think about.
I’m pissed about the game. For one thing, I can’t believe they outrebounded us, that’s our forte; we often have bad shooting nights, but we always rebound. And how the heck did McDyess get open for all those jumpers? That needs to be solved. Defensively, I think we can make the right adjustments. But I’m worried about our offense…