Sixers comeback falls short; lose to Raptors
by Jordan Sams on Feb 10, 2010 8:48 PM PST
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PrintLate in the third quarter the Sixers were down 76-53 and headed for one of their most embarrassing losses this season, so I was shocked to look up and see the game tied with two minutes to go. Even though the comeback fell short, the players showed some serious guts and it was fun to watch.
Here's the breakdown of the "Big Five" (Six?):
J-Smith played a great stretch basketball before leaving with an ankle injury. In 12 minutes he managed a line of: 7 points (3-6, 1-2 from three), 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocks. It's cliche, but he was literally all over the place. It's a shame that he hurt his ankle, because he was beginning to get his legs under him. In my opinion, he's a better all-around player than Marreese Speights right now -- not a better prospect, a better player.
(I'm still not sure the extent of J-Smith's injury.)
Grade: A-
Lou Williams
Lou dominated the fourth quarter tonight and almost single-handedly won this game. He finished with 26 points (9-13, 2-5 from three, 6-6 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers in 27 minutes. These are the kind of games he was having prior to his broken jaw, and it gives you hope that he can be a deadly sixth man in this league some day. His jump shot has improved tremendously this season, but for whatever reason it's gone unnoticed. Last year his eFG% on jump shots was 39%. This year it's 47%. That's an incredible improvement in just one season. The bad news is, he continues torched on defense.
Grade: B+
Andre did not play well tonight. He finished with 8 points (3-12, 0-4 from three, 2-2 FT), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 turnovers and 3 steals in 41 minutes.
Grade: C-
Jrue was brilliant in the first half. He was racking up assists, playing tough defense, and showing off his jump shot. He only played 5 minutes in the second half, and took two terrible shots. He finished with 7 points (3-6, 1-1 from three), 6 assists, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 1 block and 3 turnovers.
Grade: B
Thad gave the team some nice energy off the bench, as he has been since his demotion. He gets his hands on a lot of loose balls, and scores most of his buckets around the rim and in transition. That's pretty much all he does. If he continues to be Mr. Energy off the bench he'll be fine. He final line was 15 points (6-12, 0-2 from three, 3-4 FT), 2 rebounds and 1 steal in 27 minutes.
Grade: B-
Marreese Speights
Speights was awful. He played terrible defense and looked lost on offense. At one point he attempted to post up, and stood there with his arms up with a confused look on his face as his teammates completely ignored him -- not a good sign for M16.
Grade: D-
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No more games until after the All-Star break. Will someone be fired or traded? We'll know in exactly one week.
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Elton was pissed that EJ went small to start the second half. I’m still clinging to early lottery. 1-5 specifically. God speed.
What the F$#K was that?
He went small and they got obliterated in the 3rd quarter!?! Ivey?!?!?!
When so many fans see blatant errors by the coach, why has management failed to react?? I’m really beginning to lose hope for the future. It’s not simply that EJ and Stephanski are physically still here. It’s the fact that ownership hasn’t seen it fit to get rid of them yet.
Looking for in-depth basketball analysis? Try http://www.basketballfreeforall.com!
So we grade on a curve here or just like the coach defense doesn’t matter?
Cause if defense matters, Lou Williams NEVER out plays Jrue Holiday.
by jemagee on Feb 11, 2010 7:40 AM PST reply actions
Yes we grade on a curve, because Jrue only earns the grades he earns because he’s a 19-year old rookie. He didn’t outplay Lou tonight.
Jure Williams is the best defense guard the sixers have.
The best sixers output tonight overall – offense versus defense occured when Jrue Brand and Sammy were on the floor
but yes – let’s judge players based only on their offense
And let’s ignore their preformance at the end of the game int he clutch situations where the two ‘other’ guards blew the game after it became tied
by jemagee on Feb 11, 2010 9:31 AM PST up reply actions
Jrue was great, but don’t discount Lou’s play in the fourth. He carried the team, and don’t give me this clutch garbage. Did you expect Lou to score 20 in the fourth without missing a shot? Andre Iguodala sucks at the end of games — should he be benched for Rodney Carney?
Jrue’s a much better defender, but Lou’s much better offensively. They even out. Don’t overvalue defense.
Both played well last night. Why can’t you accept that?
by Jordan Sams on Feb 11, 2010 10:30 AM PST up reply actions
You are discounting lou’s play in the fourth – you’re only focusing on the offense – the point out put – which is like half the game – he’s a defensive sieve and had some TERRIBLE ‘point guard’ plays as the game came to a close.
