Just two days after the Sixers picked up an enormous win against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, another championship team from the past decade in the San Antonio Spurs rolled (but picked first) into the Wells Fargo Center. Beating just about every big-name team that's come to town so far this year (with exception of the Miami Heat), the Sixers looked to lock up another marquee win against a top tier opponent tonight. The Basketball Gods and Tony Parker clearly didn't get the memo as the Spurs pick-and-rolled the Sixers to death on their way to a 100-90 win.

Just a few days earlier, Parker lit up the most athletic of point guards in Russell Westbrook meaning Jrue Holiday would have his hands full from the get go. It would be his duty to keep Parker out of the paint where he is without a doubt most dangerous. Everybody and their favorite Elmo doll knew that the Spurs were going to come in and utilize the lethal pick-and-roll combination of Parker and Tim Duncan as much as humanly possible, but knowing it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to stop it. This was the case with the Sixers tonight.

Right from the start the Spurs attacked with the P-and-R, mutilating the Sixers' top ranked defense in the process. Holiday, for some strange reason, was either attempting to go over the screen or didn't even make an attempt to get around the screen for the entirety of the first half. While Parker certainly has the ability to knock down the outside shot on occasion, he's infinitely more dangerous when he gets room to get to the basket. Once he got just a hint of hole to the paint, Parker would either force a big to collapse on him opening up the weak side for a cutter to collect an easy deuce, capitalize on the weak-side help by hitting the open man in the corner for an uncontested jumpshot, or just take the ball to the cup himself. Utilizing this attacking gameplan, Parker collected 37 points (on just 24 shots), 8 assists, and a total of 13 free throws (he made all 13).

The Spurs' P-and-R offense was certainly the death of the Sixers tonight but it wasn't the only factor that lead to a Sixer loss as another compliance showed its not-so-attractive face; long two-point jumpshots.

More after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Paired with the soft schedule, the biggest knock on the Philadelphia 76ers was the fact that they have yet to win a close game this season. In games decided by seven points are less they were 1-4, and they're only "close" win was against the Magic – a game where they led by 16 late in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately, the Sixers found themselves trailing the Los Angeles Lakers by a score of 86-81 with 3:47 remaining in the fourth, and to make matters worse, the game was set up for man who many believe to be the NBA's best "closer", Kobe Bryant, to indeed, "close" the game.

The Sixers inability to win close games is usually attributed to the lack of "a closer" or a "go-to guy". Along with the fact that the Black Mamba was lurking, this game had loss written all over it. Then Boss happened.

The much-maligned sixth man with a high usage rate and reputation for taking – and making – bad shots has seen his share of late game possessions for the Sixers. As you may remember, Lou's game-winning three during the 2011 Playoffs accounted for the lone Sixers victory against the Miami Heat. Like Jrue Holiday and Andre Iguodala, Williams periodically gets his turn to play the role of "closer" for the Sixers' closer-by-committee, and while Kobe still wears the crown for "best closer", there was only one real "closer" on the floor tonight, and that was Louis Williams.

It began with a three pointer to cut the Lakers' five-point lead to two with 3:47 remaining and ended with the Boss calmly nailing the game-clinching free throws with 10 seconds left as vivacious "Beat LA" chants echoed throughout the Wells Fargo Center. The Boss scored 14 fourth quarter points in all, including 12 of the Sixers' final 14. In the final 3:47 he was 4-5, 2-3 from three and 2-2 from the line. Kobe Bryant, for the record, was 1-7 with two points and a turnover during that stretch.

What's even more shocking than Lou out-dueling Kobe down the stretch is, the Sixers won a game where they allowed an obscene 21 offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded in total, 55 to 30. Normally when a team is out-rebounded by 25 in the NBA, they're blown out, plain and simple (the last time the Sixers won when out-rebounded by 25 was 1994), but eight timely threes and a brilliant 27:4 assist-to-turnover ratio allowed the Sixers to stay within striking distance for Williams.

To recap: in the last eight days the Sixers have answered just about every question anyone had about their legitimacy. They're 4-1 with wins dominant wins over the Magic, Bulls and Hawks (on the road + short rest), and now they've finally won a close game, against the league's most frightening "closer", in comeback fashion, nonetheless.

Make the jump for a few more observations.

Continue reading this post »

Bizarre title aside, the Sixers took care of business tonight against a streaking Hawks team that, just last week, beat the Milwaukee Bucks. And since the Bucks beat the Heat, I can safely say that by the Transitive Property of Victory, the Sixers are the best team of all time. Print it.

Because this is possibly the millionth time the Sixers have won by this formula, I'm going to completely ravage the archives of our significantly more talented Phillies brethren at The Good Phight and show you the Sixers Game Recap Template the four of us use here at Liberty Ballers. See below and here's hoping the lawyers at TGP don't sue us for copyright infringement.

Continue reading this post »

The Sixers were as red hot as an NBA team could be coming into tonight's outing against arguably the best team in the league, the Miami Heat. After already beating the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls this week, this was a game that every Sixers fan, whether it's Mike Levin from Liberty Ballers or Mike Levin of West End Youth Center fame, was drooling over. The Sixers fed off the loudest crowd I've heard for a regular season in a long time but ultimately could not muster up enough to defeat the reigning eastern conference champion Miami Heat.

