Sixers dominate Bucks

Box Score

Brew Hoop

This is a tough pill to swallow. The Sixers are in the midst of a lottery race, and pulled out an extremely flukey win tonight. I'll give them credit for playing good defense throughout (probably their best of the year), but overall the Bucks missed a ton of open shots (5-28 from downtown), had passes, rebounds and loose balls bouncing off their hands, and ultimately couldn't do anything right. 

On the other side of the spectrum, almost the entire Sixers roster - with the exception of Elton Brand -  played out of their minds. A usually terrible bench (without Thad and Lou mind you) produced 47 points on 38 shots. Green was 7-11, and Smith was 5-7. It was so bad that the Sixers just threw up random shots off the backboard a couple times.

Can you tell I'm bitter?

The only player I'll discuss tonight is Jrue Holiday. 90% of the roster played well obviously, but they don't really matter, especially the dudes who had their third good game of the season. *cough* Jason Smith *cough*

Jennings can have all the hype because Jrue absolutely outplayed him tonight, and I loved every second of it. Jrue was the better scorer, the better defender, the better facilitator, the better floor general, the smarter player. I can go on forever. Jennings made little to no impact, and was benched numerous times by Skiles. Jrue on the other hand, played a near flawless game with the exception of his 6 turnovers.

The things I liked most about Jrue's game were: his defense (he hounded Jennings/Ridonour all night long, and it played a big role in the Bucks not getting in an offensive rhythm), his refusal to settle for outside shots (even though his jumper has been on point all season I think he only took one or two jumpers), and his insane court vision/passing (my favorite play was a baseline drive where he caught the pass, began driving to the hoop, took a quick peek at the middle of the floor, continued to drive, jumped in the air, drew three defenders, and shoveled an underhand laser to Sammy D for the wide open dunk). 

Jrue's play was the one and only thing to be excited about tonight. I know it's only one game, but I'll take Holiday 10 out of 10 times over the over-hyped Jennings. 

Random notes

• Iguodala had a nasty windmill jam on a fast break. Look for it on SportsCenter.
• Iguodala was also limping considerably toward the end of the game. Plantar Fasciitis?
• Jrue took a spill with under a minute to play and was clearly shaken up. He said he was fine in the post-game interview, but something to keep an eye on.
• Mo Speights took 2 or 3 charges tonight.
• Jodie Meeks, the more I see you, the more I want our 2nd round pick back.
• The Kings got blown out by the Nets tonight. The lottery winds did not blow our way tonight.