I came away from tonight's game thoroughly impressed. The Sixers actually beat a solid team -- a completely healthy solid team. They dominated the Kings from start to finish, and closed the game out with defense. It was reminiscent of the way Mo Cheeks '07 Sixers closed out games. However; I'm still not satisfied. I want losses. But wins like tonight's make rooting for ping pong balls and a coaching change a lot harder.
Note: I'm still sticking with the young guys in the recaps, but two big shout outs to Sammy D and Elton B. They were really good tonight.
Jrue Holiday
Typical Jrue Holiday game: tough defense, good passing, point guard skillz beyond his years, and a few rookie mistakes. He did a decent job on TyROY Evans despite giving up about 90 pounds. Only 10 minutes for Jrue tonight, but he was productive when given a chance.
Lou Williams
Unlike Jrue, Lou was torched by Evans. Yes Evans was 3-13 from the floor, but it had nothing to do with Lou Williams' defense. He was also unproductive on offense, shooting 4-15 from the floor. On the bright side, he did have zero turnovers and hit a few timely threes. This is what you can expect from Lou-Will: a few games where he shoots 10-15, dropping 25 points, and then nights like tonight, when he's awful.
Andre Iguodala
What more can you say about 'Dre? He suffered a terrible ankle spain in the first half, went for x-rays, and was back in no time. Not only did he come back quickly, but he showed absolutely no effects of the injury. I'd bet at least 50% of NBA players who suffer the same injury would not have returned. He was 4-13 from the floor, and I still think he takes too many jump shots, but I can live with it as long as he plays good defense, grabs 10 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, as he did tonight. Just another day at the office for Andre Iguodala.
Thaddeus Young
To the naked eye it looks like Thad busted out of his slump. After all, he scored 20 points on 14 shots. I however; wasn't that impressed. Unless he's scoring in transition, or getting really good looks under the basket, he has a hard time scoring. Of his 9 makes I can only recall two where he wasn't set up for an easy shot. One of them was a drive across the lane followed by a lefty hook, and the other was the baseline spin on Omri Casspi. For a guy who's supposed to be the future focal point of our offense, he's not very good at creating for himself or his teammates.
Marreese Speights
Speights was okay. I don't really remember him playing. He finished with a very quiet 16 minutes. He did lead the team in +/- though, so he must have been good!
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