The title says it all. Time for the Sixers to turn their attention and energy to the Phoenix Suns. If they come into Phoenix still high off last night’s game winner and unfocused they can lose this game that I think they certainly should win.
Phoenix is reeling on 4-6 in their last ten and slipping further and further out away from a playoff berth if it’s not a forgone conclusion already. They are (should be) in full desperation mode and will come out and play their style with a ton of energy.
The Sixers will have no problem scoring so it’s all about stopping Phoenix just enough to get the win. That means not turning the ball over and giving them extra possessions and forcing their three point shooters off the line. If we get caught up in a run-and-gun, play no defense game I think that is the way we lose it.
Now, I am not saying the Sixers can’t win that way, but it’s clearly not the optimal strategy against a team that shoots as well as Phoenix does. Make Phoenix use clock to score. Be patient on offense because we should get anything we want on that end of the floor. And take advantage of the Suns sometimes sloppy play and this is a win.
From a strategy standpoint I only have one question for you.
Do you double team Shaq? He has two days rest and should be fresh and looking at Samuel Dalembert as “barbecued chicken.”
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
FLASHBACK: Iguodala’s 32 pts in Phoenix on 15-23 shooting last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMgLFRxY4H4
That is where Shawn Marion meant so much to the Suns, not just offensively, but defensively.
Amare is out, but there is no Diaw to fill in for him like in the 05-06 season! Matt Barnes is playing the PF position–we must take advantage of that mismatch.
The Sixers frontcourt must double team Shaq and if someone has to go one-on-one on Shaq, it would be Ratliff. Tire the ”Big (Fill In the Black)” out. He has so many nicknames. That would be Shaqtastic.
Andre Miller v.s Steve Nash (battle of the craftiest, old point guards).
Big Goal: DEFEND THE THREES!! (last time, that helped us big time!)
Marresse Speights can possibly duplicate that career night he had at home against the Suns!
Thaddeus Young will hopefully shine and shun the Suns again!
We are a MUCH deeper team than the Suns. We must jump on the Suns and put the peddle to the medal before any fatigue occurs for the Sixers. Hopefully, some of our freshier bodies like Speights can help us.
The Suns last wins were against Oklahoma City and Golden State, not exactly great teams!
Despite the fatigue factor, I think the Sixers can get this one!!
GO SIXERS!!!
Here are the Suns’ practice notes from yesterday’s practice and everybody seems to be focusing on Andre Miller now:
http://blogs.suns.com/2009/03/3218/
you guys seem to forget that going back to his days at the miami heat shaq has never played that great against sammy DALEMBERT this is no coincidence either if you look at all their match ups time and time again dealembert seems to get the better of him. Infact some of dalemberts best games of his career have been against shaq.
I think perhaps the reason for this is that sammy is long athletic and light. shaq is fat slow and i’d dare call him athletic. Shaq can’t beat people with quickness because he doesn’t have it and if he tried to be fancy sammy gets up to quickly and would block his shots so he does what he has done most of his career which is bull his way to the basket with brute strength (weight/fat) knocking his defenders off balance.
However beleive it or not sammy is actually a pretty smart defender and because of his light weight more often then not shaq is gonna get hit with a charging foul, 1 or 2 of those and shaq’s short temper will blow and he will let it affect his game like it always does.
Only a motivational Shaq is dangerous! Let the frontcourt handle Shaq, while the backcourt takes care of Nash and Richardson!
To all – Everything I said about Donyell, particularly him deserving no more than garbage time – I was wrong. I realize now I have no business making any basketball decision on any level and barely even deserve to blog my opinions on this site or any others.
Decent game, they need to do something to keep this team from scoring 115 pts.
Can you say…..Shootout?
We are going to need to lock up in the second half and keep them off the offensive boards.
i don’t like to complain about officiating (i think it’s too convenient of an excuse to lose games) and i only saw the second half of this game, but it seemed like down the stretch there was a bad (or at least arguable) call made in favor of the Suns on nearly every possession.
there were bad calls on fouls, turnovers, timing issues, no calls, rule interpretations, everything. did you guys notice this?
