I'm going to leave out any entries that are not much more than play-by-play. For those that actually read this stuff, feel free to drop a line and give your opinion on the column, how it reads and how to improve it.
Pregame- First off, we can not lose three straight games to a team as poor as the Raptors. The Sixers have looked good lately, which makes me worry that they have one of their meltdowns in store tonight. The pregame show has the guys talking about Elton Brand, referring to him as Mr. Reliable, I am not so high on Elton at the moment. I was digging into the numbers in an attempt to support my theory that Brand disappears after the 1st quarter. Ultimately, Brand’s production dips in the middle of games which makes sense since his minutes also wane during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but Elton is damn near nonexistent in the 4th quarter. Just 2.3 points per game in the fourth quarter for Brand, a distressing number considering how many tight contests the Sixers have been in, and how many of those they have lost.
1st Quarter-
12:00- Same starting lineup as always, I’m so sick of Hawes. What happened to him, where is the guy from the first half of December? Although what does it say about Mo Speights, that in spite of Hawes’ consistently disappointing play Mo can’t get himself into the starting five.
10:00- Iggy with a steal and a powerful dunk. If we’re going to make Iguodala into the NBA’s Darrelle Revis, then we should steal the nickname as well. Iguodala Island?
9:00- Jrue and Elton collide while trying to secure a rebound, Raptors regain possession. This game is being played very sloppily and with a very frantic pace.
6:00- The Sixers are flying these past few minutes. Hawes, Jrue, and Brand all with big dunks. In fact we aren’t doing much on offense aside from the handful of slams.
3:00- The Sixers look like shit. Aside from a few nice assists on those slam dunks, the team isn’t defending well or executing anything resembling an offensive play.
1:00- This game sucks, this is no fun to watch at all.
End of the 1st- Just a god awful quarter for the Sixers. After the great victory over Phoenix on Monday, they come out tonight with an absolute turd of a 1st quarter. Anyway, it stands 29-20, Toronto is up after 12 minutes.
2nd Quarter-
12:00- The Sixers have been pounding the front of the rim tonight, almost all of their misses have been short.
10:00- Jrue with a nice runner, ET to Mo for an easy 2, the Sixers look MUCH better, but I’m still going to be pissy.
9:00- Speights with an offensive rebound, and a three-point play on the putback! Iggy sets up Mo for 2 more, and Speights has 9 in less than 5 minutes.
7:00- Sixers are on a 13-2 run to open the quarter, and take the lead. Where was this team in the 1st quarter.
6:00- More for Mo Speights! 13 now! My boy looks crazy good! Btw, Brand's best quarter this season was good for 14 points. As long as I decided to rip on Brand, why let up now?
4:00- Speights with a pair of free throws, and then a putback. 17 points for Mo, all in this quarter!
3:00- I think the Raptors just had someone stab Mo Speights to slow him down. Mo off to the locker room to treat his bloody arm, not sure how that actually happened.
2:00- WTF? DeMar DeRozan has 15 points tonight. What is it about mediocre guards that torments this team? Put his ass on Iguodala Island!
1:00- A few good hard fouls by the Sixers, not all of them called, I love to see hard physical play like that. Brand shows his tough streak by flat out shoving a man aside with both hands to grab a board.
Halftime- Half ends tied up at 50-50.
3rd Quarter-
10:00- Jrue Holiday comes out shooting this half and now has 14 points.
8:00- Iguodala with a pair a baskets, one of them a badass dunk. Iguodala is now up to 13, which he has done with a mix a powerful dunks and a few long jumpers.
7:00- Now its Brand with back to back buckets, one of them after a sweet behind the back pass from Iggy at the top of the key down to Brand in the low post.
5:00- Iggy with a steal and he pushes up court into a possession that eventually ends with Hawes at the foul line. After Spencer hits 1 of 2, the Sixers are up 6. I feel like that lead should be bigger, I’m afraid this one could tighten up and then who knows how this one ends.
4:00- The Sixers are on a 9-0 run to push the lead up to 10, a pair of Lou Williams three pointers in the heart of that run.
2:00- Iggy with a strong rebound, that leads to another Lou three pointer, that makes it 78-68 Sixers.
End of 3rd Quarter- ET and Mo return and each hit a jumper. Turner with 4 points, Mo has 19. Lou and DeRozan both hit jumpers in the final 7 seconds to take us into the 4th quarter with the Sixers up 84-76.
4th Quarter-
12:00- Mo has 6 boards to go with the 19 points,, I’m rooting for a double-double. Lineup to start the 4th is Lou, ET, Mo, Thad, and Meeks.
10:00- ET is playing great right now, he has recently nailed a short jumper, threw an alley oop pass to Speights, and then ended up at the line for 2 free throws. 8 points for Turner.
9:00- DeRozan hit’s a jumper that gives him 27 points. Holy hell that’s an insane amount.
6:00- Mo now has 23 points and 9 boards, just one more and he’ll have his first double double of the season.
5:00- The Sixers are up 12, yet they miss back to back three point attempts. I’m not sure those are the shots you want to be shooting with your team up big.
4:00- Brand scores a deuce, I guess that takes care of him for the night since he only scores 2 points a game in the 4th.
3:00- Brand now with 14 points, including 4 in this quarter. I like Elton, but he has been held scoreless in 14 of 43 4th quarters so far this year. That's a third of the Sixers' games.
2:00- Raptors cut the lead to 8, and I can feel my butthole begin to pucker.
1:00- Jrue eases my fears. He gets his 11th assist, then picks Calderon’s pocket forcing a clear path foul. Great sequence by Jrue.
End of the 4th- ET just got punched in the face grabbing a board, but no matter since this game is over. What a great job by the Sixers, 1st quarter aside, they looked as good as they did against Phoenix. Doug Collins only used nine guys tonight, which isn't surprising given how well his reserves played. Speaking of, the Sixers reserves outplayed the starters for a second straight game, over the past two games the bench has scored 116 points in 211 minutes while the starters have given the team 96 points in 270 minutes. The Sixers are now 20-25, and are close to getting to .500. The next three games are certainly winnable, home against Memphis and Denver, and then a road game at the Nets. After that the Sixers would need to sweep a home-and-home with the Knicks and they would be back to .500, of course if that happens then they may even have the 6th seed.
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