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According to Ken Berger of CBSSports, Sixers president Rod Thorn is considering retirement. The report claims a source who has indicated that Thorn is leaning towards retirement, although he has not yet officially made a decision.

Leaving at this stage of the offseason would put the Sixers in a tricky situation, with the draft and free agency right around the corner. Tony DiLeo is someone who could potentially take over, at least in an interim role. As we previously reported, DiLeo had informally talked with the Blazers about their open general manager position. Having been with the Sixers organization since 1990-1991, his familiarity with the front office and their thinking could likely ease any transition and keep the ship afloat this late into the draft and free agency process.

Thorn joined the Sixers in August 2010. His previous stop was with the New Jersey Nets, where he was with the team from 2000 through the 2009-2010 season.

I'm currently trying to reach out to my sources, who have at this point neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of Thorn retiring in the near future. I have also contacted the Sixers, who have yet to return my query.

We will update as soon as more information becomes available.

According to Chris Haynes, Tony DiLeo and Blazers owner Paul Allen have spoken about the Blazers open General Manager position.

DiLeo, the Sixers Senior VP of Basketball Operations has been with the Sixers in some capacity since the 1990-1991 season, having been promoted to his current title of VP of Basketball Operations in 2003. He was previously the Director of Player Personnel from 1999-2003.

DiLeo was also the interim coach of the Sixers during the 2008-2009 season, where he led them to a 32-27 finish after replacing Maurice Cheeks.

Haynes says it wasn't a formal interview, and he believes the three front runners are Jeff Bower, the former Hornets General Manager, David Morway, General Manager of the Indiana Pacers under President Larry Bird, and Neil Olshey, General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Clippers.

While DiLeo isn't likely to get this position, the possibility of him getting an opportunity is out there. As much as I think DiLeo has done a good job and don't want to see him go, there's a part of me that wouldn't mind seeing him get the much deserved opportunity to be the man in charge.

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During the offseason, that long, lifeless, soul-crushing offseason, ESPN ranked the players in the NBA from 1 to 500. The guy I recently described as being crucial to the Sixers chances this series was ranked #500.

Doing the math (15 players per team, 30 teams), ESPN was essentially saying Lavoy Allen shouldn't be in the league.

Now, to get this out of the way, they weren't alone. Here at Liberty Ballers, none of us were thrilled with the pick, including me. I knew he had talent, but me being upset at the pick was a combination of not believing he had mentality to take advantage of his talent (which Doug Collins himself questioned in the beginning of the season) and that I thought they could get Allen undrafted if they wanted him (which was still probably true).

That being said, Allen was far and away exceeded my expectations and using the pick on him and guaranteeing he would be on the Sixers roster has clearly been the right move.

We're not the only ones doing a mea culpa.

Henry Abbott caught up with Lavoy to to apologize for the ranking. And Lavoy handled it with the utmost class.

Allen: If I asked you who 482 was, do you know who that was?

ESPN: I have no idea.

Allen: But you know who number 500 was, though, right?

ESPN: I do. I do.

Allen: I should thank you guys.

Read the full transcript here. It's short, but good.

Kudos, Lavoy. Both for your performance that proved us wrong and your class in handling it.

Have you been experiencing an uncontrollable urge to re-watch the 18 point 3rd quarter that may have killed the Sixers hopes and dreams?

Fear not. Our good friends at SB Nation's NBA Youtube channel have posted a compilation of all of his 3rd quarter points in a 48 second clip that you can watch over, and over, and over again to relive the experience.

As an added kick in the groin, they threw in the Sixers points during that quarter. Bass outscored the entire Sixers team 18-16.

If that doesn't get you excited for game 6, I don't know what will.

We're playing with house money. We really are. We got lucky with Rose and Noah's injury against Chicago and are now giving the Celtics a run. Holiday and Turner are getting significant experience and court time starting together, Iguodala is getting some of the recognition he deserves, and perhaps Spencer Hawes made himself some money with his two games against Chicago.

We might be playing with house money, but that one hurt. A lot.

