Here we go again.
Depleted New Jersey Nets. I will again say that the Sixers should blow them out. But this time I will actually expect them to struggle.
Expect the same 8 players to play for the Nets, with an outside chance Courtney Lee doesn’t suit up due to a strained left groin.
That should mean something. It should mean we are in no danger of losing our third straight game. But we know three things:
- The Sixers aren’t good
- They always play poorly against the Nets
- They tend to play poorly against wounded foes
Like every game I am excited. I just love basketball and for better of worse the Sixers are my team.
I want to see a few things tonight:
- At least 20 minutes of playing time for Jrue Holiday
- At least 30 minutes of playing time for Elton Brand
- At least 15 shot attempts for Elton Brand
- 5 three point attempts for Jason Kapono
- Less than 10 made three pointers for New Jersey
- At least +8 rebounding margin
- At least 65% assists-to-made FG percentage (context: our season average is 51.6%, our opponents’ season average is 60%)
- At least 100 points scored for the Sixers
- At least a 15 point victory
What do you want to see?
I’ll be here commenting during the game, join me if you’re around.
Sixers vs. Nets Game Notes
I really only have one main thing to say:
Good thing we played the Nets. Another HORRIBLY played game by the Sixers who luckily were playing one of a very few teams who are just as bad or worse than they are.
I just don’t know what to say. What positive can you take out of this game?
- Thad finally made shots
- Speights continues to prove he is a 20-10 PF waiting to happen
- Only 9 turnovers
- Sam had more blocks than turnovers. This is my newly created stat for Sam. Blocks-to-turnover ratio. It was 2-1 tonite.
Just some negatives:
- Elton Brand looks incapable of competing in the NBA. Hell he doesn’t even look like an elite college basketball player. I mean the more I watch the more I feel like this guys career is over. He simply can’t play anymore.
- We could only muster up 82 points against the Nets who only had 8 players and played just 7.
- Outrebounded
Be honest with yourself if the Nets were 100% do you think the Sixers would have won either of the two games against them so far this season?
{ 54 comments… read them below or add one }
I want one of the Sixers big men to collect 15 boards. Another, 10. And I’d like to see NJ held below 85. In other words, I’d like to see an honest night’s work.
I want to see Jason Smith and Willie Green on the bench where they belong in the fourth quarter. What in the Hell does Eddie Jordan see in Willie Green? He looks terrible dribbling the ball, and can only hit a stupid 17 foot jump shot. The only way we are going to win in the upcoming years is if the lineup of Brand/Speights/Holliday/Iggy/Lou can step it up.
I did not know that! The Sixers have hired a new VP of marketing, who was a hockey guy for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Besides team performance, let’s hope this guy can attract fans back to the Wachovia seats, especially after the Eagles season.
http://www.nba.com/sixers/news/gullett_091110.html
Here’s hoping Mr. Gullett can stomach the team better than Philadelphians can.
I want to see Sam or Elton out there all night. I want Carney or Kapono out there all night after the start and better rotations including Jrue.
I’m sorry I forgot to mention Thad, mustve slipped my mind. But for the Sixers to be successful Brand has to get back into game shape, an achilles doesn’t heal over night, or over an entire off season for that matter. I’d like to see Thad develop his game over the season, along with Lou improving defensively and Holiday become one of the essential parts of the Sixer’s rotation.
wow – nice lay-up Lou! It’s as if he said “you guys don’t think I can get any worse? Watch this!”
Is it me or does this game make you want to fall asleep?
It’s partly the Sixers in ability to pull away from a faux NBA team. But more the fact that the Nets just suck and have no one worth watching.
Yeah, why would Lou go to the other side of the rim with that layup? There wasn’t anybody on the near side except the guy on the floor he jumped over.
Difficult for me to watch Brand “operate” with the ball on the low block. He can’t elevate. He doesn’t take the ball into his guy. He’s always fading away trying to create space to get his shot off and getting it blocked (like Boone did to him earlier).
That’s exactly what I like to see Kapono. Just shoot it. Doesn’t matter if a guy is recovering. Just put it up!
Kapono sighting!
BTW – EJ did this a lot vs. PHX. Thad Young was our hottest player, so why is EJ letting him cool on the bench???
I like when Zumoff says “Lou continues to struggle from beyond” – as if there was ever a point he was even an average 3-pt shooter.
Terrible call on Sam
Dannie & Pete………
Since it’s halftime I flipped over to the Cavs-Magic on espn. Either of you guys watching it?
Dwight Howard picked up his 3rd foul a little over 2 minutes into the 2nd quarter and Van Gundy and Brown are having an interesting discussion about fouls. Either one of you catch it? I don’t want to go into the whole thing if you did.
