SB Nation - Elton Brand

Look What I Found!

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsMichaelBourn — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:37:57 -0000

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

Hold it like an egg.

Sixers beat Celtics 98-97

I know, right? Consider that we hadn't beaten a winning team all season, Boston was tied for the best record in the league, and riding an 11 game winning streak, my "we won't win" prediction before the game seemed like a safe bet. But how about a little reverse psychology?

AI was a scratch with some left knee pain, so we got a healthy dose of Jrue, which is what I wanted. Unfortunately we also got an unhealthy dose of Willie Green. A 45 minute cot damn dose! Much too much.

By now you know the last few plays but I'll relay them anyway. With 23 seconds left down 1, Mo Speights was the go to guy and, guarded by Kendrick Perkins, he took an off-balance up and under from about 10 feet out in an attempt to draw the foul. The whistles were silent and his shot clanged off the rim. Elton Brand (more on him later) had perfect (and I mean perfect!) position on Paul Pierce down low after a switch and was able to go up for the tip in with 7 seconds left to put your 76ers ahead by a point. Pierce got the ball defended by 'Dre, who slipped a bit on Pierce's step back jumper that clanged off the back rim. Ray Allen got the floor board with 2 seconds left, turned around and fired up a makeable shot, but another Ray-Ray dagger was not to be.

Now let's get to some bullet point observations, since you idiots love simplicity (just kiddinggggggg)

Elton Brand was a stud tonight. He worked, flashed a nice jumper from up to 14 feet out, and got his meat-and-potatoes-four-pump-fakes-in-the-lane-put-backs, trademarked to EB himself. 23 and 8 off the bench in only 26 minutes is as quality as it gets. While he should without a doubt be a starter, if Jordan pulls Dalembert after 3 minutes, it's not that much of a difference.
Before I say anything more about Mo, I have to continue to hammer home the point that it was completely unnecessary to bring him back this early. What's the benefit? We win one game against a good basketball team and continue towards perennial mediocrity? Wait until he is completely healthy, then play the kid. ANYWAY, he played aggressively tonight and that's good to see. His rebounding has absolutely improved, and while his defense is still a step or two behind, I'm optimistic about it coming around. He had a couple ill-advised shots early in the clock and needs to work on his ball-handling (two strong dribbles max, plz), I appreciate taking the ball to the basket and it was super cool watching him get the ball at the end of the game, even if he didn't sink it.
I can't emphasize enough how Rasheed Wallace's ejection affected this game. He kills us, and adds another dimension to this Celtics team that makes them virtually unbeatable, even if it's just as a decoy. His early exit gave us an opening that we took advantage of during crunch time.
We won the third quarter! yayayayayayayaya
Hey, they only shot 5-15 from beyond the arc! There were too many open looks though, don't expect this to continue. On a related note, every time Ray Allen takes a shot, I look away and wait for the swish. I'm pretty sure I've never seen him miss (hyperbole).
In this game, the best lineup Jordan put on the floor was Jrue-Willie-Iguodala-Thad-Brand
Jason Kapono is atrocious at basketball.
How many loose balls a game does Sam lose with his rock hands and awful reaction time?
Willie couldn't keep up with Allen, but offensively he wasn't horrendous.
Jrue with another game filled with positives and rookie mistakes. He had a couple really nice passes inside to Brand and Thad. The mistakes are to be expected. I just love that he's getting playing time against some legitimate competition. He's earned minutes when Lou and AI are healthy. Whether he gets them or not remains to be seen.
Clutch free throws from Speights and Iguodala at the end
Speaking of Dre, he played his game. Didn't force too much when his shot wasn't falling, battled on defense, got ballsy at the end when he had to step up, and celebrated with some angry man faces. When other guys step up offensively, Andre can focus on setting up other guys and working on D, making us a better team.
Big ups to JSams who popped his NBA cherry at TD Garden tonight. A long time coming, my friend. Good first game, I'd lower my expectations for the rest of your game-watching life.

This was a fun game and a great comeback win for a group of guys that lost too many of these close ones in the past few weeks. It's not a season changer, it's not a turning point, and it's certainly not an indication that we're in any way better than the Boston Celtics. I like seeing improvement from the young guys, and cohesiveness of Elton Brand's involvement in the offense (what the offense is I'm not sure). Anything else is gravy. We've always known this team has plenty of talent in various areas, but the fact remains that until we get some consistency with the coaching philosophy and rotations, we won't be playing as a team, especially on the defensive end.