I couldn't imagine a sequence of events more frustrating. If Hollywood were drawing up a script specifically to piss me off, that would have been it. We said it before the game, but momentum is worthless. After that incredible game 4 comeback, the Sixers came out and took control for most of the first half. They led 50-47 at half time, and led 55-49 early in the third. They were up 57-53 with 2 free throws and the ball, and got nothing out of it.

They carried that game 4 momentum through the first 2+ quarters and were on the precipice of being in legitimate position to push the Celtics to the brink and return to Philadelphia with a chance to close the series out.

Then that happened. I don't even have words to describe that. And that's bad, since I'm a writer.

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That was ugly.

The passes were lazy. The jump shots were plentiful.

The rotations were slow, or non-existent.

And for the love of, can somebody please guard Brandon Bass?

I don't have words. They blew it. If they wanted a legitimate shot to prove the legitimacy of their season and win this series, they had the opportunity in the palm of their hands and pissed it away with absolutely terrible play.

There will be a recap up later. Probably a bit later. I'm going to subject myself to torture and re-watch that second half. Have fun with this one.

Avery Bradley is out.

Momentum? None of that here.

Celtics need to win the effort battle.

Look for Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday and Louis Williams to get going with Bradley out. Other than that, I have no idea who shows up and who doesn't. But, enjoy the game, and let's get this.

CelticsBlog

Celtics vs 76ers coverage

This series has been anything but predictable.

After Boston stole game 1, a game in which they were outplayed for the majority of the game, Boston opened game 2 at home with a 9-0 run, ready to put the Sixers on their heals heading back to Philadelphia in a 2-0 hole. Instead the Sixers came back and won a close one, stealing home court and sending a message that Boston wouldn't be able to sleepwalk through this series.

With home court now in their favor, the Sixers returned to the Wells Fargo Center and dominated game 3 early, racing out to an early 7 point lead in the second quarter, before completely imploding. The Sixers would go on to be outscored 61-33 during the middle quarters of game 3, being thoroughly outplayed for an extended stretch for the first time this series. Boston re-took home court advantage in convincing fashion, seemingly showing their superiority and once again swinging momentum in their favor.

The momentum appeared to carry over to game 4, as Boston utterly dominated the Sixers during the first half, racing out to a 14-0 lead, ending the first quarter doubling up the Sixers 24-12, and ending the first half on a 7-3 run to lead 46-31. Except momentum didn't carry over. The Sixers outscored Boston 61-37 in the second half, tying the series at 2 games a piece and re-affirming the one constant so far in this series.

Momentum doesn't mean jack.

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I went back and watched all of Kevin Garnett's field goal attempts so far this series to try and see which of our defenders, if any, have had even the slightest bit of success when defending the future hall of famer. So far for the series, Garnett is averaging 23.7 points per game on 63.3% from the field to go along with his 12 rebounds per game.

While Garnett's been on the court in the playoffs the Celtics have averaged a +18.9 overall rating. They've performed at a -37.18 overall rating when he's been off. The Celtics are +47 in the ~103 minutes Garnett has played in the series, -21 so far in the ~41 he has been on the bench. Clearly, slowing down Kevin Garnett is going to be a key if the Sixers want to have any chance to advance, and as of yet they haven't figured out a way to do that.

I concentrated on two play types, post-ups and jump shots, the latter of which have primarily come from Rajon Rondo pick and rolls. Sure, there have been attempts he's gotten outside of these two situations (a transition basket, a lob, the half-court three at the end of game 2, an offensive rebound, etc), but these have been few and far between. If you want to slow Kevin Garnett down, you're going to need to defend the pick and roll better and body him up in the post.

I focused on when he was defended by Spencer Hawes, Elton Brand, and Lavoy Allen. He's also had some attempts against other defenders, mainly Thaddeus Young and a couple against Evan Turner, but the vast majority of Garnett's damage has come against those three.

My hypothesis coming in was that:

1. Spencer Hawes hasn't been effective at defending anything. He's been too slow recovering off pick and rolls and Garnett has had his way with him in the post.
2. Elton Brand has had similar struggles recovering on the pick and roll.
3. Lavoy Allen has been far and away our best post defender

Post-ups:

Here's the first table, which is simply field goals made and attempted on post-up attempts, broken down by each defender.

