Cavs 102 Sixers 92

by Jordan Sams on Apr 10, 2009 9:05 PM PDT in Philadelphia 76ers Recaps

Watching your favorite team lose their fourth straight game is never a good feeling. It's especially disappointing when the highly coveted fifth seed is now officially out of reach. However; I went into tonight's match-up with extremely low expectations, and in doing so, ended up much happier with the outcome.

I'd say the Sixers put forth a valiant effort against a much superior team. The Cavs are good -- really good -- but the Sixers hung tough all evening (one player in particular). That said, like most good teams do, the Cavs answered every single run and mini-run the Sixers had with one of their own. The lead was eventually cut to two with nine and change to go, but I never felt confident, nor optimistic that the Sixers were going to win the game.

Here are a few things to take out of the loss:

Coach DiLeo has made a ton of questionable decisions as of late. I'm not sure what he's thinking playing the Andres 40+ minutes in blowouts. I'm not sure what he's thinking keeping the king of +/- and zone-buster, Donny-Ice on the bench. I'm not sure why he's playing Theophilus during crunch time when he hasn't had a positive +/- since April 1. Tony D is starting to remind me a lot of the guy he replaced. Paging Tom Thibodeau.
Andre Iguodala did as good a job defending King James as anyone could possibly ask for. He also had enough energy to drop an efficient 26 points and posterize LeBron himself.
Continuing his great month of April, Lou Williams had himself another solid game. He had a couple bad possessions when he was running the offense, but we've all established he's not a point guard. Overall, he's averaging 17 points per game on 50% shooting in April. This is coming from a guy who's shot 39 percent on the season. The difference has been, settling for less jumpshots and dialing down the degree of difficulty on his other shots.

So, now what? The Sixers are 40-39 and will either face the Magic or the Celtics in the first round. You know what I have to say about that? Bring 'em on. Being the coping sports fan that I am, I tend to talk myself into the scenario most likely to occur. Sure, playing a tough series against the Hawks would have been fun, but an opportunity to upset one of the Eastern Conference's "big 3" has much more potential.

Six seed, seven seed, whatever. Hopefully Thad returns and we win at least a coupe games. Back-to-back years of playoff experience for this young team will be invaluable to their development.

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you forgot to mention that john is a pompous dousche

by Tanner Steidel on Apr 10, 2009 11:24 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Your mom spanked you too hard as a child.

Liberty Ballers.com.

by Jordan Sams on Apr 11, 2009 12:04 AM PDT up reply actions

even without thad i think this team would still steal a game or two from anyone in a best of 7. they did it last year, and were halfway to making it a 3-1 series lead before blowing a 10 point margin. both boston and orlando are vulnerable right now, with some injury problems of their own

by jmorcate on Apr 11, 2009 7:18 AM PDT reply actions

The situation certainly isn't hopeless

but I don’t know if they could do anything without Thad. What I don’t understand is why DiLeo keeps playing Iggy and Miller 40+ minutes in hopeless games.

by zfg on Apr 11, 2009 9:13 AM PDT up reply actions

what i don't understand is also

why dileo plays reggie evans with 2 mins left down 8 when we need to score

by Tanner Steidel on Apr 11, 2009 9:29 AM PDT up reply actions

Without Thad, we might be able to steal one game. With him we could win any series. That’s the way I see it.

Be honest with me and tell me how badly we would’ve lost in LA and in Portland without Thad.

Liberty Ballers.com.

by Jordan Sams on Apr 11, 2009 10:11 AM PDT up reply actions

three great points

I’d add Green getting 35 minutes when he’s shooting 3/13 doesn’t make much sense also.

I have a feeling you’ll agree with me on this, LOL

http://sixers4guidos.wordpress.com/

by Ricky - Sixers4guidos on Apr 11, 2009 9:51 AM PDT reply actions

It's not idle.

But I don’t have a huge problem with it. Bill’s been playing decent as of late, and who is DiLeo going to play instead? We’re pretty short-handed right now.

Liberty Ballers.com.

by Jordan Sams on Apr 11, 2009 10:12 AM PDT up reply actions

Agree with your blog

I read agreeing w/ you completely. I really am confused as to why this team does not understand the “go w/ the hot hand” mentallity. I was a VERY BIG supporter of Tony D, notice I say was. I hope we get a coach and our missing link this summer as I did commit to 1 more year as a season ticket holder but cut my costs 75% (cheapy 1 seat). Figure if they are good, I will move up to better seating.

Thank you for a great blog.

by DeanH on Apr 11, 2009 6:12 PM PDT reply actions

Thank you kindly.

Tony D is a mediocre coach and is better suited for the front office. Unfortunately, I have a gut feeling he’ll return as our coach next season. I still believe we can win with him, but I’d rather have someone else — specifically Thibodeau.

As for him going with the hot hand, I assume you’re referring to playing Bill Green over Lou-Will last night. I was under the impression that TD usually goes with the hot hand, but for whatever reason he gave Green the crunch time minutes Lou usually plays. He must of saw something we didn’t, otherwise the decision is mind-blowing, especially the way Lou was scoring. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now and probably re-watch the game later tonight.

Liberty Ballers.com.

by Jordan Sams on Apr 11, 2009 7:08 PM PDT up reply actions

Bulls win tonight – if the sixers lose tomorrow they’re tied with two to go

Not good

"Someone created the box score," Morey says, "and he should be shot."

Blocked shots — they look great, but unless you secure the ball afterward, you haven’t helped your team all that much.

by jemagee on Apr 11, 2009 8:23 PM PDT reply actions

It's the difference between Orlando and Boston.

And honestly, neither is a good match-up. On a personal level, I’d rather play Boston because they’re more dinged up, and knocking off the defending champs would be more satisfying than knocking off the Jameer Nelson-less Magic who have never won anything themselves.

Liberty Ballers.com.

by Jordan Sams on Apr 11, 2009 8:49 PM PDT up reply actions