Get some rest kids, we're doing this again tomorrow vs. the Clip Joint at 7. Another winning streak? Pshyah!

Player of the Game (POG) - Elton Brand

Celtics blow big lead, fall to Sixers

Jimmy Toscano — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:57:37 -0000

For the fourth time out of five, the Boston Celtics lost a Friday night home game, putting a sour taste in Celtics fans' start to the weekend. The Celtics fell to the Philadelphia 76ers 98-97 in front of the TD Garden crowd. Don't blame the officials, don't blame the cold weather, and don't blame the traffic getting here- blame it on the lack of all around enthusiasm from the Celtics.

"I think our energy sucked all night," Kevin Garnett admitted.

The Celtics were up 59-44 early in the third quarter to a poor Philadelphia 76ers team, but could not hold the lead. Instead of putting the 76ers away for good in the third quarter, the Celtics dropped their energy level and let the 76ers crawl back into it. The 76ers only trailed by four points going into the fourth quarter, and took the lead with 6:02 left in the game for the first time since the first quarter.

"We have to do a better job playing better at home," Paul Pierce said. "I mean, I don't know what it is about us playing at home this year. We have to come out with a little more energy from start to finish. There in the third quarter you know you gave a team life. And when you give a bad team some life they're going to play, and that's what we did."

"We played with this, you know, this swagger- the losing swagger," said Doc Rivers. "It's one thing to have the winning swagger when you go out, you feel great about your team, and you go out and play. And then there's another thing when you just show up and you think the other team's going to lay over because you're the Celtics."

Kendrick Perkins, who scored 12 points and grabbed 16 boards, was quick to echo Doc's sentiments in that maybe the Celtics just assumed they were going to win.

"I thought when we went up 16 or whatever we were up, we kind of let our guards down, Perkins said. "I don't think we executed right. I think sometimes you win a couple games in a row you tend to have this swagger like you can walk on the court and just win games. We played against a hungry team that needed a victory, they played hard tonight and they came out and just got a win- they kept fighting."

The Celtics were forced to play most of the game without Rasheed Wallace, who was thrown out in the second quarter with his second technical of the game. Wallace was on the officials about a previous call during a timeout, and would not let up. The loss of Wallace clearly hurt the Celtics down the stretch.

"It affected us a lot," Perkins said. "We needed Rasheed tonight. We sure could have used him in a lot of ways but we still know we should have won the game."

Rasheed Wallace had to be held back by Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau after being ejected from the game.

"I was more scared for Tom [Thibodeau] than I was for anybody else," Rivers joked. "Tom is tough. ‘Tibs' has been on the weights now for about three months and it finally paid off for him today."

As for Wallace's actions during the game, nobody is really surprised.

"He's been doing it a long time," Rivers said. "He's an expert at it. But we knew that when we got him, and I still love him. I think he's great, he's been great for our team, but he's going to have some of these days."

While it seems that Rivers is somewhat downplaying Wallace's technical fouls, we saw firsthand tonight the repercussions that can occur if Wallace's temper gets ahead of him, like it has done many times in the past. For the season, Wallace has 10 technical fouls. Once he gets to 16 technical fouls, he will be suspended for the next game and every other technical foul after that will result in a one game suspension. Wallace is the first guy off this Celtics bench, and with Marquis Daniels also down, that left two of the Celtics best bench players off the floor.

On the flip side, the 76ers' Elton Brand and Marreese Speights combined to score 40 points and grab 18 rebounds coming off the bench.

The bright spot off the bench tonight for the Celtics was Tony Allen. Allen scored 10 points, all in the second quarter, but then didn't do much of anything in the second half.

"I just think we have to buckle down, make some better decisions, close out games," said Allen.

Thoughts on Rockets 96 - 76ers 91 (Aka Game Recap)

Xiane — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:02:07 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Houston Rockets' Tracy McGrady is proud to represent the nation of China in the 2009-2010 NBA All-Star Game. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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This game was viewed through the prism of an ill child (nothing serious), so my thoughts are more fragmented that usual. I'll rely more on that last resort of scoundrels, statistics.