Brand blocked by the rim!
Poor Elton Brand. He can’t lift his body at all.
The more I watch him the more I think his career is pretty much over.
BSKI - No didn’t catch it. I did switch over but was only half paying attention.
Is it just me or should Lou have given it back to Thad on that 3 on none break that Thad started with his d?
Secondly, I have never, ever seen a team over commit to double team guys as much as I have with this Sixers team. It’s like the invite the 3.
Actually he should have given it to Elton Brand to get him an easy (his first) basket. A good point guard would know that.
Lou being unselfish on a 3 on none break would be like a bank robber giving the money back.
Wow Speights is getting abused right now by Lopez.
Sam got lucky there he was beat and fouled Lopez and they let it go.
Need to make at least 1 here Sam.
This team just doesn’t want to win. My god make your free throws.
Well yeah giving the ball to Brand would have been fine too, but it pisses me off that Lou does something so selfish. You know Nash would have handed that off. Most point guards would.
Ed – Lou isn’t a point guard. He is a gunner with a small frame.
Sixers down 75-72 … Willie Green … for 3 … YES! … 75-75 … Willie Green from left top … dribble, stop, pull up … swish … Sixers take the lead, 77-75, and go on to eke out a victory vs. the 8-man Nets, with Lou Williams cheering from the sideline. [dedicated to Adam]
I thought L.Will. played a good game, offensively, looking for Kapono alot for jumpers. As far as the break, he might of been afraid Elton couldn!t get it over the rim. Good to see Thad play well and I thought Carney was a factor without scoring. My nickname for Lopez,”big fundamental #2″ , offensively he reminds me alot of Duncan.
Williams: most of his baskets are layups/dunks from breaks or cherrypickin’ and his little right side drive, bump and hang maneuver. As was announced, is 2 for his last 17 from 3 (almost 12 % accuracy). When confronted with a decent half-court defense, he wilts. Give him room, he’ll get his. And then there’s that pesky other end of the court (darn!).
haha jjg did u hear the stat that said Willie Green was 0-9 beyond the 3 point line before the night? Even a blind squirrel can find a nut. Go ahead and say something, but Willie Green will NOT be getting it done against half decent teams, the NJ Nets are far from that. So are the 76ers.
The only thing I could possibly think with Brand is it’s so hard to come back from an achilles injury, I’d give him about another 2 or 3 months to see if he can get any of his athleticism back. At this point, his vertical leap is about 10 inches.
Jumpin, that other end of the court will probably be the reason he never becomes more than a 25 min. a night off the bench guy but I think he has done well so far distributing the ball and not being selfish. The one thing I have been disappointed in is his 3pt. shooting, a 35 % average would really open things up for this team.
I’m trying not to judge Jordan harshly after only 8 games… but what can you say? Did he try and throw this game?
Close game entering the 4th Q (up by 4)… and he goes with the crack-head line-up for the first 6 minutes with Speights at C and Thad at PF?!? They played even a couple of minutes, and then got abused when Lopez returned.
Speights is undersized at C. Young is is undersized at PF. You just can’t get rebounds like that and are inviting 2nd chances for a struggling, poor shooting NJ team. throw in 3 bad ball-handlers in Ivey(not a PG), Carney and Kapono and it was little surprise they quickly fell behind.
Also no surprise the Sixers came back and made a 7-0 run when the put Sam back in the game next to Speights.
I’m fine with Jordan trying to find the best line-up- but even Mo and his small ball would not go to a line-up like that in the 4th while you are trying to protect a lead against a poor shooting team. Just baffling.
As for Lou- there was no player in the NBA last year who shot so many 3pters at such a low percentage. And aside from Felton there was no other player who put up within 50 shots of him and was under 30% (Lou 0.286 and its was more than 1/4 of his shots.) He was a lousy high volume 3 pt shooter last year, no reason to expect a sudden change this year. it would be like expecting Ryan Howard to become a contact hitter.
TK76, I wonder if he went to a Blatche, Jamison duo in the same situations at Wash. with Haywood available; it!s all about the offense with Eddie, and its a shame because he has excellent defenders sitting next to him on the bench.
From Elton Brand or Josh Smith? to Elton Brand or Josh Boone? Somebody’s joshin’ us.
An intriguing aspect of tonight’s battle was Jason Smith’s DNPCD. Swung game Sixers’ way.
The Dartmouth offense isn’t pretty but it has a fascinating personality.
I’m all for Speights/Thad on the floor- at PF/SF
Also, enjoy listening to Donyell. He calls it like he sees it. he called out Jordan for leaving Thad on the bench for 9 minutes in the 2nd quarter after he started the game on fire. good way to cool him off.
suede, Jordan’s best defender at present is probably Mike O’Koren.