Lousy officiating, but really, they ran out of gas. That, and their lousy FT shooting and offensively challenged rotation players caught up with them in this type of shoot-out.
Aside from bad free-throw shooting, that 4th quarter was very unusual in terms of the calls. Jason Richardson’s three pointer should NOT have counted. And how many times has Shaq traveled and fouled?
The Sixers should have used Hack-A-Shaq earlier.
Andre Iguodala, did not look or play like the confident player he was in LA, we NEED that guy back if this team wants to go far!
Well, it’s off to Oakland to take on those pesky Warriors! Hopefully, things are much sunnier for the Sixers in California (Luckily and hopefully, the Warriors will be tired on Friday after playing Thursday against the Lakers in LA on TNT!!)
WILL THE TRUE WARRIORS REVEAL THEMSELVES ON FRIDAY?
GO SIXERS!!
I didn’t see the game. What jumps out at me from the box score is the poor free throw shooting and how Phoenix dominated Philly on the glass. The Suns had 10 more shots.
What has Speights done to land in the dog house. Five minutes 3 boards last night and 4 minutes 3 boards tonight. Last time against Phoenix he blew up, I saw that he got two quick fouls but damn, no more pt the rest of the game? Marshall deserves to play but you still got to find 10-12 for Speights.
Will someone who saw the game discuss why the think Speights disn’t play more. Injury, ineffectiveness, what?
Valley of the Suns. The kind of game ’5 for 12′ Lou Williams could love. A geriatric trio (Nash, 35, 24 & 10; Hill, 36, 21; O’Neal, 37, 26 & 12) ran past “youthful” 76ers. Sam went splat on ‘Big Diesel’ windshield; “Iffy” Iguodala was a shell of his LA heroics-self (has soared to 6 rebounds in last 86 minutes of play). 30 given up in every quarter. Who was guarding Jason Richardson in 2nd half? Bury their heart at Wounded D. Next stop for the transfixing Traveling Dileos: Oracle Arena, Oakland. Will they buckle like the Nimitz Freeway in ‘89? Or dominate like Vida Blue in ‘71?
I said in the pregame the game can’t be an up and down, play no defense style of game. I knew if Phoenix hit their scoring average they win. The numbers said the same thing. I don’t accept “they ran out of gas.” They let Phoenix play exactly the way they wanted too so the Suns dictated play and that led to them running out of gas.
The Sixers needed to come in, slow the game down, force Phoenix to score later in the clock. It was about defense and the Sixers didn’t play ANY.
Besides that the Sixers didn’t come with enough energy. I get it was the second game of a back-to-back, but you are a pro, this is your job and it’s not like you didn’t know what was coming. You have to find a way to get mentally and physically prepared to win the game that next night.
Sixers didn’t do it. Disappointing because Detroit and Miami lost. You can be glass half full or half empty on that point. I am half empty. Sure you didn’t drop any games back. But you clearly missed an opportunity as well. And to me that is much worse.
I am going to the NCAA tournament now and just going to forget about last night and the Sixers for a while.
Dannie: ‘It was about defense and the Sixers didn’t play ANY.’ – I strongly disagree. It wasnt their best effort but they did try. ZWe lost because of Nash and Shaq. Shaq broke down the defense every time, since we had to help on him, which turned out to be a good decision considering dude was freaking rejuvenated or sumthin. He was killing anyone we put on him. he could have dropped 4o last nite! when the ball came out, Nash was there to drain the outside shot and make the RIGHT decisons with the ball. Our fast break defense was terrible but that didnt lose us the game. Those guys did. Well IMO anyway.
generally: I think i’ll give the Sixers a pass on this game. Tired my ass! but it was just such a weird game since they could not stop the Suns on ANY possession. like they were completely helpless out there. we tried zone, even hack-a-shaq (which is an underhanded tactic, despicable for those who use it IMO). NONE of it worked. How could they outrebound us like that? Sixers need to get a hand on ‘em bootstraps for Friday.