The fourth quarter proved to be the Sixers' downfall tonight. Throughout the entire first half and parts of the third quarter, the Sixers were utilizing ball movement and team offense to set up open looks, and it was working as well I've seen it the entire year. The offense was fluid, the Sixers were getting aggressive play from Jrue Holiday (what we've been asking for all year), Thaddeus Young was in ultra-crafty mode, and distributors were finding Jodie Meeks in rhythm for open jumpers. All of a sudden, Doug Collins and his team decided the best way to make a comeback against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris bosh would be to run isolation play after isolation play. As we've seen on countless occasions, iso plays from the Sixers lead to forced and contested shots early in the shot clock that predictably enough don't find their way in the net.

The Heat were able to capitalize on the Sixers' fourth quarter offensive philosophy and pranced off to an insurmountable 27-8 run. Thanks to a takeover from LeBron, fast-breaking off Sixer misses, and knocking down an array of 3-pointers, the Heat never looked back on their way to a 20-point win in Philadelphia.

The biggest question I have coming out of this game for you guys is, does this loss hang on the shoulders of Doug Collins? It's no secret that Doug has been a great asset and made this team into a top 4 eastern conference team, but he has his flaws. With how well the Sixers were playing on the offensive end during the first half, what inspired him to give the go-ahead to change to isolation style? He knows this team better than just about anyone, why couldn't he realize that isolation does not suit this team one bit? I love you Dougie, but because of the style you switched to in the closing quarter, I've got to give the bulk of this loss to you.

More observations that have nothing to do with iso-disgust after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Whether or not anyone is ready to believe it, the 2011-12 Philadelphia 76ers are for real. They proved so tonight, against the reigning NBA MVP and the best team in the Eastern Conference. Not only were they able to hang with the mighty Chicago Bulls, they flat out annihilated them.

The first quarter began with the two teams feeling each other out and you got the impression the Sixers would be lucky to keep the game close. Trailing 17-11 midway through the first the Night Shift clocked in and sparked a 16-4 run to end the quarter. From then on the Sixers led by six and never looked back, keeping the Bulls at arm's length (zumoff'd) for the remainder of the game.

Despite playing the frontrunners throughout, it wasn't until early in the third quarter when the Sixers separated themselves from the Bulls, dismantling them on both ends of the floor. It wasn't until that moment that I truly believed this team could be for real. I've seen many a great stretches from these Philadelphia 76ers since Iverson's departure, but this felt different. Normally the Sixers are the little brother in these situations, catching big brother napping. Tonight, the Sixers played like they belonged in the same class as the Bulls, and expected to win.

Was the incredible, goosebump-provoking stretch of basketball played by these Sixers in the third quarter a representation of a turning point in an era – a post-Iverson era that's been lost in the shuffle amongst the fans and media – or was it just another quarter, another game? It remains to be seen and will largely depend what happens from here on out. I realize the Bulls were without Deng (no excuses) and the Sixers had their way with Chicago twice last season, but tonight was different because the pressure was on. All eyes were on this game. The Sixers heard the whispers. "Yeah, but you haven't beaten anybody," and the Bulls certainly weren't going to take any team with a 15-6 record lightly.

If this game ends up representing a turning point of sorts for the post-Iverson era Sixers, it's fitting that it was "the other" A.I. – the face of the franchise during this in-between era – who took over the game and sent the crowd, along with the broadcast booth and fans across the interwebs, into a frenzy. Let's recap:

Continue reading this post »

The Sixers held the Magic to 33.3% shooting. They very nearly had as many assists (22) as the Magic had made field goals (26). They held a Magic team that was second in the league in three pointers made and third in the league in three point percentage to 7-22 shooting. They held Superman Dwight Howard to 17 points on 17 shots.

Check the national media tomorrow and you're much more likely to hear about the Magic losing this game than the Sixers winning it. And there's some merit to that, as the Magic are playing absolutely dreadful basketball right now, losing 4 straight and averaging 76 points per game over that stretch.

And the Sixers end to the game certainly puts a damper on things. Up 18 points with under 3 minutes remaining, the Sixers fell asleep at the wheel, missing 6 free throws and playing porous defense. After allowing 18 points in the first 21 minutes of the second half, the Sixers gave up 18 points in the last 3. When Doug Collins is caught yelling expletives at Evan Turner at the end of the game, who in turned threw a towel down the Wells Fargo Center halls, things aren't entirely rosy, even after a win.

But this was a quality win, darnit, against an opponent with a legitimate superstar and a team with legitimate playoff aspirations, even if they're not playing like it now. The last 3 minutes of horrible basketball shouldn't prevent us from enjoying the superb effort the team gave during the first 45.

Continue reading this post »

74-69. Discuss. Real win!

(kinda)

This win over the Pistons followed the same template the Sixers have used to defeat lesser teams all season. Force bad shots, limit turnovers, and hit a ton of three's. It's gotten to the point where, (in a good way!) I could copy and paste the recaps from every game minus the Nets loss and you wouldn't know the difference. I won't do that here in the interest of originality, but I will give you my first bullet-point recap of the season! So here that is!

Continue reading this post »