I don’t know about you guys but this game worries me – a lot. Last season the Sixers were 0-2 against the Warriors with an average deficit of 12 points (109.5 – 97.5). Now this year’s Warriors are without Al Harrington, Baron Davis and Monta Ellis which makes a huge difference. But what I remember is the Sixers trying to run with this team and weren’t able to keep up with that style of play. Yes, the Sixers like to run themselves, but Don Nelson’s entire offensive philosophy is to put pressure on the defense by running and forcing the action at all times. What worries me more is how Golden State spreads the floor to let their perimeter players breakdown their man for plenty of drives and kicks.
That doesn’t bode well for the Sixers. Their perimeter defense has been just OK in my opinion this season and they will be put to the test all game. This team can get very hot and if the Sixers can’t keep the Warriors perimeter players out of the lane it will be a very long night for us.
What to Watch For
- Perimeter defense – Can the Sixers wing players limit penetrations? This will be even more critical if Jamal Crawford plays today. ESPN is reporting there is an “outside shot” he could make his debut tonight.
- Adjustments to small ball – How will Mo Cheeks handle Don Nelson’s 4 wing player line-ups. He already said he is sticking with his normal starting line-up. But we very well might see a lot more of Elton Brand at center and Thaddeus Young at power forward. Is that the right strategy? Should we adjust to them or see if they can handle our big line-up with their smaller players (i.e Stephen Jackson or Corey Maggette on Elton Brand or Samuel Dalembert)?
- Mo Cheeks’ 2nd unit – When asked about the leads the second team has been surrendering here is how cheeks responded:
- Sixers 3pt attempts and shooting - It’s very easy to get caught up in the run-and-gun style the Warriors play. And since they will be small at power forward they will likely have to double team often. The Sixers can’t get too three-point shot happy today. But Mo should consider putting Rush/Marshall in to take advantage of it.
- Anthony Morrow - Here’s what I wrote when the Sixers still needed a shooter:
“I have to be more conscious of putting guys in the game with guys that have already been playing, we can cure that problem.”
I watched a lot of ACC this season as a UNC fan so I know for a fact Anthony Morrow is an NBA caliber shooter. He has good range, great form and decent size at 6′5. He shot 42.1% on 5 attempts per game for his career at Georgia Tech. Last season shot a blistering 44.8% on 5.6 attempts. He apparently signed to play in Ukraine as a fall back plan if he isn’t picked up by an NBA club this summer. – Who Should the Sixers Sharpshooter Be?
In six games (started the last 3) Morrow is averaging 25.3mpg, 15.3ppg on 10 shot attempts per game, 56.7% from the field, 60% from three, 12-12 from the line, 3.5 boards, and only 1.2 turnovers per game. Including a 37 points -11 boards game in his first NBA start. That was the highest point total by an undrafted rookie in the common draft era in NBA history. Can someone explain to why the Sixers didn’t snap this kid up whose salary is more than half of Kareem Rush’s? Check out what John Hollinger had to say about him.
Pete will be at the game so hopefully he will have some intersting tidbits for us afterwards. 5pm start tonight so I wanted to get this post out early. Not to mention there is a very good chance people will want an escape from the Eagles this afternoon. One thing is for sure, it should be an exciting game to watch. I am looking forward to it.
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If Crawford doesn’t play, should be a win. Scared of Warriors without Ellis? Only if Rick Barry suits up. Sixers perimeter defense is spotty, but Nelson’s crew doesn’t have enough firepower presently. And who rebounds for Warriors? Brand/Dalembert/Speights/Evans/Ratliff combos should paste ‘em inside. Only way Sixers get dumped is if they don’t bring requisite focus and intensity.
JJG - You can keep going with the “should be a win” train of thought if you want. I don’t think the Sixers have proven they deserve that much credit yet.
JJG - Andres Biedrins is the leading rebounder in the NBA and they gang rebound using their quickness. Also, because they usually play 4 guys on the perimeter that means Brand will often be away from the basket out of ideal rebounding position. That increases the importance of Miller, Thad and Iguodala boxing out on the perimeter and not always trying to leak out after after perimeter shots.
Dannie It’s not a “train”, it’s just one thought (with a dab of elaboration) and my assessment on today’s match-up. With all the pre-season hoopla about how Sixers are gonna run teams to death, a little pre-”race” confidence against another group of (depleted) run ‘n gunners goes with the territory.
Dannie I’ve read where Biedrens is an underrated utility player, does a bunch of little things to help ya win. I suppose his rebound totals have something to do with shot attempts and Nelson’s game pace.
JJG – The pace of Golden State certainly has something to do with his totals. But not the fact that he has the 3rd highest rebound rate in the NBA. By the way Anthony Randolph has the highest rebound rate in the NBA and averages 15.8 rebounds per 36 minutes which is pretty damn good. Toss in Brandan Wright and that teams has a nice bundle of young front court players.
