Game 5 Adjustments for the 76ers

Winning game 5 in Detroit is critical for the 76ers’ upset bid mainly to avoid the pressure of having to win a game 7 against the PIstons on the road. I hate thinking about that scenario for our young Sixers who missed an opportunity to show their killer instinct Sunday night.

Although I have very little confidence that the 76ers will make significant adjustments for game 5, here are my thoughts if I was Mo Cheeks.

Line Up

Strongest: Samuel Dalembert - Reggie Evans - Thaddeus Young - Andre Iguodala - Andre Miller

Early on most people liked this line up in order to hopefully get Tayshaun Prince off of Andre Iguodala. I like this group because it may be our most effective “big” line up and I think we can dominate the boards with it. Also, it forces Flip Saunders to make a host of decisions. Like poker, when you force the opposing coach to make multiple adjustments and decisions, you increase the likelihood that a wrong move is made. Do you keep Prince on Iggy and just double Thaddeus in the post? Take your chances with Rip guarding Iggy? If you were Saunders how would you defend this line up?

Extreme: Samuel Dalembert - Reggie Evans - Thaddeus Young - Willie Green - Andre Miller

Wow, no Andre Iguodala in the starting line up? Why not? Nothing is working to get him out of this funk, if we believe that’s all it is and not that he simply isn’t good enough. Let’s see if he can come in and play the Manu Ginobili role in game 5. Would it work? Who knows, but I gotta think it’s worth a try. My only concern is with his confidence. I don’t really know the type of player he is and how he would respond to this. He could sulk and stink it up even more. Or hopefully he would take it as a reality check and a challenge and play better. Your guess is as good as mine, but I figured I’d throw the idea out there. I thought about starting Jason Smith instead of Reggie, but I am more concerned with rebounding than anything else. And I am worried Smith would get pushed around.

Offense

First and foremost we need to start the game going to Andre Miller and Thaddeus Young in a variety of ways.

• Andre Miller in the post
• Thaddeus Young on the perimeter against a bigger, slower defender

Let’s see if Detroit 1. can stop either of those match-ups one-on-one and 2. if they double team and free up guys for open jump shots and cuts to the basket.

• Pick and roll/pop with Miller and Young.

I love this because I don’t see how Detroit can effectively defend it. If they trap the pick and roll like they have been all series, I’d rather have Miller making the passes in hopes of less turnovers and better decision-making. That will then open Young up for open 15-17 footers, which he has been hitting. If they switch it well, I would first go to Thad in the post on Billups. If we can’t get it in, I like Miller taking the big off the dribble all day.

If we are going to try and get Iguodala going, Mo Cheeks and the Sixers need to learn some lessons from what the Atlanta Hawks did in the 4th quarter to free up Joe Johnson. Whenever they set a high ball screen they used Mike Bibby as the screener. That forced Boston to either switch and give Johnson a big mismatch on Rondo. But what happened more often was Rondo was scared to leave Bibby open so Johnson got a little edge on Ray Allen and killed him. Plus, wouldn’t we like Iggy kicking out to our best passer and decision maker if they do double trap?

Defense

Cheeks needs to make a decision on how they are going to play the pick and roll defense. The optimal strategy would be for our perimeter players to fight hard over the screen since all the Detroit guards can hit the three. That means Sammy, Reggie, Smith and Young must aggressively show high and force the ball handler to go away from the basket until our guards get back in position then close out to Sheed and McDyess hard. Those guys have yet to pump fake and drive to the basket. They don’t want to do that. They prefer to shoot that jumper. Let’s take it away and see how that works out to start.

Keys to a 76ers Victory

• Energy
• Rebounding
• Defense

Those factors put the 76ers in the best situation to play their style of ball. If the game grinds to a halt like it did in the 3rd quarter Sunday night, I don’t think they can win that way in Detroit. That is unless Andre Iguodala can summon a Joe Johnson or Kobe Bryant-like performance from last night.

Let’s just hope Cheeks is reading the blog.