Game 1: Sixers Lose to Heat; Turner Shines in Debut
by Jordan Sams on Oct 27, 2010 7:42 PM PDT
in Philadelphia 76ers Recaps
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Despite a double-digit loss to LeBron and the Heat, I'm thrilled with the way the Sixers kicked off the season. No, not because I'm rooting for ping pong balls again, but because of the way they fought – a fight they lacked all of last season. After watching this team pile up lackluster performance-after-lackluster performance under Eddie Jordan, tonight they flashed the heart and hustle that won the hearts of fans during their recent playoff runs. If game one is any indication, watching the Sixers develop under Doug Collins will be an absolute joy to watch for the rest of the season.
The proverbial "cherry on top" for the evening was second overall pick Evan Turner. The Villain temporarily silenced his critics finishing with 16 points on 10 shots, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 30 minutes off the bench. And here are three things that didn't show up in the box score: 1) The way he boxes out and positions himself for rebounders is very impressive. 2) The crossover he put on D-Wade followed by a wet 17-foot jumper was awesome. 3) He held his own against both Wade and LeBron defensively – no small feat for a rookie making his NBA debut. That sound you hear is millions of people jumping off the 'bust' bandwagon.
A few more thoughts after the jump.
- Jrue Holiday only played 21 minutes, yet led the team in turnovers with 5, and shot 2-9 from the floor. His decision-making was poor all evening, whether it was ill-advised jumpers or lazy passes. His highly-praised defense also looked awfully mediocre. I don't know whether the pressure of Collins calling him a top 5 point guard in training camp is weighing on him, or if he's putting pressure on himself, or if it's simply a bad first game for a 20 year-old going up against D-Wade. Whatever it was, it's nothing to be alarmed about. One game, 20 years old.
- Andre Iguodala filled up the stat sheet. He had some nice dunks. He settled for way too many jumpers. He played solid defense. I'd like to see him attack the rim more.
- Spencer Hawes was terrible. I'll cut him a little slack because he's been injured all pre-season, but in 14 minutes he showed nothing for Sixers fans to get excited about, outside one nice interior pass to a cutting Iguodala.
- Elton Brand had his ups and downs against Bosh defensively. He grabbed more rebounds than I expected (9) and racked up 3 steals and 2 blocks.
- Lou Williams was 5-14 from the floor and attempted two free throws. In fairness, he was probably hacked on at least 3 of those misses, and should've gotten to the line more. He also made some nice passes, leading the team with 7 assists.
- Thaddeus Young had a nice showing on offense, slashing to the hoop the majority of the time and scoring his typical "hustle baskets". He had a couple nice jumpers, but aired a corner three terribly. His defense and rebounding were expectedly poor.
- Andres Nocioni scored 10 points on 9 shots (some of which were extremely ill-advised), grabbed 5 rebounds and 3 assists. His hustle and toughness were as advertised, and he seemed to be all over the floor when he was in the game.
- Mo Speezy played 3 minutes and went 0-3. He also flashed one of his patented terrible flops.
- The difference between an Eddie Jordan-coached team and a Doug Collins-coached team was evident. The Sixers had a lot of 'no layups' fouls tonight. They fought till the very end, almost making a game out of it. They were active defensively, and patched together rebounds. And even though Collins played a lot of small ball, his rotations made a lot more sense than Eddie Jordan's.
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They claimed it was a sold out crowd but it had to have been only 1/3 full. There was a long stretch of time it seemed that Jrue didn’t get on the court and I was checking twitter to see if maybe he got hurt but I guess he was just that bad.
Was it just me or does it seem like teammates don’t like giving Turner the ball? I would consistently see Turner open on the wing waving his hand and Lou would just look him off and force it to Dre or Brand.
btw Jason Kapono is a statue out there. All he does on offense is sit behind the arch and wait. He doesn’t move at all.
crowd was definitely packed – you could find empty seats around but it’s probably the most crowded it’s been since the iverson return last year
"I'm a beast ready to be unleashed." -- Paul George
by Tanner Steidel on Oct 27, 2010 8:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Picture of tonight’s empty arena.