When one looks at the 76er starting lineup, it is pretty impressive:

Elton Brand, Andre Iguodala, Allen Iverson, Samuel Dalembert, Thaddeus Young.

That's a lot of talent, a ton of athletic ability. Elton Brand has in the past, been one of the finest players in the NBA at his position. Iguodala has one of the more well-rounded, athletic and interesting games in the NBA. Iverson, well, he's raging at the dying of the light, at any rate, and he looks to have something left. Yet the Sixers have now lost 12 straight games. Why? I (imagine I) hear you asking. Two words: The Bench.

Players seeing minutes from the Philly bench tonight include: Willie Green (25), Jason Kapono (17), Jrue Holliday (8), Jason Smith (3), Primoz Breszec (5).

Total points in 58 out of 240 possible player minutes? Six. I repeat. S-I-X.

Let's compare that to the Rocket's bench, total points: 46 in 84 player minutes. So Philly's bench scored roughly one point every 9.40 minutes. The Rockets bench scored a point every 1.5 minutes.

This is an object lesson in bench construction (and another reason why "WE © or Ω or √ MOREY" Guess what? No little "heart" thingy.). Houston, with 40% of an NBA payroll, has a bench that, frankly, buried Philly's in this contest.

That is not how the game started. Phily jumped on Houston early, prompting fears of the 76ers once again being a team that's pure poison for the Rockets, no matter how bad they look against the rest of the league. Then the benches matched up, and the Rockets closed a Philly lead that stood at 10 after the first quarter to 3 points at the half.

When outside observers look at the Rockets, I think they often make the mistake of looking at the starting lineup and saying "That's not a high caliber NBA lineup." Well, maybe not (though I disagree). But to understand the Rockets, you have to go 9-10 deep. You could start the Rocket's second unit and give up very little, overall.

The players aren't exactly comparable, with some offering more offense, some defense, so let's look at Win Shares so far in 2009-2010. The typical Rocket starting lineup boasts a 7WS total at this point. The second unit (of 4 players) is contributing 5WS - add an average rating of one starter from the first team and you get a total of 6.4WS for the second unit (as we've yet to see much of Taylor thus far). Point being, the Rockets give up little, or nothing, switching out almost their entire lineup. This, I submit, is a powerful, and under-appreciated, advantage.

Every Philly starter played 34 minutes or more, with the exception of Dalembert, who played 29. Brand logged 43, sitting down 5 minutes of the contest, and Iguodala saw 40. Only Ariza came close to that, going 42.

Notes:

I'm very happy we didn't once again drop a game to the 76ers as we have done so frequently in the past. We need to win every single game against floundering opponents. We're going to struggle to hit .500 against the top teams, so we need to clean up on games against below .500 teams.

Iverson gave young Kyle Lowry and Aaron Brooks a lesson in drawing fouls and shooting FTs. Lowry is good at it, but AI is the past master, and he put on a "weak contact FT shooting" clinic in the 4th.

Carl Landry is one of the most valuable players in the NBA on a salary/production basis. I'm now surprised when a Landry shot doesn't go in, and the reasons why not usually break down to: uncalled foul on Carl, the shot was a bit out of his range. That's it.

Commenting on the Tracy McGrady All-Star Game "controversy": what would happen if TMac's first 2009-2010 game appearance was in the NBA ASG? Could the Rocket's keep him out of it, if he hadn't played for them to that point, but wanted to play in the ASG?

The Lakers are going for their 11^th straight win tonight. Some Laker apologists have made an interesting argument that LA having 17 of 21 appearances at home to start the year isn't much of an advantage. After their recent run, can this assertion be supported? We'll have to see the record they compile when they actually do leave LA for more than 48 hours at a time to know more.

You know, every time I see those weird Charlie Sheen/Michael Jordan "Haynes Undergarments" ads I think a couple of things:

1. These are terrible ads. Are there two more unlikable pitch men than Pathetic Sheen, and Arrogant Michael Jordan, blowing him off? Who would those pitchmen be?

2. I always imagine Charlie Sheen is the head scout, or cap guru, for the Bobcats. He's trying to get Jordan to pay attention to some mundane franchise detail, like player signings, or budget, and MJ just drives away, late to a tee time.

Surprisingly, the Rockets are not playing a back-to-back on the road Saturday night. Next game vs Toronto in that mysterious and far-away land known as Canada.