Tim: NOW do you think differently bout Shaq? Old man my ass! Dude played the ENTIRE 4th qaurter. geez check out the minutes he logged. probably did more than Thad.
Shaq made recent comments about being in the best shape of his life and being able to put up huge numbers until hes 40. Whenever Shaq makes a comment about playing great, he backs it up by putting up monster numbers. No different last night.
Who cares about the NBA right now? The tourrrrrrrrnnnnnnnneyyyyyyy is on!
Just got off a conference call with Tony DiLeo. He said that, based on Marshall’s last three games, the Sixers would’ve benefited from Marshall playing some in selected games, such as the home loss to the Nets in which they missed their final 18 shots.
Marshall has hit three 3-pointers off the bench in each of the past three games, going a combined 9-for-13, and his plus-minus ratio has been at least +11 every time. He had only totaled 11 minutes since Jan. 16 until Friday’s terrific fourth quarter at the Spectrum against the Bulls.
“Maybe Donyell would’ve come in and helped us open it up a little bit,” DiLeo said. “He’s in a good groove right now. He just stretches the defense, even when he doesn’t have the ball.”
Last 3 games?!? How ’bout based on his career, and in view of Sixers’ dearth of deep shooters. A no-brainer. What took him so long? Dileo’s supposed to be a smart guy. Keeping Marshall and Rush buried on end of bench when halfcourt troubles have plagued Sixers throughout the season makes no sense. The deployment is long overdue. 1,500 minutes of Williams’ junk – egads.
jjg…I’m with you. I’m glad to hear that DiLeo has finally come around and I really appreciate his candor, but come on.
It reminds me of that saying….It’s better to remain silent and have everyone think you are a fool rather than to open your mouth and confirm it.…..you know what I mean?
Him admitting this now really doesn’t instill any confidence in me that having him take over the head coaching duties was the right way to go.
When you can’t guard the man in front of you, then your finished. Andre Miller is a brilliant player, and probably our biggest and only leader on the court but he just can’t get it done on the defensive end. It pains me to say this, but he would be best served coming off the bench next season where his lack of a perimeter Shot and lack of defensive ability would be covered. But then again, why would he re-sign for that role. Let him walk and then go and get Either Nate Robinson, Korver(great trade Ed, you suck), or Anthony Parker.
When Sammy officially leaves us I promise to rent out the biggest Bar on Kos Island and throw a hell raiser! No Joke, it will be the party of the century. Can’t believe that I have to root for this clown.
Hopefully, one day of rest will help! Clearly, fatigue did set in for the Sixers in the 4th and they did not have the weary legs and minds to fully focus and realize that we were walking into the Suns trap of trying to play their game.
Yes, there were questionable calls and it felt like the officials really wanted to do something about that three pointer that was not supposed to count. But they could not, for some reason. These are the sort of things that the officials and the NBA have to continue to improve on in making things a little fairer and squarer.
Shaq, quite frankly, he traveled a couple of times and he got away with a couple of chicken wings. But, why were the Sixers using single-coverage? He thrives on single converage. Why did we not use the Hack-A-Shaq throughout the game? That would have slowed the Suns down for sure!
And we cannot have Iggy be a pedestrian. He must continue reaching his average and beyond if the Sixers were to have any chance of improving their playoff position.
Tonight, the Warriors play the Lakers on TNT in LA. Hopefully, the fatigue will kick in for them tomorrow. The pace will be similar to what we have been dealing with lately, only the big difference is that the Warriors will be settling with jump shots. The Sixers MUST defend the perimeter at ALL TIMES and POUND them on the boards. (Fortunately, Brand is out for us because he really pounded the Warriors).
In our previous meeting with the Warriors at the Wachovia Center, the Sixers really pounded the boards with 54 rebounds (Warriors 38 rebounds). Brand was the man in that game with 23 pts 12 rebounds. Dalembert had 16 rebounds. However, the Warriors made it close due to their 13 blocks (5 from Turiaf). The Sixers were unable to manufacture fastbreak points at all. (Warriors- 15 points Sixers- NONE).
