Got that first win out of the way, in front of the home crowd no less. Now let’s keep it going against the Knicks.
This game will have a much different feel than last night. The Bucks are offensively inept. That plays right into the Sixers weakness as they are still trying to figure out what winning defense looks and feels like. Last night the Bucks were able to hang with the Sixers and even build a little lead. But they were done in by their inability to keep putting points on the board.
Tonight that won’t be a problem for the Knicks. They are going to run and gun and their #1 strategy is to score as many points as humanly possible. That is their offense and their best defense. Meaning the Sixers defense will be tested.
Particularly our perimeter defense MUST get better. The rotations are still slow and mindless. To give you an idea of how the Sixers perimeter defense will be tested consider that the Knicks have shot a total of 75 threes in the first two games of the season. They have only made 19 putting them at a 25% three-point percentage.
We will need to keep them at that rate or lower. In my opinion, doing so almost ensures a win. The first in this weekend’s multi-team battle against New York.
Looking for another good game from Brand against the Knicks weak front court and for the Sixers to dominate the boards and score a lot of easy baskets in transition.
Again I will watch the beginning of the game then giving priority to the Phillies. I’ll be here chatting (on both games) throughout though.
Sixers vs. Knicks Game Notes
I am going to keep this short.
Offensively we did what every team does against the Knicks …
- Score a lot of points
- Individuals having stand out games
- Shoot a high percentage
None of that matters!
We held a 19 point lead at half time and were up as much as 23 points early in the third quarter. Look at the breakdown by quarters:
- 1st Quarter: 40-15 Sixers
- 2nd Quarter: 30-26 Sixers
- 3rd Quarter: 26-30 Knicks
- 4th Quarter: 26-41 Knicks
We scored just fine every quarter. But the Sixers defense deteriorated even worse than it was in the first half to finish the game.
Al Harrington fouled out with 42 points on 16-22 from the field. Gallinari finished with 30 points on 9-22 from the field (8-16) from three. We made those dudes look like elite players. Pitiful.
The Sixers had a chance to make a statement. A statement that said we aren’t going to continue with our inconsistent play. We aren’t going to stoop to the level of weaker opponents. Instead they said we are the same team we were last season.
We won and were able to pull it out in overtime when they very easily could have folded. I don’t really care for silver lining but I know some optimist do.
The type of defense they played tonight and so far in the first three games will have them losing by 20+ to Boston on Tuesday and most “good” teams in the NBA.
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Their first three possessions, the Sixers have rune the same exact play.
Thad better start playing some defense on Gallinari or he will get lit up all night.
Words don’t accurately communicate how happy I am that Bob Salmi got canned this summer. Ed is the man.
40 first quarter points. Knicks stink. They don’t defend and they foul a lot. So far so good for the Sixers.
40 points in the 1st quarter is pretty impressive. Hopefully I’ll get to catch a little more of the game before the Phillies get rolling.
the guy dressed like Ronald McDonald looks like a child molester.
Eddie Jordan needs to figure out his second quarter line-up. They have been giving up leads or getting into holes so far in the first three games.
They are restless in the Garden.
Dannie what’s you’re take on Brand tonight. I think he’s looked good so far, he seems at the very least in shape and more comfortable in the offense. Still a way to go though.
I hate watching all games involving Mike D’Antoni teams. It’s just the 100% no defense game. I mean the Sixers are scoring a lot because the Knicks are horrible. But it’s also deceiving because the Knicks are actually shooting 48.7% from the field right now and 37.5% from three. Would be better for them if they didn’t just miss a couple wide open threes in transition.
Sixers defense is still not good, but they can get by against teams like the Bucks and Knicks.
So far my opinion of Brand is he was trying to find his touch on his shot. So far the last two games he seems to have found it. I am still not happy with his ability to score in traffic and he isn’t really rebounding all that well yet.
