--Thaddeus Young has an uncanny ability to release after a miss and score easy buckets. It truly is an underrated skill. Besides committing six fouls, Thad had a great game. He was scoring in a ton of different ways: fast breaks, put-backs, jumpers, etc.
--Sam Dalembert's first quarter consisted of two goal-tends, a travel, a badly missed jumper, an awful outlet, a jump shot blocked by Darko, a defensive 3 seconds, and approximately 14 dumbfounded looks. I know I predicted that he'd have the best year of his career, but I'm having second thoughts. He steadily gets worse every season. It's unfortunate that no one will step up and take his job.
--New coach, new system, same poor perimeter defense. The Knicks shot 41 threes tonight and a lot were uncontested. --Elton Brand still doesn't have his explosiveness. He missed an easy layup after a beautiful feed from Andre Iguodala, one that, if it were 2006 he would've dunked on Darko's skull. He was also swatted by Al "not known for my defense" Harrington. However; despite the lack of explosiveness, he still found ways to score. The jumper was smooth. He's adequate and will still help tremendously -- just don't expect 20-10. --Jason Kapono can shoot the lights out. He needs to realize this and be a little less hesitant. --Lou Williams played an excellent point guard tonight, and even though he shot 3-12 from the floor, I was thoroughly impressed. Here's why: Lou Williams played 28 minutes tonight. During that time he, himself, only turned the ball over one time, and the team turned the ball over 9 times. During the 20 minutes Lou was not playing, the team turned the ball over 19 times. When Lou was on the floor the offense looked much crisper, much cleaner, and much more efficient. Is this a testament to Lou being that good or a backcourt of Green/Ivey being that bad? Lou also rebounded well and got to the line 10 times. He's turning me into a believer. --I'm not 100 percent sure why Andre Iguodala is turning the ball over so much this pre-season, but it could because he's throwing lobs to Primoz Brezec! I'm still not concerned. In other news, his jump shot looked solid. --The entire bench was sloppy and painful to watch. --Number of the night: 0, for the number of minutes Jrue Holiday played. Brandon Bowman, Dionte Christmas and Royal Ivey combined for 21 minutes. Jrue played zero! ZERO! There is no explanation for this unless he was injured. After what I've seen this pre-season, there's no reason Royal Ivey should receive more playing time than Jrue Holiday -- ever. I don't care how old he is, or how much Eddie Jordan dislikes rookies. --Overall, the Sixers did some good things, and some bad things tonight. You'll take a win any time you can, and the great play of Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young heavily out-weigh the bad in my opinion. Sixers remain undefeated!!!