Sixers losing streak reaches 12

jsams — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:08:37 -0000

More photos » by Jesse D. Garrabrant - NBAE/Getty Images

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Box Score

The Sixers continue to find ways to lose. Tonight, they dominated the Rockets during the first quarter en route to a 17-point lead, only to see it disappear by halftime. They hung in there until the very end, but were eventually handed their 12th straight loss by a better team.

Eddie Jordan's rotations are getting a little better -- not perfect -- but better. He tried to have two rebounders on the floor at all times and it was reflected in the numbers.
Elton Brand did well tonight. I refuse to say he "looked good", because numbers or not, he still doesn't look right to me, and it resulted in some awkward, ugly basketball.
A.I. was A.I.
My love/hate relationship with Andre Iguodala's jumper is currently lukewarm.
Thaddeus Young crashed the boards and boxed out like a man possessed tonight -- the biggest positive of the night.
Iverson is clearly the cream to Sammy D's coffee. Either that, or he promises him a Speed Racer action figure for every rebound and block he gets. He's been killin' it since Iverson's return!
Billy Bob Green actually contributed on the glass and in the passing game tonight. Shocking, I know. Go ahead and re-read that sentence a couple times, because it took me approximately 4 and a half minutes to type. My fingers reacted to the keyboard like Fletcher Reede reacts to a blue pen. Unfortunately, Green still thinks defense consists of letting your guy score; he also took bad shots. Same stuff, different game.
What color should I get my John Wall jersey in? Red or White?

Gameday Preview Charlotte Bobcats vs Philadelphia 76ers

David Arnott — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:50:55 -0000

Pump Up Music: Wilson Phillips -- "Hold On"

(Via my friend Anya)

The Big Picture: At least the Bobcats aren't the 76ers right now. They've lost eight in a row and are so desperate for guard help they've brought back the corpse of Allen Iverson. What's worse, they have two legitimate All Stars on the roster, but one, Elton Brand, has lost all semblance of that All Star-dom and is coming off the bench now. They're trying to trade him, but he's got so many years left, I'm not sure there are going to be any takers unless the Sixers get back totally useless players.

The good news for Philly fans, though, is that they do have Andre Iguodala, and when Louis Williams gets back, they'll have their pilot for a group of young run 'n gunners. Right now, though, they're casting around for something that works.

Key to Victory: The last time they played, Iguodala got his, and Brand stepped up to bully around the smaller Boris Diaw. This time around, without Williams running the point for the Sixers, the Cats can try to short circuit the Sixers' offense at the source. Iverson won't play tonight, and even if he did he's not a real point guard. Willie Green and Royal Ivey aren't exactly floor captains. They would like to use rookie Jrue Holiday in that role, but he's still learning the position, since he didn't carry much point guard duty at UCLA.

I like when the Bobcats pick spots to apply full court pressure, and they should kick it up a notch tonight. Maybe that plays into the Sixers' hands and allows them a more open floor, but if it does, that's what in-game adjustments are for. I'd like to see our guys take a chance early and make Philly prove they have the ballhandlers to bring the ball up the floor against some pressure and then run the offense in a compressed time frame.

Detail That May Interest .08% of You: Sixers coach Eddie Jordan led the NBA in steals while playing for the New Jersey Nets in the 1978-79 season.

Duke: Uniting College Sports Fans in Hate

aramnath — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:54:49 -0000

J.J. Redick loved the shocker when he was at Duke.

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After watching Wisconsin beat Duke and clinch the Big Ten-ACC Challenge for the Big Ten for the first time in the eleven year history of the challenge I got a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Not because the Big Ten won, though that was part of it, but because Duke's loss sealed the victory.

Is there a more unifying experience in college sports than rooting against Duke's basketball team?? As a Michigan fan I have a steadfast dislike for everything from Ohio State, but there's no denying the amount of quality NFL players they have produced. Duke on the other hand is quite a different story.

I don't think any other team has produced the amount of gritty, emotional players, that just have those "intangibles" quite like Duke does. What's amazing is how well all their players have translated to the NBA. Oh wait, no they haven't.