Is there a good place/general spot to thrw pictures so I can do something like this again? I’m working off google link 1, but I’m guessing the tech savy kids have all the secrets…
Thats kinda funny because I was in the upper level and it was pretty empty. Whats said is ESPN just wrote an blog post about how empty it was.
Yeah, ESPN is right: if this didn’t sell out, they will not sell out all season.
Upper definitely had empty seats. But lower was close to full, and even the club boxes were all occupied. Last season half the club boxes didn’t have the lights on most games.
I knew this was going to happen
People these days are not going to pay $45 to watch a game from the upper mezzanine. People want to go to games but wont spend that kind of money. If ownership wanted to turn things around they would address these issues. A full arena could also help the energy of the team. Prime example is Boguts fan section.
I was really happy with how the villain played today he is a competitor and did not seem impressed with “the big three”. On the other hand jrue seemed totally timid and outmatched out there and wasn’t his smooth self until about the 4th quarter. Im not panicking at all though I think hes just putting a lot of pressure on himself and it got to him, I enjoyed watching this game a lot thank god the Eddie Jordan era is behind us.
the ESPN recap has 30 paragraphs. Three of those mention how the Sixers played or mentions one of their players.
Welcome to the United States of Miami
Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / SBN Philly / Twitter
The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn
by Michael Levin on Oct 27, 2010 9:46 PM PDT up reply actions
Turner’s crossover on Wade for anyone that missed it.
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dirrrrrrrty.
"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds." - Wilt Chamberlain
As a Kings fan
I was surprised to see how ‘chunky’ Spencer looked. He gained at least 10 pounds since he was on the Kings. I don’t know if it is the injury or not, but he definitely is carrying added fat. Spencer has enough going against him with the lack of toughness label. The last thing he needs is the extra weight.
The way he looked reminds me of the criticism he received for blowing off LVSL and his commitment to being a pro being question. I hope he gets it together because he definitely has talent.
It does bug me how Spencer cannot establish a low post position long enough to receive an entry pass. He flashes through the lane and tries to get open but it ends up to be a lot of wasted motion.
Nocionni looked like he was moving well on the court. I think he can help the 76ers if he can regain his shooting touch.
I predict JT puts up 7/5 this year.
I think we’re more upset over his defensive performance than his offensive performance. We’ve seen the stats that he had a career 1 BPG and we’re wondering: Is he any better then Speights, which ain’t that hard to do/be and/or is the guy just as effective as Battie?
For one game, we learned he’s just as ineffective as Speights and that’s why both bigs sat out for most of the game. They generally are black holes that drop out of the league past their rookie contracts.
by LeQuan Glover on Oct 28, 2010 4:02 AM PDT up reply actions
My man Noce played well today! Yay!
There can only be one Noce!
by NoceOne on Oct 28, 2010 2:08 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
seeeee.. I want baiting you. Now, not quite 15 points and he didnt get Bosh to foul out but… its a start – and he’s better than Hawes… ewwww. Man I hope hes just rusty – how did he avg 10 pts and 6 boards last year… in garbage time??
seeeee.. I want baiting you. Now, not quite 15 points and he didnt get Bosh to foul out but… its a start – and he’s better than Hawes… ewwww. Man I hope hes just rusty – how did he avg 10 pts and 6 boards last year… in garbage time??But lets not start touting Noce for MVP or all stars yet, ok?
But lets not start touting Noce for MVP or all stars yet, ok?
Sorry, but it’s time. MVP! MVP!
Teams without Chapu lost 1173 games during the 2009-'10 season.
by chapuforyou on Oct 28, 2010 8:57 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
From the NBA.COM writeup
…GOOD MOVE: Miami took full advantage of the Sixers’ weakness in the middle. The Heat didn’t just settle for jumpers. Instead, they consistently drove to the basket and knocked down 23-for-31 free throws.