Dannie If Biedrins, Randolph and Wright are as tough inside as some stats suggest and you assert, sounds like a real skirmish is on the menu today, provided (5-7) Warriors’ shooters don’t crank cold. Seems like the perfect scenario for Lou Williams to find some rhythm.
JJG – It’s weird you would think the Sixers would thrive playing against a team that wants to push the tempo. But the last two seasons the Sixers are 0-4 against the Warriors and Don Nelson’s style of play and are losing by an average of 11 points.
I agree this definitely could be a game Lou Williams breaks out of his funk. 17.5 ppg, 54.2% from the field, 80% from three, 4.5 apg, 3 tov in 30 mpg last season against Golden State.
Dannie– this game scares me as well. But the Warriors have scared other teams as well. Offensively, the Warriors are brilliant and unbelievable on offense, they play with a reckless abandon, they play a helter-skelter game, and play the game without a script. Don Nelson in terms of offense is BRILLIANT. The Warriors can MISS 10 staright shots, but then they can all of a sudden HIT 10 straight shtos. Blowing the Warriors out is no easy task. The best thing about Nellie’s offense is that his reacts brilliantly on offense in terms of finding immediate mismatches and capitalizing on the mismatches on the offensive end. The players on the court can identify them without having Nellie tell them where the mismatches are all the time. Mo should definitely take that page from Nellie when looking for mismatches and his team has to learn to identify the mismatches on their own without someone constantly telling them where they are on the offensive end.
Defensively, the Warriors are atrocious, but outscoring them is their defense! Nellie teams are not known for their defense. For the Sixers, this game should be similar to that game against the Pacers. Now, we have to keep up with them and not trail by so much. The Sixers should not fall into the trap of trying to play their style of game. That is where the Warriors pull a Road Runner on you and we become Wiley Coyote and look silly in the process.
Interesting Matchup:
Corey Maggette v.s Elton Brand (Former Clippers)
Dannie My guess on the recent 0-4 showing is that Nelson’s guys go to spots, have greater cognition of teammate location on court (especially re arc), whereas Sixers’ running is more freelance and scattershot. Warriors shoot it better in long run, and keep the pedal to the metal. Running pace and constant decision-making wears guys down, even well-conditioned athletes. Sixers need to dictate today; get back on D, pound the boards.
Anyone know if Crawford is going to play? As streaky as a 3pt shooter he is and as much as he likes to jack them up, combined with the Sixers usual inability to run people off the line, it could get pretty ugly.
On the bright side, with Nelson’s love for the run and gun, the Sixers may be able to really open things up in the open court for themselves. I would like to see Thad play some PF along with Brand at the C to see how it works, this match up could be the perfect opportunity.
Either way it should be an interesting and fun game to watch. Hopefully they come out with the same intensity early and find away to keep it up when the starters take their breaks.
Looking absolutely beautiful so far, don’t like the fact they started jacking up so many jumpers but they’re falling so I won’t complain too much.
Putting aside the fact that we’re playing the Warriors, would anyone agree that Iguodala’s jumper is looking better? Not only in terms of being more on target, but also a slightly “better” shooting form. I’ve only seen the first half highlights via nba.com…
Another scary game where we are up than close at the end. A Miller hits another big three Wow!
Brand had a good first half but not a very good 4th, He looks uncomfortable on the pick and pop sometimes he has a open jump shot but instead drives the ball head first into the paint, or he put the ball on the floor than gets happy feet decides to pull up an that shot often looks real bad cause it is more contested, and his feet aren’t set.
Iggy’s game sometimes looks so ugly like when he drove tonight and threw up an airball off of a drive and he gets too fancy around the basket he needs to be dunking the ball more on drives he got swatted big time by Turiaf tonight and he should have gone up to dunk and got the foul instead he tried a sweeping layup.
Sammy D played great tonight and the rotations seemed better.
If the trend continues and A.Miller can get at least 1 3pt.f.g. a game could help the 1/2 court offense a bit. As bad as our start has been we are 1 game out of the 5 seed early on but there are no gimmes in the bottom rung of teams in the east anymore.
DVR’d the game. Just watched it. some observations.
- Substitutions were different tonight. Subbed earlier. Seemed to work.
- Sammy D came to play!
- Great instincts again from Speights. Loved that quick shot at the end of the qtr. He seems to be really aware of situations.
- Lou Will played better. Just occurred to me that last year he finished most games. This year that’s not happening due to a combination of EBrand, Willie & Thadeus. May be having difficulty with this.
- Could Thad become a Billy C(Kangaroo kid) type player? Seems to be developing a similar game.
- In general, good defensive effort from beginning to end. Offence looked good up to the cold spot in the 4th qtr. We’ll see if this continues tomorrow.