For such a "powerhouse" college basketball program they have produced a grand total of zero greats and only two pretty good NBA players - Grant Hill and Elton Brand. On the other hand they produced some amazing poets (fast forward to 4:59)

While the Cameron Crazies are wild and do deserve love for camping out and going nuts at every game, we recently took a trip to Durham to see the biggest football game in the last 40 years for the Dukies, as they took on top 10 Ga Tech in what could have been a game where they actually put themselves in control of their own destiny for a BCS win.The video below was shot from the top of the stands and yet you can basically hear the calls on the field - keep in mind that at this point in the game Duke actually had a shocking 10-0 lead.

Of course they went on to get blown out 49-10, en route to losing their last 4 games in a row and yet another season without a bowl game - so maybe those Duke football fans just knew better than to show up.

The real question here is who the most hated Duke player of all time is? In recent history it was definitely J.J. Redick. Anybody that throws up the shocker (fast forward to 7:20) after making a big shot at UNC cements their place as one of the all-time hated Blue Devils. By the way he's going to make a rap album - cant wait for that gem to hit iTunes. More than Redick the Blue Devil I hated most was Greg Paulus.

Here is a guy that started three seasons at point guard for the Blue Devils, during which time we always heard about how much of a leader he was, how much he meant to the team and how he was also the No.1 quarterback recruit in the country. Well after three years of starting Coach K finally realized he sucked and benched him senior year. Then we had to hear about how much of a team player he was for not complaining when he got benched. And, yet somehow as he was the QB of the 'Cuse this year we sort of rooted for him - proving its not the man, its the college.

It gets tricky though as you look back through the years. They've just had so many d-bags grace their program. Christian Laettner was one and then Cherokee Parks came after him. Then there was Dunleavy who became a No. 3 overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft and Josh McRoberts who at one time was being called a less, athletic version of Chris Webber, which makes all that "Baby Jordan" talk for Harold Minor sound legit - I mean at least he won a dunk contest.

There's so many players to choose from. Which Blue Devil do you hate more than any other?

Poll

Which Duke player do you hate the most?

J.J. Redick

18 votes

Christian Laettner

19 votes

Greg Paulus

13 votes

Mike Dunleavy Jr.

4 votes

All of the above & everyone else from Duke

37 votes

Check the comments for a new nomination

11 votes

102 votes | Poll has closed

Game 18 Preview: Oklahoma City vs. Philadelphia

Zorgon — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:32:54 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Back in action? Nope, not yet!

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This also counts as an open thread, so feel free to post your thoughts during the game here.

Time: 7:00 PM Central Standard Time

Place: The Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma, Comcast Sports Philadelphia, NBATV

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1)

Enemy Blog(s): Liberty Ballers, Sixers4guidos, DepressedFan

Backstory: The 76ers are a surprise dissapointment among all of the good surprises that have happened this year. Someone has to fall, right? Granted, Elton Brand and Louis Williams have been injured....but that's only been recently. The bottom line is that they lost Andre Miller. And with him, they lost the glue that held the team together. Even in the latest 2 point loss to the Mavericks, the team had 4 more turnovers than assists. That isn't a recipe for winning, and it's bad news for a team that thought they could make the playoffs. Indeed, in the last two years they have made the playoffs, but it looks like they'll have to do even more post-Allen Iverson rebuilding. And no, getting Allen Iverson back doesn't count!

Meanwhile, the Thunder are a shade over .500, and they're looking to keep it that way. They've taken care of business against teams like the 76ers in the past, and the game is at home, so things are looking up. Still, injuries to Nick Collison (possibly out tonight), Kyle Weaver, Kevin Ollie, and Shaun Livingston haven't helped matters, so it remains to be seen whether they have the depth of talent to win this game.

Below: Matchups, Prediction

Matchups:

Center: Nenad Krstic vs. Samuel Dalembert

Luckily, Nenad Krstic will be back tonight, along with a possible chance of Nick Collison. The thunder will need all of the help they can get, because Samuel Dalembert is a mean machine in the post, along with being the 2nd greatest basketball player ever to come out of Canada. I'd expect Krstic to be able to score, since both Dalembert and Brand are immobile centers, but I'd also expect Dalembert lay the smack down in the post.

Power Forward: Jeff Green vs. Elton Brand

Yet another mismatch. Jeff Green will have to make sure to stay out of foul trouble, and Elton Brand will have to make sure to guard Green on the perimeter. Expect Green to have the upper hand if he can stay out of foul trouble.

