Sixers go from playing three horrible quarters and one good quarter in a losing effort to playing three good quarters and one bad quarter still in a losing effort.
When will this team learn that it takes 4 quarters of good basketball to beat good teams? To be honest I think last night’s game against the Celtics was an atypical, fluke-like performance we have become accustom to seeing from the Sixers. Case in point:
- 13-20 from three for the Sixers
- 38 points on 13-18 from the field from Willie Green and Jason Kapono
- 110 points scored against the best defensive team in the league
- Boston shoots 7-27 from three (many of those shots were uncontested misses)
Even with all that the Sixers still couldn’t pull out the victory. This is getting really demoralizing. That’s 4 in a row.
One trend remains the defense is still horrible. Boston missed a TON of wide open looks from three. The Sixers defense had very little to do with Boston shooting so poorly from deep. In fact the Celtics were 31-51 from inside the arc. That’s 60.8% AND they got to the line 39 times making 30.
There really isn’t any else to talk about from a team perspective until improvement starts to show from the defense. Teams score too easily and that is an easy recipe for consistent losing – even when you uncharacteristically shoot the lights out.
Some Positives
Thad seems to be figuring it out a little bit on offense. In the last three games he is averaging 20.3ppg on 26-50 (52%) from the field and 4-10 from three and only 2 turnovers per game. He still isn’t a passer (just one assist in the last three games) but he never will be. He is pulling down 5.3 boards as well. I can sit here and say I’d love for him to be a 7-8 boards per game SF but I just don’t know if he has it in him. But at least he has found his offensive touch. Sixers are going to need it with Lou and Speights out.
Jrue is playing and will get a TON of time with Lou out 8 weeks. And although he looked like a rookie last night Jordan still kept him on the floor for 34 minutes even with Bill Green and Kapono on fire. He shows flashes right now and has a long way to go before he is a reliable 30+ minute per game starting point guard. He shows signs of having good court vision and the ability to execute high level passes. He showed that he can get to the cup, but like most young players he needs to learn how to anticipate the help defender and have a plan to finish off plays either by scoring or getting fouled. Last night he was indecisive at the basket when faced with a shot blocker. He tossed up some ugly attempts at the rim. That will come with time, I’m sure. His off-ball defense lags behind his on-ball D. He lost shooters a number of times last night looking into the post or to the action on the other side of the floor. Again chalk it up to being 19 years old. PLUS, this is much easier to teach and improve with good coaching and practice compared to the tenacity he already brings on the ball.
TEAM three point shooting improving? The usual suspects still can’t shoot a lick (Lou – 32.1%, Thad – 29.4%, Iguodala – 30.8%, Green – 23.5%). But Jason Kapono and Jason Smith have been lights out shooting 40.9% and 47.1% respectively on 61 total attempts. Toss in Holiday who is 6-17 (35.3%). You can clearly see how the Sixers have moved up to 14 in three point shooting at 34.7%. League average is 34.9%. That is a significant improvement over the last few seasons, hopefully it continues.
If this team can ever figure out how to defend in the half court and in transition better they might be able to turn things around because offensively they have been better this season.
We have the Hawks tomorrow. Pete and I will be front and center at the Wach for that one. First game of the season for both of us. Really looking forward to it. Check out the new court and watch the Sixers attempt to stop the bleeding against a team playing arguably the best basketball in the NBA right now.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Loading ...
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Dannie, happy thanksgiving!! What was your take on a Jrue run team compared to a L.Will. run team? I thought everybody was getting touches and Iggy had the ball a little less, but with all the globetrotter dribble handoffs that a pure p.g. is hampered somewhat.
I give thanks today for the role-elastic and enduring Willie Green, whose talents elude some basketball observers, particularly Zack. 18 BIG ONES in 13 small ones at the ol’ New Gahdin! Way to go, Willie! Meanwhile, Sweet Lou – Philly’s version of Mars Blackmon – will be sucking on sweet milkshakes for 6-8 weeks, compliments of Mr. Jamison. I guess nature has its own way of achieving balance in the basketball ecosystem.
Suede - You know what, Jrue runs the team like a point guard, Lou runs the team like a scorer. That was very clear to me.