I’m glad he didn’t put up back to back bad games to start the season otherwise I might be extremely down on him. He’s showing a glimmer of hope which is more than we’ve got from him in a long time.
The one thing I want to keep an eye on is if teams continue to double team him even if he isn’t really doing his scoring down low. If so that will open things up for our offense.
Andre’s had a perfect first half.
Iguodala does look good. I really liked his first three, I thought they moved well and manufactured that open look.
Knicks lack of defense considered I think you have to like EJ’s offense tonight. It looks like the players have a decent idea of what to do with the ball. You aren’t seeing alot of forced shots and wasted possessions. Again, it’ll be nice to see this kind of performance against a team that could even spell “defense.”
The Knicks and than the Celtics, talk about opposite ends of the spectrum defensively; Thad finished with his right hand, make a nice bounce pass for a layup and attempted to bully Gallanari, 3 good things to see. Why would Labron want in on this circus ?
Suede I actually think the LeBron to the Knicks has been overblown. He is MUCH more likely to go to the Nets. They are slated to have more money than the Knicks, have two good young players at key positions (point and center), will be moving to Brooklyn in a new building that looks ridiculous AND will have a new young owner worth 9 billion dollars or more with Jay-Z there.
If Cleveland doesn’t win or even make it to the Finals I wouldn’t be surprise to see him bolt for Jersey.
Jesus Gallinari can fucking shoot!
I can’t imagine LeBron wanting to go to a place like. You add LBJ to the Knicks and they still suck. I agree Dannie, the Nets have much more potential and money. Plus, LBJ is developing into a hell of a defensive player why would he want to play for D’Antoni.
Need to get Jrue some court time.
Interesting Jordan brought out a zone defense for a possession. Didn’t work.
omg! i turn this game off coz i think it’s over, flick back to it and it has gone in to overtime WTF! how the hell did they blow the lead
Tim – They don’t play ANY defense. It’s that simple. We weren’t going to keep shooting 65% from the field.
We will probably pull this out now that Harrington and his 42 points fouled out. But this team looks like complete shit defensively. Won’t win very many games playing this way.
I finished watching this game before turning to the phils. Couldn’t close out the knicks but finally got the job done.
I liked the fact that Iggy was furious about letting the Knicks back in the game. When they cut away to commercial Iggy was screaming like a madman in the Sixers huddle than he had that huge and 1 dunk in transition in OT, which kinda turned the tide back to the sixers. I wish he would dunk like that all the time around the rim he did miss a wide open layup in the 4th Qt.
Hard to really tell with the games we’ve had, but I have been really surprised by the play of Lou Will, his defense is not good, but he has looked real good on offense under control and scoring efficiently. Way better than I expected, interesting to see how this goes the rest of the year.
This is terrible… I’m still really dissapointed with elton brand, he is getting paid more then anyone on the team for what? to take ten midrange jumpers from the left elbow every game and make 2 of them. Did anyone see his jumper get blocked by nate robinson and then by chris duhon??? he has a whole foot height advantage over nate! both of new yorks point gaurds blocked brand! this is worrying. What also worries me is brand is not rebounding well, he was 1-5 in after halftime and in the whole game…. The entire time he was on the court he took a total of 2 shotsin the paint. Ladies and gentlemen i present to you the sixers ‘low post presence’ for the next 4 years
Do you think the clippers would take him back for a bag of basketballs and some season tickets??? coz i’m just saying, I would take that in a cocaine heartbeat. Seriously though i want to see maresse speights getting consistent minutes, not like the milwaukee game. The fact is when he is on the court our team produces he actually has me really excited, one bright spot on our team. Dannie could you just imagine If we had this lineup which we could have mind you.
C-maresse speights
PF- josh smith
SF- thaddeus young
SG- Andre iguodala
PG – Ty lawson
bench
-Louis williams
-samuel dalembert
-kapono etc….
I’m just saying, if i were gm lol…
I’d rather NOT have Josh Smith and have the money to use on someone else. Smith is a decent player but someone I would blow my load on with all my cap space.