Small Forward: Kevin Durant vs. Thaddeus Young

Heh, good luck Thaddeus. He'll have a better 3 Point percentage than Durant, but not much else.

Shooting Guard: Thabo Sefolosha vs. Andre Igoudala

This is yet another tough matchup for Sefolosha, as Igoudala is the primary scorer of the 76ers. Still, he won't walk all over Sefolosha, like Ariza did. Rather, I think Sefolosha will be able to shut him down in some cases and force turnovers.

Point Guard: Russell Westbrook vs. Jrue Holiday (Possibly Willie Green)

I don't think either one of these guys is any better than Westbrook. Willie Green is a scoring-type bigger guard, and Jrue Holiday is still a Rookie, with not many stats to his name. This is a real opportunity for Russell Westbrook to shine, get those assists, and score well.

Battle of the Benches

I'll breathe a huge sigh of relief if Nick Collison gets to play tonight, as he'll help out a lot down low. Still, despite all of their badness, the 76ers have a solid bench, with young life-long backup Center Jason Smith, 3 Point Sharpshooter Kapono, and solid scoring guard Willie Green. But Royal Ivey sucks. It's not a bench that blows you away with depth, but they don't really take a huge hit in talent when their backups are on the floor, and they all have clearly defined roles. Their bench gets the win over ours, because I'd say Kapono and Green pretty much own their equivalents on our team.

Coaching and Intangibles

The 76ers have just signed Allen Iverson, so the team might go into "cruise control", as they have some sort of savior coming to the team on Monday. On the other hand, they might be motivated to perform well before he gets there, but that's something I'm doubting. On top of that, they've lost 7 straight, and are away from home. The intangibles are definitely on the side of the Thunder.

Bottom Line

The real danger of the 76ers is their big post guys. If they can dominate inside, and out-rebound us, then we might have a game on our hands. Yet, if they just let Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic nail mid-range jumpers all day, then this could very easily turn into a blowout.

Prediction: Oklahoma City 100, Philadelphia 86

I haven't predicted an over 10 point victory since the Kings game....let's hope I haven't jinxed anything.

How do you think the game will go? Vote in the Poll!

And, again, feel free to drop any comments you might have during, before, or after the game below. I'll be in the Ford Center cheering the team on, but I'll be back to write a recap later tonight. Go Thunder!

Poll

Who's going to win tonight?

The Oklahoma City Thunder

24 votes

The Philadelphia 76ers

2 votes

26 votes | Poll has closed

Sixers win. Just kidding.

jsams — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:44:00 -0000

More photos » by MIKE STONE - AP

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Box Score

Boy, Dallas teams own Philly teams. Wink.

The Sixers played a surprisingly competitive game in Dallas tonight, but ended up dropping their seventh straight game. The final minute could not have summed up the Andre Iguodala-Sammy Dalembert era any better. Here's how it went down:

Play 1: Andre Iguodala has a chance to tie the game, pulls up for a stupid jumper, shoots an airball, and acts like it's somebody else's fault.

Play 2: Then the Sixers foul Jason Kidd, he makes one of two free throws, Sammy grabs the rebound, and the Sixers call a timeout.

Play 3: Out of the timeout Andre drills a three to tie the game, and acts like he's the baddest dude in the NBA.

5 seconds remaining.

Play 4: The Mavs inbound to JET Terry and the curse of game-winners struck yet again, as JT hit a fadeaway J with 1.4 seconds left.

Final play: Thad inbounds the ball to Iguodala, he shoots an off-balanced three to take the lead, and according to Kate Fagan, Sammy D thought it was an alley-oop. So, the obvious thing to do was offensive goal-tend, and prevent any chance of the shot going in. Andre Iguodala responds with: " I was shooting, Sam ..."

For the record, I don't think Iguodala's shot was going in, and I hated all three of his shots down the stretch, but still, not a smart play by Samuel Dalembert. And it's a shame, because it's going to take away from Sam Dalembert's best game of the season: 6 points, 19 boards, 3 blocks, 3 steals.

Elton Brand killed it tonight. He looked very vintage, dropping 21-10 off the bench. He had three great games, then a stinker in Washington and everyone said, "See, those 3 games were a fluke." Wrong. He's about as back as he's ever going to be. And he looks pretty good to me.
I hate to say it, but with Lou-Will out, Bill Green is one of the Sixers' best scoring options. He carried the team for stretches tonight.
I could say this after every game, and probably will. Andre, stop taking jumpers!!!

