Here is what I hope will happen when I am at the game tonight…
The Sixers play their first complete game of the season and the Lakers playing a good game as well. That’s all I am asking for. I am not even asking for a win tonight – that is probably asking to much. I simply want our team to put together 48 minutes of good, solid, hard fought basketball. Minimal turnovers. A decent field goal percentage, 3pt percentage and free throw percentage. Solid defense. Solid overall offense. And good coaching decisions and rotations. That’s it. Is that too much to ask?
Will that be enough to beat the Lakers? I don’t know. But the only way we can realistically determine the ceiling for this basketball team as currently assembled is actually watch them put together 4 quarters of basketball playing to the best of their ability against an elite team. If they do that and still get trounced, we know changes are mandatory because they aren’t good enough. If they do that and win, we know this team can be better than what we’ve seen so far. If they do that and only lose by a little bit, we know they are good and only need tweaks to either the roster and style of play. Is that fair?
What are you guys looking for in tonight’s match up against one of, if not the, best team in the NBA?
Here are my inside the game individual areas to look for…
The Lakers are huge inside which means Sammy MUST play well for the Sixers to have a chance. Considering the front court Sammy will have to contend with, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets into early foul trouble. But I really am hoping he rises to the occasion tonight. Theo will also need to contribute off the bench defensively to slow down Gasol and Bynum.
I fully expect the offense to sputter. The Lakers have the right players to defend the Sixers straight up. Are the players on this team good enough to score on a regular basis against straight up man-to-man defense? We don’t have many shooters for them to worry about. We only have one inside player to think about, and I think Gasol and Odom could defend him straight up inside and on the perimeter. Derrick Fisher is big and strong enough to handle Miller in the post and certainly good enough to keep him from penetrating as well. If Kobe really wants to he could really make Andre Iguodala look bad tonight on both sides of the ball. If he really wants to I think he could prevent Iguodala from even getting a single good shot attempt. How will Iguodala respond? Speights will need to be a release point on offense because there is a good chance the Lakers simply forget or overlook him.
With that said the one knock on the Lakers is their propensity to get lax on defense. The Sixers could induce this simply by playing extremely hard on the defensive end. If the Lakers have to work hard for scores their natural response is to conserve energy on defense so they can get it back on the offensive end.
The other way is turning this into a 80-point game. I really don’t want the Sixers getting involved in a running game or force the issue. I’d rather them take their opportunity breaks but really milk the clock and force the Lakers to defend for long stretches of time. Now I know this sounds counter-intuitive to the style of play every one wants the Sixers to play. But if this game is about who can score more and who can score the fastest, the Sixers have no chance. The Lakers are better at that. Make them defend for 18-20 seconds every possession.
Thaddeus Young should have another one of this good starts going against Radmanovic early. He will need to take advantage of that while he can because he will have his work cut out for him defending Odom in the post.
Whose bench plays better will be a HUGE key to the game. The Sixers bench needs to step up as a collective unit for once this season.
Sixers, all I ask is that you give me a good, complete game with tons of effort and energy.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I!m strickly going to talk about the defensive end. #1] Sammy and Theo have to be up to the Bynum challenge, we can!t go small while he is in there. #2] I hope Reggie is available to “get in Gasol!s face” because softness is an issue when it comes down to Pau. #3] I hope Royal gets time on Koby, I!m real leery of A.Miller, Willie or Rush having to guard him at all for more than a possession or two.
From what ive seen so far in his career, Iggy has done a reasonable job playing defense on kobe and he always seems to step up his game when they play the Lakers.
Sadly, I don’t think that will be the case tonight
I agree that this is a good chance to see what we have as a team, if both teams play hard with energy, and play solid offense. Hopefully we won’t get destroyed and we will see what we need to do as far as roster changes.
Did anyone see that the Raptors fired head coach Sam Mitchell. Suprising move I think. Wonder if Mo will be #2 to go in the Atlantic division.
There are a couple things I’m curious about. I noticed that Iguodala played 47 minutes, Miller played 44, and Brand played 43 last night (Willie logged 40 off the bench). I’m wondering if, in an attempt to establish some consistency, Cheeks is going to continue having these guys log major minutes every night. Besides the immediate impact this might have on tonight’s game, it’s a long season, you know? Iguodala is still young, but there has to be some concern that, should this continue for a while, it will affect Miller and Brand somewhere down the road.
Another thing is that Cheeks seems to go small at the first opportunity and to stay small as long as he can. I don’t think he likes Willie that much, so I’m wondering if it has more to do with getting Sammy off the floor or getting Iguodala over to the 3. Since Speights played 26 minutes in place of Sammy last night, I’m leaning toward the latter. Of his 47 minutes last night, Iguodala played 36 at the 3. Based on what I read under the last topic, many of you feel that Iguodala played better last night. Coincidence?
BTW….Could someone ask the Sixers to pleeeeease inform every broadcasting team in the league how to pronounce Speight’s last name? I watch the Sixers on NBA League Pass, so I end up listening to the opposition’s broadcasters almost every night. Nobody knows how to say the kid’s last name. I’ve heard Sprites, Spites, Speets, Sprates, and I don’t know what the heck else out of these guys. There aren’t so many guys on a team’s active roster that the opposition’s “professional” broadcasters can’t get the pronunciations down. Am I wrong?
bski, your the man bro. Ever since that clippers game my friends and I have adapted to just calling him Sprites! Hey, how did you get a face next to your name?