He had another really nice pass to Sam who dropped it. Had he caught it, it would have been an easy dunk.
He needs to cut out the lazy perimeter passes. He needs to figure out when to attack to score and to attack to pass (this offense makes that a little harder) but I think he’ll get it.
There was one play in particular that really stood out to me (wish I had video).
Holiday found himself coming down court in a secondary type break, he had four options:
He made the skip pass to Kapono for a three (he missed). That was a great example of strong point guard instincts. Why? Kapono had just hit 2 or 3 shots and was clearly hot this game. He found him for a wide open three in transition when he clearly had other options.
Oh one other thing I really liked by the Sixers last night was how they pushed the ball up court EVERY single possession. Didn’t matter if Boston scored, missed, turnover whatever. Jrue got the ball and pushed it up floor to get the offense going early. In fact many times the other loser Sixers were just jogging up court lagging behind and he had to wait for them.
When Willie got in at the point he did the same thing.
I like this approach, the rest of the Sixers just need to get with the program.
The basketball effort I most appreciated of late was Kirk Hinrich’s quick touch pass from left wing (after receiving pass from top of circle) to open corner shooter vs. Sixers … no show, no ego, instantaneous; great basketball, plain brilliance. More players should learn that a defender can’t outrun a sharply directed pass.
Last night was a typical Andre Iguodala game, and as I watched him play my frustration continued to rise. Now I know that part of my frustration is the $84 million, and what I expect from a player making that much. But deep down, I feel most of my complaints are real and legit, such as: he takes too many bad shots, (poor shot selection); too many outside shots; too often he has problems getting to the hole; and the excessive number of turnovers drive me crazy; also, in spite of his reputation as a shut down defender, he gets lit up regularly. Honestly, I see no improvement in his shot, it’s as inconsistent as ever; and according to Clyde Frazier he’ll never have a consistent outside shot because he puts too much arc on the ball.
In spite of all this, at the end of the night you look at the stat sheet and end up saying, he must have had a good game because the numbers don’t lie. That is the enigma of AI, similar to the other AI, that both look good in the boxscore, but on the court it’s a different story. Personally, I feel this team would be better off with a consistent outside shooter who can play a little D, and is comfortable playing in a team concept. I see Iggy as a one-on-one player who’ll continue struggle in Jordan’s Princeton scheme. Now, I know it’s early and things could change, perhaps he’ll find his comfort zone in this offense and become a focal point of good team play. Unfortunately, my instincts say something different, I ‘ll be interested in some feedback, am I the the Lone Ranger, or do I sit with the silent, suffering, majority.
The Inquirer has implemented an on line poll attempting to take a temperature on voters feelings about the best 76er ever. 40 votes in, and Allen Iverson has 0 votes, Wilt has a nice lead on he field.
The thing I find most interesting about the poll is the nominees. On the one hand, I really appreciate the inclusion of sharpshooter Hal Greer. He’s even gotten a couple votes. But it baffles me as to how you leave Billy Cunning ham off the list. Heck, I could even see Chet Walker on the list if they had room for an extra name.
Al Henry did not make the list.
.
Dannie, I remember that pass, it was beautiful and pushing the ball was big, by both Jrue and Willie. Ken, the best sixer, Wilt, hands down; my favorite sixer, Charles Barkley; and the player who had the biggest impact on this organization, in my opinion is Billy C. because he played for and coached a championship team. L.A. Steve, I dislike Iggy!s attitude and on court gestures but he is too valuable to move, in my opinion, because softness is a major issue on this team and he, Jrue and hopefully Elton are in the process of changing that.
Perhaps I’m getting ahead here, but Lou’s injury might be a blessing in disguise. Rookie mistakes aside, Holiday looks good out there, seeming to have the court sense and point guard mentality that left with Andre Miller. When everyone is healthy, I’d like to see Jrue and Lou as starting guards, Igoudala and Brand as forwards, and Speights at center. Dalembert and Thad add defense and scoring to the bench. Hopefully Jrue rises to the challenge of the early opportunity he’s been handed.