It was a good effort by the Sixers, but like we say with wins, a loss is a loss, and bad teams find ways to lose games. The Sixers aren't a good team, although, I see some signs of a turnaround. They'll be just good enough to barely miss the playoffs or get eliminated in the first round, like the have the past couple years. Joy! Look on the bright side, at least Allen Iverson is coming back.

Sixers lose to Celtics 113-110

jsams — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:58:48 -0000

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Box Score

To no one's surprise, the Sixers lost again. The odds were stacked against them, playing the mighty Celtics on their home floor, and missing three of their best players: Lou Williams, Mo Speights and Elton Brand. The Sixers could've easily mailed this game in, especially down 10 points with 5 minutes to go, but they didn't, and I respect that. They battled for 48 minutes and only lost by three points. But don't confuse "battling" with playing well, because they didn't play well. Their defense was shredded once again, and it took insane performances from Bill Green and Jason Kapono to keep them in the ball-game.

I know I'm going to hear, "No way dude, the Sixers blew that game!" Well, if you believed the outer-worldly performances from Bill Green and Jason Kapono would last for four quarters, then yeah, I guess they blew the game. And if you believed the Celtics were never going to turn it up a notch, then yeah, the Sixers blew the game. The bottom line is, the Sixers were shooting 10 times better than usual, and the Celtics were in third or fourth gear until the final quarter. There's no way the Sixers "gave the game away" because it took every ounce of their bodies just to keep the game close for three quarters.

I'm not sure what to say about the defense, besides "What defense?" The Celtics had a ton of open shots, just like every other team who plays the Sixers. The constant switching and over-helping seems to be the root of their problems, and that falls mostly on the head coach.

Andre Iguodala did not take a jumper until the second quarter. He was 4-6 from the field. I was very pleased. However; his next 12 shots were all jumpers -- most of them heavily contested and early in the shot clock. He made four of them. I hate watching Andre Iguodala take bad jumper after bad jumper. He's not Kobe Bryant. In his defense, no one else was doing anything offensively, but when Lou, Brand and Speights return I want Andre to take a lot less jumpers. Drive, kick, dunk... no more jumpers unless they're wide open!

Jrue was very up and down, as expected. He played very rookie-ish, but I'm completely fine with that. God bless Eddie Jordan for leaving him in. Sure, he had no other options, but that hasn't stopped him before.

Tonight was a tough loss, but they were playing the Celtics, and missing three key players, so don't get too down on the team. Plus, Jrue played 34 minutes. That alone warrants a celebration.

That's all I got for tonight. Have a good Thanksgiving, and Go Cowboys!

Sixers lose to Wizards, but Jrue is free!

jsams — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:33:10 -0000

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Box Score

The Sixers did not play a particularly well tonight, and lost to the Wizards. Poor defense, worse rebounding, Antawn Jamison -- the list goes on -- but that's not what's important. What's important is what transpired during the final 10 minutes of the game.

Sixers fans have been screaming "FREE JRUE" since training camp, to no avail. Tonight, down 11 with 10 minutes to go, Eddie Jordan finally played rookie instead of making his usual Royal Ivey substitution. (The equivalent of the white flag.) Much like the last game Jrue played, he came in with a quick trigger finger, doing everything in his power to prove that he deserves more minutes. However; unlike the Memphis game, Jrue's shots were falling, which led to good defense, which led to good rebounding, which forced Jordan to leave him in for more than 4 minutes. The result? A ferocious comeback fueled by the rookie. The comeback feel just short when Lou Williams' potential buzzer-beater rimmed out, but that doesn't take anything away from the "Holiday goodness" we saw during the final 10 minutes.

From this day forward, the 19-year-old Holiday should be freed for good, with an emphasis on should since we have no evidence of Eddie Jordan doing what should be done, yet.

Now, for all the people out there saying, "10 minutes dude? Even Eddy Curry had a great 10-minute stretch once," this is a completely different situation. I am not claiming that Jrue is going to be an All-Star, a good player, or even an NBA starter. I'm just saying that he deserves 10-15 minutes a night and should play more than Royal Ivey and Willie Green. There is no logical explanation why he shouldn't. None!

