Sixers beat Mavs after shocking lineup change
by Jordan Sams on Jan 22, 2010 7:13 PM PST
13 comments
Theoretically this is the best win of the Sixers season. They beat top 5 team, did it convincingly, and used the "correct" starting lineup. (Holiday, Iverson, Iguodala, Brand, Dalembert) Unfortunately, I couldn't be less excited. This has "aberration" written all over it. The lineup change gave the Sixers a temporary boost, and players like Thaddeus Young hugely overachieved. Instead of a turning point or an awakening, this game only serves as a band-aid that masks the problems rather than fixes them. It also delays an inevitable shake-up of a franchise in desperate need of one.
Here's the breakdown of the "Big Five":
Jrue made a couple rookie mistakes like losing Jason Kidd for a wide-open three or forcing a jumpshot early in the shot clock, but that's expected from the youngest player in the League. He only played 15 minutes, but managed to finish with 4 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. I think the best way to describe him is as a younger, smaller version of Andre Iguodala -- a huge compliment. He ran the offense well, making seemingly effortless passes to set his teammates up for easy buckets, and played pretty good defense on the Hall of Famer he was guarding. I'll give him a B+ for his efforts tonight.
Lou Williams
Lou was reduced to his ideal role tonight -- sixth man -- and played well with the second unit. He still got torched on defense, as he does every night, but had a great chemistry with his bench-mates -- Thad Young and M16 -- on offense. He finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He was great in transition and ran the show when the Sixers separated themselves from the Mavs in the second quarter. Lou earns a solid C+ for his efforts tonight.
Andre Iguodala
Not much you can say about this guy. He dominated the game for stretches despite shoo ting only 2-12 from the floor. He can contribute in so many ways it's unbelievable. He finished with a measly 7 points, but led his team in assists (8), grabbed the second most boards (9), and played great defense throughout. I give him a B for his near trip-dub.
Thaddeus Young
Whoops. I've been harping on Thad all week, and he does this! Hall of Fame here we come! No seriously, Thad killed it on offense. But you know who else kills it on offense from time to time? Willie Green. Yeah, that Willie Green. Thad finished with 22 points on 12 shots, but only recorded 4 rebounds and 0 assists. His defense was close to average tonight -- which is a step up -- but he's still a very, very one-dimensional player. However; he still deserves a B. The Sixers don't win this game without Thaddeus.
M16 dominated the Mavericks tonight. He finished with 14 points on 7-13 shooting, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals. You'd like a couple more rebounds out of your PF/C, but at this point in his career this is who Mo Speights is. He's going to shoot a lot, he's going to score a lot, but not much else. And despite his 3 steals and blocks, his defense wasn't spectacular either. Overall, a very solid game from Speights. Not only can he score, but he can score consistently in the half-court, which is something this team has been missing for long time. I'll give Speights a B- for the evening.
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Despite a flukey win, the Sixers young guys played very well as a whole -- something to hang your hat on until next game.
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The only shake up this team needs is the coach, tonight at least he did some good things. It may be a fluke, but I don’t think Eddie’s going to go back to the way it was, do you!?
One game isn’t enough to draw any conclusions, but the Sixers got closer to their potential tonight. Speights ability to shoot over defenders in the middle of a zone is a huge thing, as his ability to score in the half-court. This should not be overlooked, as this has been the Sixers biggest problem and if Speights is the answer he changes the team’s prospects significantly for the better.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. Will Eddie keep the same line-up or keep fiddling around to see how to get the first team offense going? Is he going to keep using Kapono instead of Carney? And will he ever play Thad as a 3? And will we ever see Jason Smith again?
I think that’s one thing you can count on for a while, although it may have been just to match up better with Dallas. They should.
Another thing they should do is work the rotation so Speights can be in at the end. If he becomes the Sixers go to player (something that I have imagined for a long time) it’s important to do a couple of things. One is to have the team run specific plays, so that the players move in coordination with a dump-in to Speights. They need to prepare him and the team for the inevitable double teams, and to then make the other team pay for leaving someone else open.
