This win over the Pistons followed the same template the Sixers have used to defeat lesser teams all season. Force bad shots, limit turnovers, and hit a ton of three's. It's gotten to the point where, (in a good way!) I could copy and paste the recaps from every game minus the Nets loss and you wouldn't know the difference. I won't do that here in the interest of originality, but I will give you my first bullet-point recap of the season! So here that is!
- The Sixers won each quarter, never by more than 10 points - in the first. They kept the Pistons at arms length and kept stretching it til the end.
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Andre Iguodala, on his 28th birthday, recorded everyone's favorite triple double of the "pathetic" variety. 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. 1 turnover and 7 shots means that he was good Andre tonight, limiting the contested jump shots and creating offense for his teammates. The best thing of the night was when he thanked his mom for essentially birthing him. That was cool. The second best thing of the night was when he jumped in the air on a fast break and, not able to find an open mate, THREW THE BALL OFF THE BACKBOARD AND DUNKED IT HIMSELF! It was filthy and I think he should be punished severely for his awesome actions.
- Jodie Meeks and Louis Williams combined to shoot 2-10 on two-point shots. Happily, they shot 7-10 from outside the arc. That's strange, methinks, but I do like the fact that they know they're most effective chucking treys and, without turning the ball over, two of the worst wing defenders in the league made their presence felt on the other end.
- Lavoy Allen played. He hasn't been as bad as I'd imagined him to be, but I don't think the Lavoy Lovefest is exactly merited. He's been passable against terrible competition. Reserving judgment.
- Evan Turner with another great game, scoring 12 points on 8 shots with 6 boards (all defensive) and 3 assists to no turnovers. I think he's the best defensive rebounder on the team. Thus far, Spencer Hawes has had better numbers, but I think ET will surpass him once he gets back and normalcy returns. Evan is statistically the best rebounding wing in the league. Iguodala is second. They hauled in 15 of the teams 37 D-boards today. That's lovely.
- FROZONE!
- Thad wasn't great, Brand was aight, and Jrue was mostly fine as well. Would like to see all three of them get to the line more. That's not a new observation, we've been saying it since day one. Especially Jrue, but he was at least more effective tonight.
- Greg Monroe shot the ball 19 times! Woah. Too many.
- I like Walker Russell Jr. He seems chill. D-League shout out! Kind of like Q102's Hot Girl Check-In only with more indie cred.
Here comes the good matchups - Magic in two days. I'm pumped to see what happens. You should be too. We'll finally get to see how good/bad/mediocre/arewhotheythoughtwewere they actually are. That'll be kewl. Solid win, happy Saturday, Ima go see We Need to Talk About Kevin with my friend Kevin. If any Kevin murders me, I give all blog privileges to Ricko.