Morty – Starting Speights at center compounds the defensive issues this team has. They already give up a lot of open perimeter looks. Even with Jrue on the court that probabaly isn’t going to change much because it’s not just one person who is the problem. As a team they don’t know how to rotate.
I guess starting Jrue with Lou means you are having him defend the bigger of the two guards. So we are hoping he can defend NBA SGs inside.
Speights at Center ugh. Disaster guaranteed to happen. So not only can’t the Sixers defender the perimeter now they won’t be able to defend the paint either. To full grasp how bad Speights is defensively just watch the first New Jersey game when he got destroyed by Lopez man-to-man in the post AND even got posted up for an easy lay-up by Trenton Hassell. I almost vomited when Hassell back Speights down under the rim and layed it up on him. Disgusting.
Not to mention I fully believe Thad would be a baby about going to the bench.
But you know what, I’d do it not because I think they would win more games (I don’t) but because it gets Jrue and Speights on the floor together more for development purposes. And I’d love to see them running the pick and roll/pop all game.
L.A. Steve – I am sure you aren’t a lone. There are plenty of people that strongly dislike Iguodala. I personally don’t like his on-court demeanor, excessive celebrations and other antics.
I am of the belief that stats are the stats. They represent bottom line results from play (they don’t say WHY they are the result or how they came about. For that you need to watch and interpret). But, by any metric you choose Iguodala always comes out as a productive overall player. And that’s what I think he is a good productive player.
He isn’t a leader. He isn’t carrying a team anywhere. His numbers make him a borderline All-Star, but he is FAR from a great player. And on a team that lacks a great player Iguodala isn’t good enough to take the Sixers anywhere.
He is what he is, a good productive player. You need those types of players on your team. Ideally you’d like them to fit well with what you want to do offensively and defensively and mesh with the talents of the rest of the players on the court.
That’s part of the problem right now. The Sixers have a bunch of players that do not fit together well and are one-dimensional. We have far too many slashers and not enough good shooters in the top 7 players. We have too many straight offensive players and not enough complete players.
Dannie: I understand where you’re coming from, but I think splitting Brand and Dalembert, and minimizing the time that neither is on the floor, would improve the D overall. Hopefully, Brand could provide leadership for Speights on D. And Thad off the bench, as you’ve mentioned in a Ginobili type role, could be a major asset.
I believe my proposed lineup would spread the team’s talent more evenly, and generally put players in better positions to succeed. Let Jrue run point, Lou be a scorer, Igoudala play his natural position, Brand play low post on offense while Speights plays the high post, Dalembert comes in to guard the basket during the “small ball” lineups and Thad’ versatility allows him comes in as the 6th man for either anyone of the starting 5.
hawks got put in their place last night after a strong showing in the first two quarters. i thought they were ready to make some noise, seems they still cant play good defense. hopefully Brand returns, we should have a good chance of beating them. either Thad(M. Williams) or Iguodala (J.Johnson)should go off in this one.
Morty – I big reason I have concerns about Speights is because I don’t trust Brand. 3 nice games, then hurt. I feel like we could experience that for the rest of his time here. Sporadic play and nagging injuries.
jkay – Really? That’s what you think? Wishful thinking at best, even with Atlanta on the 2nd game of a b-t-b.
Can’t really talk about another team not defending in the context of the Sixers. 14th ranked defense for the Hawks – 26th for the Sixers.
Did you watch the game last night? Better yet did you look at the boxscore fully?
Hawks were up 12 at the half 51-39 and their defense was pretty damn good in the first half. The difference wasn’t defense (held Orland almost 6 points below their season average) it was their offense that killed them.
They only scored 25 total points in the second half.
That comment seems to be prematurely jumping to a conclusion based on one game. The Hawks are still 11-4 with road wins in Boston and Portland and home wins against Portland, Denver and Miami.
Dannie, I think you’re overrating him, but not nearly as much as GM Stefanski did. A “good productive player” doesn’t run counter to team goal of winning with a guiding egotism (which whispers to him that he is somehow SPECIAL on a court) that’s coupled with erratic decision-making & correlative performance … on-and-off D, stretches of offensive passivity, goofy halfcourt game (Loyd Free w/o torrid scoring ability) including ego-based fancy assist concern, frequent TOs and brick shooting (FG & FT). One of the best gallopers and tomahawk dunkers in NBA; otherwise an average player.