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It wasn't pretty. For anyone except the most die-hard, it may not have even been watchable for most of the game, but the Philadelphia 76ers tied the series with the Celtics 1-1 and will return to Philadelphia with home court advantage in tow for Wednesday night's game 3.

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Somewhat forgotten from the hoopla over the questionable coaching decisions, rotations, and the epitome of what's wrong when Louis Williams goes into end of game "closer" mode were the struggles of Jrue Holiday, Elton Brand and Thaddeus Young.

For Young and Brand, the struggles are hardly new. Since the duo combined to score 32 points in game 1 of the Chicago series, they have averaged just 5.8 points and 5.5 points respectively. Far too little production from players who are combining for roughly 50 minutes per night.

With Brand's recent struggles and being guarded a considerable amount of time by Kevin Garnett, combined with the neck spasms Brand is experiencing, make it questionable just how much production you can expect from him this series.

Young seems like a bad combination of tired legs and struggles against this Celtics squad. Young averaged just 8 points per game on 42% shooting during the 3 regular season games against Boston, having similar struggles in years past (34.8% shooting in 2008-2009, 32.1% in 2009-2010). Over Young's last 15 games against Boston he is shooting only 37.2% from the field. Young is also somewhat banged up, having been kicked in the shin in the second quarter that caused him to miss some time.

The recent history of Jrue Holiday against the Celtics isn't much better.

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Last night's 79-74 comeback win was one of those rare treats for Sixers fans.

The game was incredible for the way the Sixers came back. Down 56-69 with 9:35 left, coming off a 3rd quarter that saw them score a measly 11 points on 4-21 from the field, the Sixers rallied with a 23-5 run to end the game and put them up 2 games to 1 in their first round series with the Bulls.

The atmosphere was electric, probably the best atmosphere the Wells Fargo Center has seen for a basketball game since 2001. To put in perspective how long ago that is, the area has been called the Wachovia Center and the First Union Center since that time.

With Derrick Rose out for the rest of the season and Joakim Noah likely out for game 4, if not the series, advancing to the next round is a realistic possibility, particularly if the Sixers can take care of business tomorrow afternoon in game 4.

The story of the postseason so far has been the play of Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner. Holiday is averaging 19.7 points per game, to go along with 4.7 assists per game while shooting 53.5% from the field. Turner is averaging 15.7 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Over his last two games, both starts after replacing game 1's starter, Jodie Meeks, Turner has averaged 17.5 points, 8 rebounds, 3.5 assists on 48.2% shooting, in over 41 minutes per game.

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What did last night's 109-92 victory at Chicago mean? That's the question Sixers fans are left asking themselves this morning.

Does it mean they have a shot in the series? Most likely, yes. The Sixers stole game 2, and the homecourt advantage that comes with it, in convincing fashion. I expect the Bulls defense, especially in transition, to be improved over what we saw last night, but they're clearly a different team without Derrick Rose, both from an emotional and talent standpoint.

What does Iguodala's Achilles injury mean for the Sixers going forward? He played through it, and has been playing through dings all year, but it was slightly concerning and will be something to watch going forward.

Would winning this series add meaning to the Sixers season? Would it make them relevant in the big picture of the NBA? Would it be a good barometer of progress? I think you probably know the way most of us around here feel, but we'll deal with that if and when it happens. Today is a happy day, because last night was progress.

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The Sixers used a 36-14 3rd quarter surge to turn an 8 point half-time deficit into a blowout win. Jrue Holiday led the way early and paced the Sixers with 26 points, 6 assists, and 0 turnovers. Newly (re) anointed start Evan Turner had an incredible night with 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists as well.

The other new starter, Spencer Hawes, scored 2 points and grabbed 3 rebounds in nearly 18 minutes, and apparently received one heck of a lashing from Collins. It would be surprising if Hawes started in game 3, especially after Lavoy Allen scored 11 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, while playing nearly 26 minutes off the bench.

I don't expect future games to be this easy going forward, but it will be interesting to see how the Bulls respond on Friday. They'll clearly need to make an adjustment to better defend the perimeter.