I don’t over value defense – i value defense
you ignore it
by jemagee on Feb 11, 2010 12:37 PM PST up reply actions
Lou was terrible defensively in the first half, and because of that people assume he was terrible for the entire game, but they’re wrong.
Third Quarter Against Williams
Calderon: 0-3, 0 points, 1 turnover, zero assists
Jack: 1-1, 2 points, zero assists.
Fourth Quarter Against Williams
Jack: 0-3, 0 points, 1 assist
Calderon: 2-3, 6 points, zero assists
2nd half combined against Williams
Toronto point guards: 3-10, 8 points, 1 turnover, 1 assist
What about those numbers says Lou played bad defense in the second half? Nothing.
Williams on the other hand, torched the Toronto point guards in the second half for: 8-11, 24 points, 2 turnovers, 1 assist.
No, he didn’t make ‘point guard plays’, but he’s not a point guard, he’s a scoring combo-guard off the bench, and last night he excelled at his role; therefore he played a good game.
Why don’t you actually watch a game or look up some numbers before you say stupid shit like, " you only focused on the offense" or “you ignore defense”?
Iguodala is the Sixers best defensive guard. And the game would not have been tied without Williams scoring.
Eddie did leave them in too long, and that 4 point play was bull. Good shot, but no way should he have gotten a foul call on top of it. The offense fell apart right after. Eddie needed to sub in some players at that point, since offense was the problem right then.
But I would have been happier with Jrue in there instead of Willie. More important would have been two bigs in the game.
Well maybe this loss will get the coach fired. Eddie always plays small ball. Smith and Speights are on the bench the majority of the time. These two players are the key to the season. We know what the other players can do, but these players should be developed.
Speights looked bad last night, but he’s had nights where he carried the team. He is the best post scorer the Sixers have, and all we’ve seen is his minutes diminished. Smith was paired with Brand during the Sixers run, inexplicably they went small again after that.
As long as two of our bigs are in the game at all times, this is an above .500 team. With this coach who plays a small line-up and almost never plays two bigs at the same time, we are a .350 ball club.
Smith, Speights, Dalembert, and Brand, we need two of them in the game at all times. A decent coach would be playng all of these guys and they’d have developed a rhythm and chemistry and we would have seen some good basketball.
Everyone can see it’s the coach, management has to act, or the Sixers games will have fewer fans then New Jersey. Brand probably would like to kick the crap out of Eddie, he knew the coach was the reason they lost that game.
l. Smith and Speights are on the bench the majority of the time. These two players are the key to the seaso
We don’t know what Thad can really do yet
or Jrue Holiday
and they’re both much more important to the sixers
And if you don’t know what speights can do yet – you should watch some games
He can shoot, every time he touches the ball
and little else
by jemagee on Feb 11, 2010 12:42 PM PST up reply actions
apparently he’s a champion candy eater (look out lamar odom)
by Tanner Steidel on Feb 11, 2010 5:25 PM PST up reply actions
He only has the highest per on the Sixers. The way you guy characterize him, is revealed as biased nonsense when you look at his production- on both ends of the floor. Out of all the Sixers players, he is the one being misused the most.
If you don’t understand that adding a post game to the Sixers offense is the most important thing they do this season, then you really don’t understand winning basketball.
You keep ignoring the obvious- good teams have post up scorers they can rely on in their offense. Brand can do it, even if he isn’t an ideal Power Forward. I think Speights can do it- he has done in in the past, but his play has been inconsistent as his minutes. Smith might also be a possibility.
We know what we get from Dalembert, and we know what we get from our guards. We don’t know how an Andre and Jrue backcourt would do, or how Thad would do as a three, but these things could be taken care of by adding Speights or Smith to a line-up.
Every time the Sixers have two bigs in the game, so far Dalembert and Brand, Brand and Speights and even Brand and Smith, the team has at worst played even with their opponents and most of the time they were better. If they played two of those players at all times the Sixers would be a winning team.
The only question is how much of a winning team, against the better teams in the league. I hoped by now that both of them would be integrated into the line-up. Like everything else, it’s a coaching failure to not develop players that can fill a specific need on your team when you have them. Wasteing potential is the worst sin a coach can make.
There is a poll on the Inquirer sport page asking fans which players should be traded or kept and whether Jordan and Stefanski should be fired.
Out of all of them, as of now, more people want Jordan fired than anything else,. Second is Stefanski’s firing, and then Sammy and Iguodala being traded were the next highest negative percentages.
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