Greek…Dannie told me how. Go to gravatar.com, sign up, and upload an image. Then it automatically links to your e-mail address (I think) and appears here.
iguodala is playing very well in the 1Q, staying in froint of Kobe and particularly passing on bad shots. also , sammy had 2 great passed to a cutting andre miller, big improvement over a hideous move to the hoop
I’m OK with being behind in the first quarter if the difference is on four shots Kobe took with hands in his face. I really hate the LouWillGreen backcourt, though. Our offense just seems to collapse. Lou Williams is NOT an excuse for a point guard.
LOU WILLIAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why the F!@# is he playing! He has signal handedly caused the Sixers to be down at the end of the 1st, He has turned the ball over at least 3 times and missed about 3 jump shots (one a three swatted out of bounds by Gasol) in approx 5 mins of playing time.
I don’t hate him at all everybody struggles but MO Cheeks has got to play Ivey enough is enough!
By the way Andre Miller is tearing up so far.
Guys, you all hit on it. When A.Miller leaves the floor the turnovers start and you have a true backup point that is playing with A.Miller instead of for him. Mo, bring in L.Will. when A.Miller is in the game and Royal when he is not , its not that hard. A.McKie, Iggy is getting a lot of 3 minutes, did you see Bilski!s numbers from last night.
The timeout the Lakers took towards the end of the second quarter shows the big difference between these two teams. We cut their lead to single digits and are looking sharp all around. Jackson calls a timeout to make substitutions and call some plays. The Sixers all just kind of stand around. The Lakers score 6 unanswered points out of the timeout. Why can’t this happen to us???
Sam Mitchell was fired today, and he was a coach of the year recently. I would like to think that the Sixers, who look even more lost than the Raps, would be smart enough to follow suit. But we just signed Mo Cheeks to another extension, a move that was unnecessary at the time and is looking plain foolish right now. I don’t believe in rewarding a coach for a first round loss, even if the team did look sharp at times. The biggest paradigm shift for the team last season came at the orders of Stefanski, remember. A stupid move, and one that is affecting the rest of the moves Ed made over the summer now, with Rush and Ivey not playing any minutes and Brand looking like a square peg in a circle hole.
On the plus side, Ivey is looking sharp today, and it seems that Iggy and Miller have awakened a bit. Let’s hope this isn’t just temporary.
Lou must have heard me he is playing a lot better in the 4th. Under control and hitting open shots.
One question
Where in the World is Elton Brand?
Much obliged BSKI
Brand missing that stand still dunk was pathetic. At least there ball movement was better tonight. Ed wanted more passing and less iso’s and it looks like we got that. I bet you he is getting tired of doing Cheeks job for him.
Irony of the night, our weakest position was power forward, where is Reggie when you need him. Otherwise, good effort. A.Miller,Iggy and L.Will. even are rounding into form.
The Lakers defense was something, not exactly Celtic defense, but great enough to represent the West. They did an excellent job on Brand. If only he scored in double figures, maybe 14 pts, then perhaps it would have helped. Lankier, taller players with great arm length have bothered Elton Brand in his career! Even Rasho Nesterovic did a great job on Brand in the Sixers win over Indiana. But the Sixers certainly played harder and hopefully it will carry over, but where are Evans and Rush? Soon, we are going to need Donyell for those big threes. Speights was a ROOKIE tonight! Great effort in a loss, though. Maybe if we can really turn it up, we can PERHAPS return the favor at Staples on St. Patrick’s Day! And Kobe– Kobe is KOBE!
Effort. First time all year we gave effort from the start in consecutive games. Will be a 45 win team by just giving consistant effort. As suede continued to point out accountibility is the key. That has finally arrived. I think the coaches are reading this blog. Players are definitely being held accountible for there actions these last 2 games. Both Iggy & Andre referenced reviewing of films after the game. Let’s not forget the Sixers have made a concerted effort to build a team of character players. These players will PRACTICE(AI???) and review the films and therefore improve. I’m looking forward to their continued improvement!
GREAT JOB ED STEFANSKI FOR CALLING OUT THE TEAM’S PLAY SO FAR!!
what did ed say? or was that sarcasm?
Pete, this article doesn’t exactly spell it out but gives you an idea.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-76ers-stefanski-cheeks&prov=ap&type=lgns
You got what you wanted Dannie. Effort. I liked what I saw.
I’ll write a little something after the UNC game.
the sixer played really well i thought. unfortunately could never get over the hump. lakers are just too good. at one point they were down 18 and couldnt believe it because they were playing well. iguodala played his best game of the year. at least 5 times he passed up on a bad look. took only open jumpers, hit them, didnt turn the ball over and finished incredibly strong around the basket.
the lake shot 58% but i dont think it was lack of defense. just too strong inside from gasol and bynam.
According to the ESPN game recap, Elton Brand strained his right hamstring. Had Brand been healthy, PERHAPS the Sixers could have won the game. Wow, can you imagine that! I hope he is healthy and ready for the next game at Detroit because this PF works his butt off unlike his previous Sixer predecessors (Webber, Thomas, etc).
A.McKie, you called him by his real name !!!! Just kidding. Rob, I don!t know if healthy or not he was going to be a major factor, they are saying he got hurt around the 5 minute mark yet he played a lot longer, he just has trouble with the taller athletic types. Sammy played with attitude tonight, I wish he could do that consistantly. Did I say A.Miller was just an expiring contract last week, oops.
Also, Iggy is starting to play much better. Now, let’s see how he fares against the Pistons– a new look Piston team that is. The Pistons since the trade have been wildly inconsistent. They beat the great teams, yet they lose to the bad ones. Mediocrity right there. It could be a battle of two mediocre teams at the Palace and hopefully the Sixers will be ready! Hopefully, Brand will be ready on Friday!
Looking ahead on Christmas Day– I am looking forward to seeing the Lakers host the Celtics that day. This season it will be a rematch for the Finals in 09. The result will most likely be the same, regardless of who has homecourt advantage!