The question that has been bugging me is how much worse of a team would we be if we saved the money we used on Brand and our line-up right now had Speights as the PF?
I think we would be about the same team but with tremendous cap flexibility. Thing is even if Brand returns near form we still aren’t competing for anything more than a second round playoff series against a superior team. To me that is the ceiling and that is far too low considering we are stuck with this roster for a few more years.
Tim: Speights on rotations moves like my grandma. till he gets better court awareness and defense, he is a bench player. will get exposed in starter minutes.
Dannie: you’re not the only one that has thought in that line. Speights is rebounding well so drop off in defense wouldnt be too much. wish this was the NFL and we could just cut players, that would make rebuilding very effecient.
never thought I would be saying this but it seems our problem is not the starting line-up, its the freakin bench that gives up leads. Iguodala continues to play very well. I HATE watching games against the Knicks, its so misleading. would be nice if they remembered that the Cs swept us last year and surprised them on Tuesday. at least one win in the series. if we can just keep it close, anything can happen.
GO SIXERS! dont get blown out.
Spieght!s defense is worrying me less this year, his effort seems better and as long as Sam or Elton are out there with him, preferably Elton, he isn!t exposed as much. It is more about our perimeter guys not just manning up, something we seem to discuss every fall on this blog.Tim, from the few Wash. games I saw under Jordan his p.f. [Jamison] played out at the 3 pt. line most of the time ,with an occasional post up , which Elton is doing now.Both our coach and Elton, I believe, will make slight adjustments as the year goes on and find a middle ground because Elton!s game isn!t quite Jamison!s game. Dannie, I have to admit, offensively this team is fun to watch and Spieghts is looking more and more like Sam!s replacement in a year or so. But we can!t become Pheonix East !!!!! I want to see if we can create good scoring oppurtunities against a great defensive team Tues. and hopefully show something against a quality team.
Boston is already playing at a very high level. they dont waste shots, dont miss shots and challenge the opponents offense on almost every possession. they efficiently laid down Cleveland and their pumped up crowd and dismantled a Bulls team with Derrick Rose and uh well nobody else. it’ll be tough just to stay in the game.
Dannie, in the “imaginary world without Brand” I have it playing out like this:
2 summers ago Clips resign Brand. Atl matches offer the Smith. The Sixers end up “settling” for Camby (same deal as Clips made, giving up 2nd rounder and taking on his 2 years of salary.)
That would leave the Sixers better this year, and then letting Speights become the starter after this year when Camby comes off the cap. The team would be chock full of young talent and be under the cap. Still not in position to sign a max 2010 FA outright, but with the finantial flexibility to take advantage of the market. Also, they could package and expiring like Camby along with a young player to land a star at the deadline, and then resign them with Bird rights (Amare or Bosh?)
Again, fantasy world, but that is how it could have played out without Brand.
Regarding Speights & Brand, I have had this nagging feeling that this will be the Sixers version of Thome & Howard. The question is, can they play together for any length of time? Depending on the opponent, I say yes
Hefty praise. When asked about Williams’ ability to recognize how each teammate likes to be passed to, Jordan said Williams was not even the team’s best.
“Jrue Holiday is the best,” he said. “I think Jrue is going to be the best in the offense that I’ve ever had.”
Tracking down Bucks causes brain to get lost in woods. Knickerbockers’ defense is in Sleepy Hollow, along the Hudson. Jordan’s snappy evaluations will find equilibrium starting tonight after Celtics get out their fiddles and start the foot-stompin’.
Re the brand siging. If, at the time, I understood the arcane NBA salary cap rules, the Sixers had a brief window to sign a FA or make a trade w/out taking back salary, but once the Igoudala and Williams’ contracts were signed, that window closed. Meaning that even if they had not signed Brand, the Sixers still would not have any cap space at the moment. Cap space will come again the summer after next when Kapono and Dalembert come off the books.