Full recap coming early tomorrow morning.

Game 2, in what has all of a sudden become a more interesting (albeit less fun to watch?) series. Without Derrick Rose, the Chicago offense becomes more defensible. It's easier to track those shooters coming off of screens. You don't have to help as much off of those offensive rebounders.

That being said, Chicago still has plenty of capable scorers, with an incredible defense and a great rebounding front court. This game is certainly not easy, as the Bulls, who compiled an 18-9 record without Rose this year, including an 89-80 win over the Sixers without Rose, have shown.

A couple of days ago I wrote an article dedicated to defending Derrick Rose, a topic worth focusing on, I thought, as the Sixers prepared for their series against the Bulls. I watched a ton of game film to focus on how to stop Derrick Rose and how he used the attention he draws to put his teammates in advantageous situations. The Bulls have done a great job of putting great shooters coming off of screens and offensive rebounders around Rose, punishing defenders if they lost sight of their man while trying to help on Rose. Without Rose on the court, that obviously changes things.

That leaves the Sixers trying to figure out what the Rose-less Bulls are and are not. Luckily, the Bulls gave the Sixers, and the rest of the Eastern Conference, film to watch of what kind of team they'll be without their superstar.

They're still a very good team (18-9) with an incredible defense, one that has actually picked up with Rose on the bench. It's on the offensive end where they've taken the hit, dropping about 3 points per 100 possessions in offensive efficiency.

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Day 2 of the 2012 NBA playoffs was certainly not a day without storylines.

Hawks 83, Celtics 74

After climbing back from a 19 point deficit to pull the game within 4, Rajon Rondo chest-bumped an official, leading to his ejection and probable suspension for game 2.

From celticsblog.com:

Tempers flare, heat of the battle, blah blah blah. It was stupid to go after the ref like that and it was stupid to bump him. I'm not sure if I believe he "tripped" or not, but even if he did, it was stupid and selfish to go after the ref like that. I love Rondo, love him. I accept that he gets heated, this isn't intended to be a total rip job on him. I just think he made a stupid move last night.

The question is, how much will it cost him and the team?

Boston looked sluggish out of the gate, possibly from the layoff, but was playing much better basketball after the first quarter, with Rondo leading the way with 20 points, 11 assists, 4 steals and only 1 turnover before his ejection. Obviously. Josh Smith led the Hawks with 22 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists and a block, making long two after long two.

Any momentum Boston was gaining as the game went on obviously went out the window with Rondo's ejection, and Boston could be in a serious hole when they return home later this week.

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Atlanta.

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When playing the Bulls, reigning league MVP Derrick Rose is at the forefront of any defensive strategy. This is very much the case even as Rose battles through groin and ankle injuries. Rose has missed 15 of the final 21 games on the year, although he played in two consecutive games at the end of the season before Chicago locked up home court advantage.

The areas to focus on when game planning against the Bulls attack are pretty clear: 1) Slow down Rose in transition, 2) Slow down Rose off the pick and roll, 3) keep the Bulls off the offensive glass (largely aided by Rose's forays into the lane).

Then you have to figure out a way to attack a defense that has been in the top 2 in the league back-to-back years.

Sound simple? There's a reason the Sixers are huge underdogs in this series even with question marks surrounding how close Rose is to 100%. Bovada (formerly Bodog) curently has the Sixers at 9/1 odds to win the series, 70/1 to pull off the sweep.

Over the last few days, as it became likely the Sixers were going to face the Bulls, I sat down and watched every field goal attempt, assist, and turnover by Derrick Rose this season in an attempt to try to figure out what works, and what doesn't.

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The date and times for the first 4 games of the Sixers vs Bulls playoff series have been announced, and are as followed (all times Eastern):

Game 1: Saturday, 1 PM (at Chicago)

Game 2: Tuesday, 8 PM (at Chicago)

Game 3: Friday, 8 PM (at Philadlephia)

Game 4: Sunday, 1 PM (at Philadelphia)

Game 5: Tuesday (if necessary, time TBA)

Game 6: Thursday (if necessary, time TBA)

Game 7: Saturday (if necessary, time TBA)

This game looks as it will end up being irrelevant, as the Knicks are currently beating up on the about-to-officially-be-the-worst-ever Charlotte Bobcats, but Evan Turner and the Sixers secured their matchup with the Chicago Bulls by losing 108-86 to the Pistons in the regular season finale.