If I were a betting man (which I am), I'd bet that Jrue Holiday earned himself at least a time share with Bill Green as the backup point guard. If not, than Sixers fans really have a right to be outraged. What Jrue did tonight was better than what Green and Ivey have done all year -- combined!

Five paragraphs later, here are Jrue's final numbers: 10 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers on 4-6 shooting. Even those absurd numbers don't justify what Holiday meant to the Sixers tonight. He was all over the place. And if you think I'm excited, you should've heard Marc Zumoff pop a blood vessel screaming like a 12-year old girl after Jrue made his third three.

I have two more things to say about Jrue "I turn grown men into teenage girls" Holiday -- some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want first? The bad news? Okay. We cannot expect this kind of game from Jrue every night. Duh! The good news is, Jrue is only 19 years old and loves to play defense -- something we can expect to continue every night.

Rest of the game after the jump.

It's a shame that it's taken this long to mention Lou Williams, because he was brilliant tonight. I've been saying that the Sixers need a go-to scorer in order for them to be a legitimate contender, and Lou might be turning into that guy. Don't take this as me bashing Andre Iguodala, because he is still the Sixers best player, but he is not -- and never will be -- a number one scorer. Just like Allen Iverson needed to be surrounded by defensive studs to reach his full potential, Iguodala needs to be surrounded by at least one superior scorer to reach his full potential.

Speaking of Allen Iverson, he is exactly who Lou Williams reminds me of. For better of worse, it looks like Lou Williams is Allen Iverson 2.0 -- a gambler on defense, the ability to make the good pass, but not a true point guard, and the ability to score at will. No, Lou isn't as good as the original and never will be, but keep in mind he is only 23 and has only started 13 games in the NBA.

(The game-winning attempt upset some people. Lou dribbled 11 seconds off the clock and pulled up for a jumper instead of driving to the basket. I completely understand why fans are mad that he didn't go to the basket, but I'm okay with the shot myself. What I'm not okay with is the 11 seconds he dribbled off the clock. I would've much rather seen him take a quicker shot, so the Sixers could foul and get the ball back should he miss. My counter to the people saying he should've taken it to the hoop is: how many NBA players settle for a game-winning jump shot instead of taking it to the hole? 99%. That doesn't make it right, but that's the NBA folks. Everyone wants to be a hero and hold the pose.)

Another developing story is the improvement of our bench players, slowly but surely. Rodney Carney has emerged as a legitimate sixth man. He was no match for Antawn Jamison tonight, but in fairness, neither was anyone else. Most nights Carney will provide good defense, good rebounding, athleticism and the occasional three, but you guys already knew this. Jason Smith is also starting to establish himself as a pretty good 8th man. Add these two to Jrue and a healthy Speights and the Sixers roll pretty deep.

Everyone else was pretty played pretty normal tonight. Etlon looked nothing like he looked he had in the past three games, but left with a sore hamstring, so maybe that had something to do with it. Thad was pretty good, not great. Sam was decent, but still did "Sam-like" things. Bill was Bill. Andre Iguodala was the only real disappointment.

I don't want to spend too much time on Iguodala. He was bad tonight. He's been bad. He takes way too many jumpers and needs to stop. That's all there is to it. On the bright side, he was 8-8 from the free throw line, swishing every one.

But wait, there's an elephant in the room. "The Sixers lost the game. The defense and rebounding were bad once again. They can't win like this."

All valid points, but a wise man once said: "Watch the individual players and hope they develop. Try and ignore the whole team/coach thing if you want to remain a fan and keep your sanity." I saw enough development from two individuals (Lou and Jrue) tonight to get me excited, and I still believe that this team can put it all together and go on a nice run before it's all said and done. If Sam, Elton, Thaddeus, Andre, Lou and the bench all play like their capable of, this team can do some special things. First things first, everyone needs to accept their role, but that's a whole 'nother post.

Bottom line, this is the most excited I've been about a Sixers game since game 3 of the Magic series. For the first 12 games of the season, I barely moved during the games. Tonight I was jumping around, screaming and fist-pumping. If nothing else, it's something to build on.

Player of the game: Lou Williams

*Update* Kate Fagan tweet: Brands saw doc. Has right hamstring soreness and tightness and is officially listed as day-to-day.