I slept on the game, and the write-up is probably different than what it would have been had I done it immediately after the game.

The game sucked. Collins made a mistake going with Nocioni, one that we all questioned when it was announced. The offense was putrid to start. The experiment failed. Lou Williams was horrible, and has been for 3 games. Evan Turner failed to capitalize on his chance in the third quarter. Jodie Meeks continues to give you virtually nothing. The bench as a whole stank. Iguodala didn't score in the second half.

Yeah, the long jumpers were frustrating. The 8 free throw attempts even more-so. The Sixers shot 35 shots beyond 16 feet to the Grizzlies 26. The Grizzlies attempted 29 free throws to the Sixers 8. If you want your game in a nutshell, that was it.

But this is who the Sixers are. This is who they were when they were winning. This team doesn't have the talent or mindset to play like the Grizzlies. They don't have a post-up threat like Marc Gasol or a perimeter slasher like Rudy Gay. This is why the Sixers aren't championship contenders. We knew that coming into the season, and it should have been evident even when they were dominating teams.

Right now, this team looks tired and beaten down offensively. Shots they were previously making are hitting front rim. Ball movement has slowed. Passes aren't as crisp. They need this break in the worst way.

Continue reading this post »

The sky has fallen.

Save yourself.

Speezy.

Louis Williams is horrendous.

At least Andres Nocioni started.

Everything hurts.

76ers vs Grizzlies coverage
	@
20-12		18-15
Location: Fed Ex Forum
Time: February 21st 2012, 8:00 PM Eastern
Channel: TCN, NBA League Pass
Probable starters:
Jrue Holiday	PG	Mike Conley
Jodie Meeks	SG	Tony Allen
Andre Iguodala	SF	Rudy Gay
Andres Nocioni	PF	Marreese Speights
Lavoy Allen	C	Marc Gasol
Advanced Stats: (league rankings)
103.2 (8)	Off	98.8 (21)
94.2 (1)	Def	98.6 (11)
48.8% (13)	eFG%	46.7% (22)
45.0% (2)	deFG%	48.4% (15)
10.2% (1)	TOR	14.2% (15)
22.8% (29)	ORR	29.5% (4)
74.6% (7)	DRB	72.2% (23)
22.7% (29)	FTR	27.7% (15)
Mortal Enemies: Straight Outta Vancouver

Continue reading this post »

As Derek reported, Andres Nocioni will be starting at POWER FORWARD for your Philadelphia 76ers in tonight's game against the Marreese Speights Grizzlies with Elton Brand out until the All-Star Break. Here are things that were more likely to happen before Doug Collins came to that outlandish decision:

• Evan Turner drops so far in the Doughouse that he becomes the Sixers new mascot.
• Louis Williams takes over as head coach.
• Marreese Speights gets re-traded to the Sixers for Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala, and Boosie.
• The Sixers offer Big Macs to fans every time the Sixers score less than 8 points in a quarter.
• Francisco Elson finds his super suit.
• Spencer Hawes drops basketball altogether for luggage modeling.
• The entire team learns a choreographed dance to You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray.
• Andy Reid and Doug Collins have a baby together.
• The team officially decides to change their name to the Philadelphia Knicks.
• Dongaila MVP.
• Andre Iguodala hits two regulation free throws in a row.
• The Mayans were right.
• The Sixers finally get the "future considerations" from the Jazz for the Kyrylo Fesenko trade.

But alas, the odds were not ever in our favor and neither I nor Katniss Everdeen could stop Doug from starting Andres Nocioni over Nikola Vucevic, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, Tony Battie, the sloth from Ice Age, Rowena Ravenclaw, Dwight Yoakam, Apollo Creed, and a tub of vaseline. Get your NoceTurkey's ready, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Elton Brand will miss the next 2 games with a sprained thumb. Your starting front court tonight will be Andres Nocioni and Lavoy Allen.

ANDRES NOCIONI AND LAVOY ALLEN.

Andres Nocioni has played a grand total of 43 minutes heading into the game. I'd say I'm shocked by this decision (I think it should be Thaddeus Young and Nikola Vucevic), but Doug Collins has consistently been reluctant to change roles. To me, if you're going to go with a small power forward, you put your better one out there, and try to steal minutes with Nocioni and Allen when you have advantageous matchups. I could (somewhat) understand his reluctance to start Young when he had the option of going with a big front line, but if you're going small, I would start your most talented pairing. Speights defending Thad is a matchup you can exploit.

Hopefully the All-Star break can provide Elton Brand the rest he needs so this is only a minor setback. That being said, with a Sixers team on their first slide of the season, they really need to play well these final two games before the break.

The game we've all had circled on our calendars since the Sixers shipped Marreese Speights off to Memphis earlier this year has finally arrived.

Ok, maybe that's not the case. Speights has generally played poorly for the Grizzlies since being traded there, averaging 8.4 points and 6.6 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per game sporting a woeful 47.2% true shooting percentage. But you know Speights is eager to show Doug Collins that he made a mistake. Speights didn't see any minutes in the Sixers first 4 games before being traded for a bag of basketballs. That probably means he is ready to shoot a plethora of 18 foot jumpers tonight.

To Speights credit, he's been playing better of late after it began to look like he was close to losing his starting job. Speights is averaging 12.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game over his last 8 games, shooting 54.2% from the field over that stretch (while averaging 0.8 assists per game, 0.4 steals, and 0.6 blocks. Indifference!). Perhaps most impressive is he's been shooting more near the rim of late, getting shots off of offensive rebounds, pick and rolls, and off his teammates dribble penetration. Speights always had the skills to play that kind of role offensively, but then somebody showed him the 18 foot jumper and completely derailed his career.

Continue reading this post »

What did you guys get your loved ones for President's Day? If you think anything like I do, you would have gotten your mom a Millard Fillmore fathead, which she'd hang proudly over your third grade school picture. Even if you're not as giving on this holiday as I am, at least some of you could celebrate by taking a day off (especially all of our postal worker fans!). If you haven't gotten jolly on the greatest February weekend holiday of all-time, how about you start by enjoying a few Sixers links?

Today we've got just a few snippets, mostly because every piece of NBA news right now has to do with either Jeremy Lin or JR Smith's ever-confusing haircut while all Sixers news is about the "foul" occurring at the conclusion of last night's loss in Minnesota.

Let's get into it!

Collins wants Holiday to be more aggressive: Philadelphia Daily News

"We need Jrue to be more aggressive and looking to score the ball early," Collins said Sunday. "He needs to score for our team. I don't want there to be any indecision about what he needs to do for our team."

"I just have to start out attacking," Holiday said. "I know there are times when I try to start off and get the whole team into it. But I think we play better when I start off aggressive. And if I start off and make an aggressive mistake, that's better than not being aggressive at all."

A couple more after the jump.

Continue reading this post »