Are you the Jack Nicholson of the Sixers?

Speaking of brain farts, when they play to the level of their competition, such as those below or hovering around 0.500, they take a couple of possessions off.  Also, Andrew Bynum really means a lot to them.  They are very thin in the frontcourt and the frontcourt starters play a bulk of the minutes.  That results in the havoc the Lakers can create offensively,even though they still average the same 108 pts, but it is not the same without Bynum.  Plus, with Bynum, it results in a MUCH higher point differential defensively. 

This season:
                                    With Bynum             Without Bynum
Points scored:         108.3                           108.0          
Points allowed:         97.5                           102.3

Since Bynum went down, their point differential in their wins has decreased and very few  blowouts have occured since the injury.

Don’t get me wrong, the Lakers will most likely win tonight’s game, but a little brain fart here and there, you never know( but that’s only a slight chance)!  Let’s hope we can make things interesting, and I can’t wait to read your post for the Lakers!

Dannie: good point bout Odom being a lefty. Credit Thad, but in post, opponents still havent stamped it in their memory that he is a southpaw and force him right.

Greek: Joe Johnson trade would be a steal for us. Will never happen but if we had the opportunity, he would be our go to guy. Miller will keep him in check considering he’s a little bit of a loose cannon. Ideal fit at 2. Thats kinda why he’s Atl franchise player right?

jjg: is your button stuck on perpetual sarcasm? but u’re probably right; it will be playing around till they get serious and send us packing.

Kobe is good defensively most, if not all of the time.  He is GREAT when he is truly motivated.

I will toss in Jordan Farmer and Lamar Odom as a good individual defenders. 

So let’s look at this with some context and basketball application.  I have them with 5 above average individual defenders.  Now take a look at the positions they play vs. the positions of the Sixers top scorers.  Starting to see the picture more clearly?  Ariza and Kobe will hound Iguodala and/or Thad all game.  Fisher and Farmar will hound Miller.  Then think about Odom defending Thad.  He will make it tougher to post up.  Being a lefty himself he won’t have the brain farts right-hand dominate players tend to have when guarding lefties either.  And although not as quick as Thad by any means, he is a much quicker player than Thad usually faces at the PF spot.  That is a really interesting match up I am looking forward to seeing how Thad responds.

About the Lakers defense.  We gotta stop looking at simple points allowed.  The Lakers are 5th in pace which indicates more possessions for them and their opponents in games.  Typically translates into more points scored.

They are 6th in defensive rating (points per 100 possessions) actually tied with the Sixers.  They are 10th in defensive eFG%.

More importantly they are 3rd in point differential.

Not sure a zone is totally the answer, but it could be one strategy depending on the line up the Lakers have on the floor.  They are only 17th in three point shooting.

Jkay, how about trading Iggy for Joe johnson?  Then we could justify keeping Miller around because his lack of a perimeter game wouldn’t be so magnified.

Would you prefer Joe to iggy?

The only way the Sixers win this game is if we play zone and if the Lakers are unfocused!!  Most of their losses have been due to lack of focus.  Also, Kobe and Gasol are doing a majority of the scoring, while the bench has been sagging lately, since Bynum went down.  But the X-Factors to keep an eye on are: Lamar Odom & Trevor Ariza.

Here is today’s LA Times, another one of coach Jackson’s motivational tactics:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-fyi17-2009mar17,0,6834187.story