I take from your remarks that you like really #23, promo star. 8 games in, do you think he ’s on the road to redemption? Do you think we’ll be talking about this
team for a long time? I’ll grant him the edgy part … edge of the lottery if this mess continues.
Random stat:
per 82games
29% of Brand’s “close” inside shots have been blocked (compared to 11% for Speights and 8% for Sam.)
well i thought i was the only one that saw that shot by Brand that hit the bottom of the rim. its sad.
silver lining; we won.
defensive rebounding is still lacking. (are you hearing me Thad?) sometimes it just comes to boxing out your man. no one’s asking you to do more than that. that should be included in their practice drills. we consistently waste 17 seconds of good defense.
terrible game…..i watched.
maybe we should give Brand the Shaq treatment and rest him for some games or for quarters so he’s fresher and can make the most of his err….you know…..?
well just trying to help.
Last night’s M.A.S.H. unit of Nets ranks as one of the worst collections to ever represent an NBA city (Newark?, New Brunswick?, Hoboken? Perth Amboy?), region or swampland. And Sixers were a non-call (Dalembert) and rookie jump shot from losing after having a close-call scrimmage against same team a week prior. That they didn’t/couldn’t come out and put home team away says much about present state of Sixers as floor managed by Jordan. With full roster comprised of both youth and experience, they should have eased to a W. Athletes. Basketball.
Separate entities.
I’d like to know peoples’ thoughts on Young’s performance last night. Fifty-percent shooting night, twenty points. Pretty good, I suppose. But, to be honest, he looks painfully awkward to me. He looks kinda’ silly to me when he’s dribbling the ball. And, maybe it’s the camera work, but it seems to me that he’s frequently falling backwards and sideways on an awful lot of the contested shots, almost like he’s just throwing the ball up in the air. (Five rebounds was underwhelming.)
Good to see him make shots, have a good game. And I want to believe he’s a star on the rise. But my eyes give me pause. Would love to know what others are seeing.
Hobbes – The one thing I liked about Young last night was the first time he touched it for an open corner there he went right up in rhythm and made it. That got him some confidence that carried him the rest of the game.
His game is awkward to me as well.
Thad needs to slow down – think and react situationally - on pre-decided spin move left/shot (and overall too). Often seems unbalanced, out of control though eager and striving – myopically. Like most, when shot drops, energy and effectiveness beyond builds. Am a Thad rooter but he’s under construction still (presumedly and hopefully).
My commentary during last night’s game came to an abrupt end when I was bumped from my seat at the family computer by my wife.
Hate to keep hammering on Brand but good grief, he’s showing next to nothing and I can’t believe what I’m not seeing from him. I mean, he had inside postion for an offensive rebound a handful of times only to have whoever was behind him simply jump over him and take the defensive rebound. Really difficult to watch him at both ends of the floor.
I mentioned a conversation about fouls that Van Gundy and Brown had during the Cavs-Magic game on espn last night. When Dwight Howard picked up his 3rd foul early in the 2nd quarter, Van Gundy started talking about how he thought that, since the NBA is a star-driven league and it’s in the league’s best interest to ensure that their best players remain on the floor instead of on the bench in foul trouble or fouled out, the league should allow unlimited fouls. Part of his rationale was that the NFL doesn’t have a rule where a player fouls out after 3 holding penalties. I don’t think it’s a great idea, mind you, but the interesting part was when Hubie Brown said that the ABA had unlimited fouls. He said that after 6 fouls (I think), each additional foul committed by that player resulted in a techincal foul where the opposition was awarded two shots and the ball. Brown said that it was left up to the coach to decide if keeping that particular player on the floor was worth the risk. I never knew the ABA did that.
Also, FYI, I happened to catch some of the Nets pregame show. They interviewed Vincent Mallozzi, who has written a biography of Dr. J that has just hit the bookshelves: Doc: The Rise and Rise of Julius Erving.
jjg,
Agreed. Thad seems to be in too much of a hurry to make his move/get a shot, his footwork gets messed up in the process, and awkwardness results. Looked to me like he walked on a couple of those spin moves last night. He needs to slow down a tick and gain a bit more control.
To the Jason Smith detractors – what I’m gonna say about the guy can be said about everyone on the roster right now: there’s usefulness there, and this coach and GM are doing a horrible job of bringing it out. There isn’t a single player who’s remotely close to being utilized in the best possible way.
Back in 2007-2008, somehow, Jason Smith was part of a 2nd quarter bench crew that always kept the game close, something that Speights, an obviously more talented player, can’t claim. For some reason, when Speights is out there, we’re much more susceptible to debilitating runs by the other team.