Point is: Play Defense, Pound the Boards, and Keep Playing Marshall to Expand A Lead!!
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=281123020
Damn Rob, you might be the most positive person that I have ever met.
The Greek- somebody has to. But, there is something positive about this team in terms of the players and their demeanors. We can relate to our Philly teams. There are times when we feel just like them and where we feel like the underdogs in our lives and we attempt to overcome all obstacles and perhaps shock the world. Then people will realize, all things come in different shapes and sizes!
Perhaps, tomorrow fatigue will not be the excuse. Frankly, I do expect Coach DiLeo to be prepared and how about Donyell Marshall? We HAVE a shooter and we found him. Call off the search!
Anyway, today is College Basketball(and of course I will catch the Warriors-Lakers game and study our opponent. Whoa Nellie!)
Go Wildcats!! Go Owls! GO SIXERS! How about go PHILLY!!!!
Yeah Rob, thanks for remaining optimistic and sticking with the Sixers. As you know, I’ve been struggling with that very thing for a while now, but I’m still hanging in there and you help with that.
Maybe you should write a self-help book or something: The Power of Positive Affirmation for the Philly Sports Fan
jjg. blog , 17, Rince, Repeat
Lol, your right Rob we do need that. I think that your positiveness balances out my anger.
On a side note, I saw Marshall break into a huge smile after his first trey and I decided to rewind and watch it again. What happened was After he hit that trey he smacked his own huge ass then started smiling. On his next three, sure enough he looked at the philly bench and smacked his own ass again. Hey whatver works, we need perimeter help so Donyell please keep on slapping that ass.
Rob,
Thank you for the positive words. I get very frustrated with so much negative. Rooting, watching and blogging on the sixers is time I want to enjoy. If it becomes a depressing, no fun, I will stop. I actually have started only looking at certain blogs and ignoring others based upon the “mood” of the blog. And, I am enjoying the sixers much more!
OK, I’ll try and be positive and only mention the reasons for optimism:
1. Thad has stepped it up. The kid has a great future as an efficient scorer.
2. Lou seems to have a clue again. He is taking it to the hole and making a living at the line. Even his A/TO has improved a bit recently.
3. The team can see how important having the threat of a shooter is to open up the offense. Maybe this helps them make some tough deceisions moving forward regarding Miller/Iguodala/Thad.
4. Along those lines, they have really impressed landing Thad and Speights in the mid 1st. maybe their future sweet shooting PG will fall to them this year. They also went out and got Brand, maybe they can conjure a similar bold move that lands a shooter/PG.
5. Brand (and Smith) will be back next year. They sure will be deep and versatile in the front court. Maybe someone can be flipped for a shooting specialist (along the lines of Evans for Kopono.)
6. Good seats are still available
“76 trombones came marching by, 76 trombones saved the day!” Above and beyond, 76; excellent parading of hopefulness in light of the facts.
Getting back to DiLeo and why he took so long to utilize Marshall to provide the consistent perimeter shooting we have so sorely lacked, I found the following quotes in today’s Daily News.
From DiLeo: “When we signed Donyell and Kareem, a lot of it had to do with Elton posting up and being double-teamed,” DiLeo said before the Marshall Reclamation Plan was initiated. “That’s when you need other people to knock down shots. With Elton going down, I think that hurt Donyell and Kareem.”
From Rush: “Maybe that’s the way [the Sixers' coaching staff] sees it, but not in my mind,” said Rush, who has been a DNP or inactive for 23 of the past 25 games. “I didn’t play with a big man last year in Indiana and I was pretty productive shooting threes. I don’t think the uptempo pace [favored by DiLeo] affects the way I play. I got a lot of my threes last year on the fastbreak.”