Brand: Andrew Lang with an attitude.
Missed last 5 quarters due to “tight” hammy … maybe 4 more tonight. Philly’s still ready, Elton. Are you?
Dannie: giving up 50 pts in 2 qarters, isnt that defense? check out how many offensive rebounds and resulting putback dunks Howard had in the 3rd quarter alone. they hit shots in the 1st half i’ll give you that but they have never been a high voltage offensive team. you could say they resemble the sixers a bit needing fast break points or easy baskets. you could tell they were gonna come down to earth once the Magic tightened it up.
as per holding the Magic below their season average, they were also held to 74 in a loss at Oklahoma City and 80 in Detroit. not sure what that means.
i’m not a hawks fan. was just rolling with what everyone is saying about them. i almost expect them to fade back into medicority after the hot start, like last year. they are a much more talented team, for some reason we just match up well against them.
12 games over .500 last year is mediocre? I really want to know what you think the Sixers are then.
So when a team gives up 50 in a half at any point in the season they all of a sudden are not a solid defensive team?
The Hawks are and average defensive rebounding team and well, um its Dwight Howard. He does get a bout 4 offensive boards per game against everyone. He got 2 additional last night. Big deal. They did about as good a job as they could locking up Howard in the first half. He got off in the second as he needed to. He can be a dominant player against any team. It happens. I don’t see how that makes the Hawks any worse.
The Hawks are probably just average defensively and above average offensively especially when it comes to not turning the ball over (best in the NBA) and offensive rebounding (5th).
Besides all that, the point was that I see no logical reason at all why anyone would think the Sixers have “a good chance” of beating anyone at this point. I think the Sixers have proved that to us already.
Keep Johnson somewhat in check (will get his), body up Josh Smith (disrupt his athletic rhythm and opportunity buckets), get out on Bibby beyond arc/use him at the other end, force TOs, move the ball for open quality shots, TEAM rebounding effort, make FTs: conditions of possible Sixers win. Horford presents problems. If Boston & Cleveland games energy is missing, 5th straight L. One advantage to depleted roster: guys dressing are apt to be ready and eager to play. Should be fun to watch. Dannie & Pete, your upclose reporting will be of interest.
Yeah I am looking forward being down there first time this season. Experience the 29th ranked attendance first hand. Get to see how Jordan interacts on the sideline. How players look on the bench. Feel if there is any energy there. Good opponent to help push Sixers level of play up a notch or two.
Brand is a game-time decision for tonight still.
LA Steve, funny but after watching the Celts game I felt the same as you. Seemed Iggy just forced the action too much when nothing was there. I was surprised when I looked at the boxscore.
With the roster as currently constituted, I expect Thad to be the focal point for much of the offense. He does have that scorer mentality. Even when he misses he keeps pumping them up. I’m looking forward to seeing the Jrue/Thaddeus show! Hopefully Iggy accepts that.
SFW – Disagree. I see Speights as the focal point of this offense down the line. He can flat out shoot the ball. From a scorer perspective Speights is the Sixers best shooter (Kapono isn’t a scorer, just a shooter to be clear). He makes too high a percentage of shots from the perimeter and has just enough post game combined with athleticism (hopefully the knee doesn’t hinder this) to score consistently inside as well. I think he would be more reliable of scorer than Thad, until Thad proves he can consistently make perimeter shots.
If we are talking about guys who are scorers and not playmakers, Speights is better than Thad as the focal point offensively.
Ideally, I prefer we get someone in here that can score (and shoot well) but also can create both for himself and others well. Thad lacks greatly in that area which is why Iguodala is more versatile in that respect.
Dannie, Speights wasn’t on my radar. Thinking in the short term. Understand your point. Once Thad get’s comfortable with his perimeter game which is looking better of late, I think we may see him blosom into a goto guy. This is a golden opportunity for him; however, don’t know how the coach is going to game plan his new offensive lineup.