BAD MOVE: Andres Nocioni was very effective off the Sixers’ bench with five points in the first half. But the scrappy forward was on the bench for much of the Heat’s third-quarter run. When Nocioni re-entered in the fourth, the game was out of reach for the Sixers.
ROOKIE WATCH: Evan Turner, the Sixers’ No. 2 overall pick from Ohio State, converted his first NBA field goal with 9:54 left in the second quarter. Turner showed flashes of his ability with a crossover and jumper with Wade guarding him in the fourth. Turner finished with a team-best 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists….
There can only be one Noce!
by NoceOne on Oct 28, 2010 2:48 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Evan Turner showed his floor game and his poise for the first time as a 76er.. You can see he’s already mastered the mid-range jumper at age 22. You can see he has deceptive quickness, ALA Andre Miller. And you can tell his handles are alot better, and he’s not trying to force the action like he did in OSU.
In Evan Turner and Jrue Holiday, we have for the first time two real players who are actual NBA-Caliber scoring options and versatile in that they can both play NBA-caliber defense.
And I feel like we’ve saw the return of Thaddeus Young. He’s back to that activity level where he’s cutting and where he’s taking advantage of the isolation. Thaddeus Young is the PERFECT 3 to put next to Holiday/Turner. His ability to isolate and shoot off the ball, some people have said something about how 3’s could guard Young better than 4’s to me it’s not about 3’s or 4’s, it’s about quickness and size.
Most 3’s aren’t tall enough to guard a Thaddeus Young(6’8, 7 foot wing span) and a guy with a 3.15 3/4 Court speed(this is relatively close to Dre and Turner’s) is a deadly combination of athleticism.
Is it worth giving up on Thad after ONE bad year, a bad year in which a dolt for a “coach” inherited an NBA squad?
The only thing EFJ was good for, besides Evan Turner is that his wacko substitutions kept us from another mediocre 41 win season. Instead, they exploited just about every weakness we have, revealing us to be just as every bit of a fraud as the Atlanta Hawks.
Which is why, we rebuilt :). And what a fine rebuilding it has turned out to be thus far, surprisingly I’ll be able to watch the games this year after all.
all most of thads points came from the 4 when he was guarded by 4s he didnt play very well with lebron infront of him
by killacaravagio on Oct 28, 2010 4:44 AM PDT up reply actions
haslim bosh are slower than thad all the sf were not
by killacaravagio on Oct 28, 2010 4:45 AM PDT up reply actions
Great recap. I agree with the general sentiment that although the Sixers lost this was not the Eddie Jordan Sixers. To quote The Joker “A little fight in you, I like that.” This team didn’t just give up when they were down 26, instead they tightened up, made some stops and knocked down shots. The Heat are obviously a better team but that doesn’t mean the Sixers can’t beat them or at least hold them in check, which is exactly what they did.
"You can commit no mistake and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Jean-Luc Picard
On the ESPN bottomline it showed that when Wade, Bosh, and Lebron were on the court together they only outscored us by 5. I’m starting to think it might take longer then people want for them to gel together.
Heat had 15 assists on 33 fg’s. There is a lot more isolation play then setting people up. Maybe it is drive and kick doesn’t need kick against our inside, maybe its just an adjustment period, maybe the sum is a lot less than its parts.
I would guess that half of those assists came on Jones 3 pointers, and I believe a house 3 pointer?
In which case, the big three isn’t setting up the big 3.
there are still 81 more loses to look forward to
they put up a good game , the sixers put up a good game , come on now , may 12 wins , just maybe , i could be wrong , maybe just 8 , but how bad are the players , they what play half the time , the other half just going through the motions
by hello, hello , hello on Oct 28, 2010 6:52 PM PDT reply actions
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