Monday, January 17, 2011

Sixers-Bobcats Thoughts and Observations


I watched this one in person and it was my 7-year old's first live game, so I didn't take live notes. Here's a few thoughts and observations from a slightly different perspective than usual.


*Elton Brand is the baseline for this team. Elton plugs away every night and does his thing, keeping the team together and in games. It is up to someone else, however, to make the plays that are going to win the game. Tonight that guy was Lou Williams, in fact, on most nights if the Sixers win they get a big game from either Lou or Jrue Holiday.

*Elton had 2 blocks in his last nine games, on Monday he had 5.

*Going back for a second, in 17 Sixers wins Jrue has averaged 16.1 points on 50% shooting and Lou averages 15.2 points on 42% shooting. In our 23 losses (Lou missed one of them) Jrue averages 13.5 points on 40% shooting and Lou averages 11 on 36%.

*What is up with Spencer Hawes? His minutes game-by-game this month: 25, 5, 18, 27, 18, 11. Sporadic to say the least.

*You know what isn’t sporadic? Hawes’ offense, he hasn’t scored in double digits in any of those games.

*It appears to me that Spencer isn't happy with his minutes, Spencer turned the ball over early in the second half, and Mo Speights immediately hopped up and went to the scorers table to replace him. As soon as Speights got up, Hawes fouled his man (on purpose? To hasten his exit?) while he was nowhere near the basket and stormed off to the bench, he did not return.

*Marreese Speights has scored in double digits in 4 of 7 since New Years. The other 3 games weren’t exactly poor showings: vs. Washington he scored 8 points in 16 minutes, against Milwaukee he has 7 points in 9 minutes, and against Chicago Mo only played 5 minutes and scored 2.

*Mo’s per 36 numbers this month are staggering, he is averaging over 20 points and 12 boards per 36 minutes played. Perhaps some real minutes are in order. Oh, and he’s shooting 62% this month.

*I think I may have buried the lead, how about Lou Williams with the big shot tonight!

*Lou has been crazy good lately, averaging 20 points per game since a tough effort against New Orleans on 1/3.

*Iguodala has been really good the past two games, playing great defense and scoring when needed. Iggy also has hit some clutch shots recently including a huge jumper to put the Sixers ahead late in OT Monday.

*Elbow controversy aside I like Iguodala, but I can’t say my opinion is echoed very often among the locals. I was excited to hear basketball talk on 610 this morning, but it was mostly people trashing Iggy. Anthony Gargano especially does not like Iguodala, saying he hears reports that he isn’t a good guy, and went so far as to mock Iguodala’s claim that he is the best defender in the league. Now, maybe Iggy isn’t the league’s best defender, but he is a great defender. The fact that he claims to be the best in the world shows that he takes pride in his defense, which is means it is his priority, and hopefully the team follows his lead.

*Speaking of elbows, Evan Turner must have caught three or four hard shots while playing off the ball defense Monday. Nothing was called, and since it wasn't on TV nobody probably noticed, but the kid played his ass off against big opponents and held his own.

*Speaking of Evan Turner, ET was often the one covering Boris Diaw late in the game. Diaw, a 6-8 power forward who was on fire Monday (Diaw finished the game with a triple-double), was effectively covered on several key possessions by Turner, a shooting guard. It really makes me excited to think what this team can do defensively with Turner and Iggy side by side. Of course somebody still would need to score, and defensive basketball isn’t always fun to watch. And our interior defense needs some work, did I say some work, our interior defense is essentially nonexistent.

*Speaking of still needing to score, ET got 33 minutes and scored 2 points aside from a couple of trips to the foul line late, when the Bobcats were forced to foul.

*Hey, at least ET made those foul shots, Lou Williams cost us the Detroit game with missed free throws, and Monday Thaddeus Young shot a ridiculous 1 for 6 from the stripe.

*It has been a couple of days since I mentioned this, but Orlando-Boston high-lights are on in the background right now so I feel like I should restate the following opinion: I can’t stand Paul Pierce.

*Next up is Orlando, so our lack of interior defense will be on display as somebody is going to have to stop Dwight Howard if the Sixers are going to win this game. The best defense may be a good offense, I would probably start Mo Speights and run the ball through him early hopefully getting some fouls on Howard. I feel confident that Jrue, ET, and Iggy can D-up Arenas, J-Rich, and Jameer Nelson, so if they can find a way to reduce Howard’s impact, through foul trouble or otherwise, then the Sixers should be able to compete.

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