Hey, I'll take a win in the home opener over a very average Bucks team. Final score was 99-86 after overcoming a 6 point (6 POINTS!) deficit at the half. If you check out the game thread, you'll see John get into arguments, talk about the job market in Philadelphia, and of course, the English language. Also there's some complaints about our boy Bill Green in there mixed with a few opinions about Jrue.
I did not watch the game because it's Halloween weekend and I was busy dressing as Mrs. Doubtfire and taking shots of awful tequila. Both conducive to live blogging, of course. Continue reading for some stuff I made up about some players and stuff. That's an order.
+/- Winners of the Night
Sam Dalembert +18 in 35 minutes of action. Alright Sam, solid night of basketball. It doesn't hurt that Andrew Bogut is softer than the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (only drew one foul from Sam in 31 minutes), but he only took 6 shots, and was a respectable 6-8 from the line. 10 points, 12 boards, and 2 blocks from Sam is beyond what we can expect the rest of the season (the 4 TOs probably due to nerves, let's cut the guy some slack, his hands are usually Macculloch-esque), but hey, last night was nice.
Andre Iguodala +15 in 40 minutes. This is what we are used to seeing out of Dre. Filling up the categories, and making opponents seem much less athletic than he. 19 points on 12 shots, shooting 50%, 6-8 from the stripe, a trey, 9 boards, 7 dimes, 2 steals and a swat. 4 turnovers still too many, but this is what we like to see and when he gets other people involved, this team can play a bit. Player of the Game Italics ooooooohhhhhhh
It's basically the whole starting lineup, so I'm gonna go ahead and group Brand, Williams, and Thad together. Everybody in double digits, only 4 turnovers combined in plenty of game play, that's solid. Elton's not gonna be counted on for 20 and 12 every night. We have other guys that can take the load off and eventually his double teams are going to stop coming, which will end up in a big night for him. Thad had 4 assists, something I think everybody would like to see more of, since last year he was basically in the "pass it to him and watch" category. Involving his teammates, especially in the "Princeton Offense," will help him grow as a player. Lou was solid also, although without playing much defense on Jennings, he did pick up 3 steals and shot well from the field and the line. Impressive work from the starters, basically dominating a bad (badder?) Bucks team that has Kurt Thomas starting and Charlie Bell logging 31 minutes.
Kapono played 24 minutes and didn't get a rebound or an assist. He was 2-4 from beyond with 10 points. He's not what you would call multi-dimensional.
Willie Green was a surprising plus 7. Who knew? He did shoot a whopping 0-5 from the field, so that's more familiar. The more interesting stat, he only played 7 minutes! Mardi Gras 2010!
Holiday/Speights Watch
Jrue got his first action of his career and is currently on pace to shoot 100% from the field for the season. Quite a start. DIdn't do too much in his 6 minutes of action, but didn't fall over himself either. I imagine he played solid D on Luke Ridnour and Roko Ukic, but that's pure speculation and poor journalism. I'm just glad Eddie played him, and Brezec continues to wear a suit. Anybody know why Carney was DNPCD?
Mo had an interesting 13 minutes. Only took 3 shots, made one, committed 5 fouls (on who? it's the bucks) but got 7 boards in that time and he was +6. Seven rebounds in 13 minutes compared to five in 26 minutes against the Magic. Sure it's against the Bucks, a team with relatively no inside presence, and it looks like he was matched up with Dan Gadzuric most of the time, but I like to see it, so good for Marreese this game, hopefully he continues averaging 25 rebounds per 48 minutes.
Princeton Offense?
Since I didn't watch, I can't shed any light on how it looked. Tanner said we looked sloppy, which I believe wholeheartedly, BUT we did shoot a nice percentage, hit foul shots, and won the rebounding battle (by 1). 19 turnovers is too many. It's going to take some time, but I really think we have enough weapons on this team to beat anybody. A lot of "ifs" have to be taken into account, but in terms of ability, we've got plenty. Depth, starting center, and defense is another thing, but I mean those things don't matter that much anyway so let's think positive, eh?
We're 1-1 on this fetus of a season and head to New York tonight at 7:30 to take on the 0-2 Knicks. While the Sixers-Knicks game will take a back seat (more like trunk) to the Phils-Yanks, Eagles-Giants, then Phils-Yanks again, it's funny how Philly and New York sports are basically cuddling with each other this weekend. Solid win, let's do it again tonight.
Go Phils.