So, we have a slight difference of opinion, wouldn’t you say? Regardless, the fact remains that we have desperately needed solid outside shooting this season and up until now (more than 3/4 of the way through the season) neither one of the two “shooters” who were brought in to provide it were given an honest opportunity to do so.
Why is that I wonder? I mean, DiLeo’s eyes are wide open now, as revealed by quotes like this: “Even when he doesn’t have the ball, [opponents] have to be aware of where he is. He can stretch the defense by just being out there.” How revelatory!
Oh, what could have been!
Echo all those comments about DiLeo. He seems to have the same attitude as Cheeks, in that he stays with the same lineups, etc. even when things are going awful. How much worse could the Sixers have been if they had played Marshall more often? How much worse would they be if they’d tried starting Speights at PF and Igoudala at SG for a strech? Why are the mediocre Sixers the very picture of stability?
That said, Rush stinks, and had done absolutely nothing whenever given extended PT. Shut it, dude.
By “dude” I mean Rush, and not my man bski. I do think Rush was given a relatively fair chance, and neither shot the ball well, defended well or passed well. And I don’t recall him rebounding well.
Morty….I didn’t think you meant me, but I appreciate the clarification. I put that comment from Rush in there not so much in support of him as to show the contradiction in DiLeo’s quote.
While I realize that hiring our long-term coach during this season might have been a difficult proposition, I have often wondered where going with DiLeo has gotten/will get us.
A big “selling point” was that DiLeo “knows” our players very well by virtue of his role in assembling the team. Problem is, how much has his knowledge of and connection to certain players led to him sticking with the same lineups even when things are going awful, like you said?
I’ve been wondering for a while now what side of the ledger we are coming out on, you know? Do the pros of DiLeo being an “insider” outweigh the apparent cons?
Dean, your a mental midget. Nothing has changed from the days of Narducci’s blog when we ran away with your tail between your legs.
Sixers need to win this game tonight, and to do that they could start by plauing some !
Let’s Go Sixers! You owe us 1. That’s for the fans who remember the days of DR J famous saying. Suns played their style better than the Sixers play their own. With a rejuvenated Shaq it was just too much. Both teams scoring over 60 points at half time spelled doom for the Sixers. Chances were, the Suns would keep the pace and the Sixers wouldn’t.
Game against GState is very winnable.
Jkay – Disagree if you want. Numbers speak for themselves. Giving up a 126 points in a game strongly suggests no defense was played. 80 points in the paint with only 26 of them coming from Shaq and only 14 of them coming in transition. That means 40 points in the paint from perimeter players for the most part. Hmm what does that suggest? Maybe no defense was being played? Guys were walked down the lane for completely uncontested lay ups. Willie Green on the point guard was ineffective as Nash was able to get by him on numerous occasions. And there were simply zero rotations.
Trying to play defense and actually playing it is completely different. If that’s not enough…
I think I’ll take the players word for it that there wasn’t any defense being played.
The Warriors played a heck of a game yesterday in a loss to the Lakers! The Lakers almost felt a deja vu from last Tuesday. Monta Ellis is starting to play better game after game. The Sixers MUST focus on defending the perimeter and perhaps try and wear out the Warriors. The Warriors run around like headless chickens defensively, so we must get ex-Warrior Donyell Marshall and the ball movement going!!
Don Nelson is playing the young guys more, but Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, and Monta Ellis are still playing. We must slow down those vets and put the young guys in panic mode.
Two things I am glad to hear thus far (prior to this game):
- the Sixers are NOT going to take the Warriors lightly, even though they are eliminated from the postseason. (most important)
-ESPN has made the Sixers a 1 point favorite (humble, yet weird)
I hope Lou, Thad, and Marshall continue their stellar play! And I hope Dalembert can recover on the boards and Iggy can recover offensively!! Perhaps a day off and a nice stop in San Francisco was all they needed!
I will be playing some California music, including 2Pac, have some seafood and fries with Old Bay for dinner, and watch “Milk” prior to the game.
GO SIXERS!! BEAT OUR EX-FRANCHISE! GO FOR THE CALI SWEEP!!