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Welcome to another edition of the Liberty Links Lounge!
Not a bad week with wins over the Jazz, Cavs (with Kyrie Irving), and Raptors... but it hurts to drop one to newly discovered superstar Jeremy Pargo and the Irving-less Cavs. Clearly the Cavs, who hadn't played since Sunday, looked a lot more rested than the Sixers, who had just played the Raptors at home the night before. And with the Oklahoma City Thunder coming to town Saturday night, the Cavs match up had the makings of a trap game.
Quick Thoughts:
- Live and die by the Swag. It's the only way.
- Really hope Andrew Bynum plays this season. At least one game. Please, basketball gods.
- Lavoy Allen has been so disappointing.
- It's time to free Maalik Wayns, especially when the offense stalls. Allow him to push the ball and get some easy looks in transition. Royal Ivey just isn't cutting it. Free Arnett Moultrie too.
- New mini-feature in this series: "Best of Liberty Ballers". Just a few links to some of the best LB articles in the past week.
- Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. Kwame Brown came to my house and ate all the leftovers. Jerk!
- You may or may not know that I am the one who primarily runs the LB Facebook page. We currently have 943 likes. I'd like to hit at least 1000 before the Sixers season is over, so please go "like" it and tell all your friends to do the same. It's the cool thing to do.
Best of Liberty Ballers:
On Nick Young and the Art of Falling in Love
"How one remorseless chucker with brightly-colored sneakers forced one man to reject his philosophical principles and throw caution to the wind."
76ers Early Season Surprises: Jrue Holiday and Lavoy Allen
"11 games through the season, Jrue Holiday and Lavoy Allen have been major surprises for the 76ers, albeit for different reasons."
The Good, The Very Good, and The Bad: Cavs Edition
"Inverted offense, great one-on-one defense and a bad dribble handoff."
The Aftermath of the Andrew Bynum Bowling Fiasco
"Things don't seem quite as peachy in Sixersville has they did back in August when they pulled off the trade. Now that a max contract hangs in the balance, how should the Sixers handle this very delicate situation?"
LINKS:
One Andrew Bynum GIF to Rule Them All - Grantland
Yep.
Bynum and other great NBA hairstyles - SI.com
"Andrew Bynum, though sidelined with a knee injury, still managed to make an impact during Wednesday’s Sixers-Pistons game. On the court, Detroit won for the first time this season. but it was hard to focus on the game with Bynum’s showing off his new follicle stylings on the bench. We suspect some sort of heat treatment (blow dryer? flat iron?) was employed to straighten and create his fluffy hair helmet. Bynum’s new ‘do also got us thinking about other great hair of the 21st-century NBA. Here are seven of our favorites from the past decade."
Asked to carry load, Sixers' Holiday proves to still be work in progress - SI.com
"Andrew Bynum's absence has forced Jrue Holliday to take a larger role with 76ers."
Video: Nick Young sinks his patented fallaway corner three - The Basketball Jones
Swag.
The time Andrew Bynum went bungee jumping while under contract with the Lakers - The Basketball Jones
"Nothing bad happened, as Bynum a) is still alive to this very day and b) put up 26 points and 13 rebounds while starting during in Lakers’ season-opening win against the Clippers during the 2009-10 season. But in light of his recent bowling setback, it’s good to remember that Andrew Bynum has always subscribed to the tenets of YOLO, even before it was a hashtag."
Embrace the Swaggy P. - The 700 Level
"Following his big team-high 23-point scoring outburst and all-around solid performance -- four assists! -- off the bench in the Sixers come-from-behind victory over the Raptors on Tuesday night, Nick "Swaggy P." Young was wearing a sweatshirt that read "Swaggy P." on it. And he was talking about himself in the Swaggy third person."
Sixers staying afloat despite shooting woes - CSN Philly
"Doug Collins had hoped to go into a Thanksgiving celebrating a four-game winning streak. But, as is often the case, a night in Cleveland ended in defeat. Still, at 7-5, the Sixers have a lot to be thankful for, especially since the team is ranked 28th in scoring average, 29th in shooting percentage and has yet to see its best player set foot on the practice floor."
Allen Iverson's practice rant with the 76ers - philly.com
"IT WAS BOUND to boil over and become public. Larry Brown had had enough. The organization had had enough. For years, Allen Iverson used verbal crossovers to get around showing up for practice. The media was told on more occasions than can be counted that Allen was excused from practice because of the flu, a sick child, car issues, bumps and bruises . . . there were tons of reasons."
Fun Fact:
"Of the five lowest-scoring teams in the NBA, we're the only one with a winning record" - Doug Collins
GameThreads:
Utah Jazz 11/16/12
Cleveland Cavaliers 11/18/12
Cleveland Cavaliers 11/21/12
Toronto Raptors 11/20/12
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REMINDER - RULES OF THE THREAD: As long as you keep it clean (no cursing and please remember to bathe before threading) and avoid touchy subjects like religion/politics/etc, it's fair game. It's your thread - use it as you see fit.
Now, discuss! Happy Friday!