I still think this could have been a 50 win team or better. I still haven’t seen enough of them playing well, and attribute a good deal of this to the coach, but not all. Lou Williams dribbles into bad situations because he thinks score instead of pass, the problem is that it results in turnovers and he’s not getting any smarter about it. Andre Iguodala is a very good player, but I want him to be more active on the offensive end. Teaming with Brand, they should be a very effective combination, more than they demonstrated tonight. In general, they hork up too many outside shots and never wait to set up rebounding for these lower percentage outside shots. They don’t play smart enough for a team with 3 experienced guards. And Jrue isn’t included because he is a very smart player with excellent instincts. His limitation is just a lack of experience and familiarity, once he and his team-mates get it together, they’re going to be really good.
This is the first time I saw anything close to the offense I imagined in the beginning of the season. This is more like what I thought the line-up would be, with the exception of Iverson. We’re so far away from what I envisioned, however, and we are three months behind schedule. What a stupid waste of time and talent! I still don’t know if they can get to what I think their potential is. By this time I thought Speights would be getting consistent minutes, and Smith would be backing up Dalembert. Some of these things may not even work, but I sure want to see them.
The Sixers have a fairly easy stretch coming up. This can give them time to get more fluid with each other on the new line-ups. I am concerned like the Artist, that this may just be a band-aid that masks the problem. The easy schedule may fool them into thinking they’ve got it, when I still don’t think they’re anywhere near it. It isn’t just if they win, but how.
Per Tom Moore: Jordan to use this new starting line-up at last the next 10 games
I would not be surprised if they win a lot of games with this new line-up. probably enough to end up with about the 10th pick in the draft, which is bad news. But hopefully the start of many years of Jrue manning the point (and Lou off the bench where he belongs) which is good news.
http://www.phillyarena.com - Philly sports forum/blog
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=974760&start=330#p22034365
http://www.phillyarena.com - Philly sports forum/blog
27:36
29:10
24:02
15:12
This is how Coach Joran will avoid getting fired by Stefanski, meeting his mandate, but still running his idiot back court combinations out there…people always say it’s not who starts but who finishes – who finished tonight…
The sixers played 10 players tonight
the only number less than 15:12 was 11:19
Even when making the ‘right’ move Joran STILL screws it up.
How many games this year has he called a time out 4 minutes into a 3rd quarter – let alone a 3rd quarter where the lead has INCREASED (which is a miracle in itself since the sixers usuall give up any lead they have in a couple minutes of the 3rd quarter – and Joran keeps running the same 5 out there)
Bait and Switch – oh look I started him just as I was instructed – but oh look – i can still run crappy rotations out there – and if we’re playing a team on it’s 4th road game in 6 days and get a win people will forget I’m a moron.
Sixers beat the spurs at home at one point one year also – and it was irrelevant as well…
This is still a 333 team
coached by a moron
who feels that offense is all that matters
by jemagee on Jan 22, 2010 9:18 PM PST reply actions
Extended minutes for Kapono made me cringe. He is the worst basketball player I’ve seen in a long time. Defensively, I think he’s the biggest liability in the league, even bigger than Iverson. Running Lou, Green, Kapono, Thad, and Speights out there last night was the worst defensive lineup I have ever seen. We’re up 9 with 7 to play, and Jordan trots out his offensive unit. It’s a miracle we won last night’s game, and I can attribute all of that to the Mavs missing wide open looks. They shot under 40% because they couldn’t hit anything, not because of any stingy defense. We still suck, this doesn’t change anything.
by Michael Levin on Jan 23, 2010 6:28 AM PST up reply actions
We are a 50 win team – we beat the mavericks and only scored 25 or more in one quarter – do you know how awesome that is?
by jemagee on Jan 23, 2010 7:55 AM PST up reply actions
So if you coached the all star game last year – you can’t be the coach this year
But if enough people ignore your performance on the court you can get in as a player year after year after year after year
That seems balanced
by jemagee on Jan 22, 2010 9:29 PM PST reply actions
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