Jrue Holiday, Louis Williams, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, and Thaddeus Young did not play for the Sixers, who saw Craig Brackens play 33 minutes, mostly from the small forward position.

Recap tomorrow morning and then it's playoffs, baby.

"Playoff experience will be good for this young roster."

I've seen that referenced a couple of times now by members of the Philadelphia media, and I'm sure we'll see it referenced a couple more times before the Sixers lose in the first round of the playoffs to either the Heat or the Bulls. It's a common cliche, and one that Sixers faithful have heard often repeated as we have waited for our young players to take their transcendent leaps into superstardom. A leap into superstardom propelled, if sportswriters would have you believe, by a quick 5 or 6 game playoff humiliation.

But for a fan base that hasn't won a playoff series since 2003, It's a saying that has begun to ring hollow.

That 4-1 loss to the Detroit Pistons in 2005 didn't transform a 21 year old role-player in Andre Iguodala into a superstar, although it did help Billy King convince himself that 23 year old Samuel Dalembert was worth around 6 years, $65 million, believing the 11.6 points, 12.4 rebounds he averaged during those 5 games was a better indication of his potential than the 8.2 points and 7.5 rebounds he averaged in the 82 prior regular season games.

(Dalembert has posted career averages of 8.0 points and 8.2 rebounds per game).

The 4-2 series loss to the Pistons in the first round of the 2008 playoffs was supposed to be great experience for Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams and form the base of a contending team. The same was said for the 6 postseason games against the Magic the following year, this time allegedly showing a young Marreese Speights what it took to win in the NBA. Andre Iguodala got past his playoff jitters by averaging 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists that year and the Sixers were off to contention.

Or not.

After a horrible Eddie Jordan year, Doug Collins came in and righted the ship, getting back to the playoffs for 5 games against the Heat that was supposed to propel a 20 year old Jrue Holiday and a rookie in Evan Turner into the backcourt of the future. Instead, Holiday regressed and Turner is once again coming off the bench for Jodie Meeks.

All these years gone by, 4 first round exits in the past 7 years (about to be 5 in the past 8), and the Sixers aren't any closer to a championship. They were a .524 team in 2004-2005, a .488 team in 2007-2008, a .500 team in 2008-2009, and a .500 team in 2010-2011. Right now they sit with a .531 winning percentage with 2 meaningless games remaining.

Progress? Nope. The cast is different, the excuse is still the same, and unfortunately the reality is the same as well. Talent wins in the NBA, and the Sixers don't have enough of it. Playoff experience doesn't turn an average talent into a superstar, no matter how many times they get bounced in the first round. This experience isn't going to pull the Sixers out of the quicksand of mediocrity.

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That golf clap you heard throughout southeastern Pennsylvania was the reaction most Sixers fans had when their favorite team clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs by virtue of their 105-87 victory over the team (currently) residing in Newark that remotely resembles an NBA team.

With the win -- which was somewhat in doubt until Thaddeus Young scored 10 points in the third quarter to push a 1 point lead 8 by the end of the quarter -- secured the Sixers not only a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs but also their first winning season since the Jim O'Brien led club of 2004-2005 went 43-39.

With both Chicago and Miami idle, the seeding at the top of the East has yet to be finalized, although Chicago is up 2 games with 2 remaining. The Sixers entered into a tie with the idle Knicks for the 7th seed, but due to the Knicks owning the tie breaker between the two teams the Sixers currently occupy the 8th seed. The Sixers will end the season on the road against Milwaukee and Detroit, neither of whom have anything to play for, while the Knicks will end the season at home against the Clippers and on the road against Charlotte.

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The Sixers will:

1. Be in the playoffs
2. Get killed in the playoffs
3. Have their first winning season since 2004-2005