Despite the hostile crowd and media attention surrounding his return to the city he once held in the palm of his hand, Willie Green managed to put up a vintage performance – one of which Sixers fans became so accustomed to during his seven-year tenure. He finished the game with an impressive 0 points, 0 assists and 3 rebounds, and missed all seven of his shots. It takes a special player to muster up the energy Green did, providing Sixers fans with one last thrill.
/sarcasm
There's not much to say about the beat down the Sixers laid on the reeling Hornets today. The Sixers took a 9-6 lead three minutes into the game and never looked back. The largest lead was 27, and the Hornets never threatened to get it under 15.
The Hornets finished the game shooting a tick over 30% and shot an abysmal 1-20 from the field during the second quarter.
Sure the Hornets were missing a decent amount of open jumpers, but the Sixers were swarming on defense and getting contributions from everyone. They key to their defense was preventing penetration and when the Hornets did enter the paint, to make them earn it at the line. The numbers aren't available yet, but once Hoop Data posts the advanced box score I'll update my recap with the number of shots the Hornets attempted at the basket. I'm guessing it will be an absurdly small number.
More observations after the jump.
- The Sixers are becoming extremely fun to watch. They work hard, play inspired defense, share the basketball and produce a handful of thrilling highlights every game. They remind me of the Mo Cheeks/Tony DiLeo Sixers – who went to the playoffs two consecutive years – with more young talent.
- Jrue Holiday played a very solid game. He finished with 12 points on 8 shots, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. On the downside he had 3 turnovers and Chris Paul scored at will. However; all is not lost, because although Paul "got his", he was unable to get the offense going, recording only 3 assists.
- I was impressed with Hawes defense on David West. Other than that Hawes had one of his worse games in a while.
- Andre Iguodala played a very good game scoring 16 points on 7 shots, grabbing 10 boards and recording 5 assists. He was drilling his jumpers today, because he wasn't taking many off the dribble; most of them were in catch-and-shoot situations.
- Thaddeus Young had on off-night offensively, but I was impressed with his activity. He played solid defense around the rim – had two blocks. He also had 4 assists and is really showing improvement in his vision and passing. Oh yeah, and he posterized Willie Green on a fast break.
- The only player I was irritated with during this blowout-of-a-game was Marreese Speights. He simply doesn't make smart basketball plays, and I've all but given up on him as any part of the future.
- Evan Turner had his best performance in a while scoring 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. He was 3-4 from the field including his second three-pointer of his career. He also had a gorgeous touch-pass to Thaddeus Young on a fast break. He was more aggressive than usual on offense – looking for his shot a little more – but never took it to the hoop.