@TK76, I mentioned that before, well not with stats like you did but Brand gets his shot blocked a considerable amount of times. He pump fakes far to often and appears to either be out of shape or done. Maybe they are hoping he doesn’t get injured so they can trade him to a team that better suits his style. If for nothing else he should be on the floor so they can trade his slow az. Right now no team would want him when he’s not getting 4th qtr minutes on a .500 ball club.
Zack, Jason has bulked up, becoming less nimble/finesseful/mobile in the process (remember Rock ‘em - Sock ‘em Robot?). He seems friskier but still ends up in a lot of opposition scoring pictures (observing from “see-level”). And his relatively short arms were not extended in the off-season. The former Colorado State Ram is now a body-banging utility. Agree though, if his role is better defined, could help more than at present, in certain match-ups.
Speights has to grab offensive rebounds with 2 hands. The spectacular 1 handed slam is only spectacular when finished.
Byron Scott just got fired.
Maybe we can send them EJ as a replacement coach- Please?
I’d send the Hornets the entire Sixers roster and Ed Stefanski (upgrade over their current GM) for Byron Scott and Chris Paul.
I’d rather watch Chris Paul play 1 on 5 than watch the current Sixers team. And I don’t think it’s completely out of the realm of possibility that Chris Paul, Scott with a bunch of filler players could probably compete at the level the Sixers are right now – AND give us a brighter future.
Sad.
Sooo how long do we give Brand before Speights gets the starts until Brand can find himself?
N.B.A. TV is showing game 1 of the 2001 finals, in about 1/2 hour I am gonna feel like a junky coming off a high, back to this years version. Lets get L.B. back, man could they defend. Interesting comments by Jordan towards D.Lynum about E.Brand tonight;” it is not about the money he makes but about who I feel can help me win”. Normally I would applaud that type of talk, but he is so hard to figure out.
suede, I’m with you in that it’s more fun to daydream/fantasize about past teams and possible future teams (and coaches, GMs), than it is to turn any attention to this season. I still wish we hadn’t traded for Mutombo, we’ll never know the “what could’ve been” for that team.
Of the Sixers’ top 20 lineups in offensive possessions played, these are their top 5, according to basketballvalue.com’s “Overall Rating”:
1) Brand, Carney, Kapono, Smith, Williams / rtg 111.11 / 9 poss
2) Carney, Green, Holiday, Smith, Speights / rtg 72.22 / 10 poss
3) Dalembert, Green, Iguodala, Williams, Young / rtg 67.62 / 14 poss
4) Brand, Iguodala, Kapono, Speights, Williams / rtg 65.38 / 14 poss
5) Dalembert, Green, Iguodala, Speights, Young / rtg 62.18 / 12 poss
General note - each lineup has rebounding
0n 1) Brand, Carney, Kapono, Smith, Williams – This was the 4th quarter garbage time lineup in the first ORL game. But given its success, I think coach EJ should give a couple more tries to see if there’s something there.
on 2) Carney, Green, Holiday, Smith, Speights – It’s youthful, athletic and energetic lineup (Carney, Holiday, Smith, Speights) guided by a steady vet hand (Green, a la Andre Miller and Kevin Ollie). I think it’s a lineup Mo Cheeks would’ve loved trotting out there, and would be a great bench crew. The instructions, only one - get out there and cause havoc, young ‘uns!
on 3) Dalembert, Green, Iguodala, Williams, Young – This was our main starting lineup over the past two seasons with Lou Williams taking over for Andre Miller. Fact: According to 82games.com, Andre Iguodala w/ Thaddeus Young was one of the top 20 tandems in the league over the past two years with Iggy primarily at the SF and Thad at the PF. I still think it was unwise to mess with that winning formula. Mr. Stefanski you are unwise.
on 4) Brand, Iguodala, Kapono, Speights, Williams – You got me, though Brand + Speights is a very effective frontcourt. This is the starting lineup if you replaced Sam and Thad with Kapono and Speights, which means you’d bring them off the bench… Actually, I like this… Sam would be at C, Thad goes back to his more successful position at PF, and don’t play Jason Smith.
on 5) Dalembert, Green, Iguodala, Speights, Young – I don’t know what to make of this lineup’s success, either. More evidence that Willie as the point guard works? More signs that you should put Sam and Speights together, or Brand and Speights, but definitely not Sam and Brand? This is clutching at straws – it’s similar to lineup 2) in that Mr. Green is surrounded by a bunch of young athletic guys. Maybe that’s it, maybe this group is strong defensively.
When I have time I’ll look at the worst lineups.