| 12 December 2009
Straight losses.
This time it came after we blew an early seventeen point lead (27-10): the amazing Rockets didn’t lose their composure and slowly overcome that deficit, to close the game on the 91-96 final score. Sixers dropped to 5-18, .217.
I said that the Rockets are amazing because they are proving how a good coach, great chemistry and the right attitude can turn serious issues into opportunities. Nice lesson to learn, for Sixers and for many other NBA teams.
No Tracy Mc Grady, No Yao Ming? No problem. And no excuses either. Let’s put a hard nosed 6’6 reserve in the starting lineup at the center position, let’s play our butts off, share the ball, work on defense, execute, go for every loose ball: this is what Adelman should have said in instilling the shorthanded Rockets a fighting mentality that surely makes their fans proud.
Let’s not get fooled: they are surely a blue collar team as for now, waiting for their starts to come back (?) but they have also some very nice, talented players. Brooks is phenomenal, he hit the game winner from a tough position, off a broken play, but he also had a heck of a (decisive) third quarter, scoring 14 points including three treys, one on a fallaway jumper WAY behind the arc, as the shot clock was expiring (59-71).
Bench production was clearly a decisive factor: Sixers got embarassingly outscored there (6-46), with Landry, Budinger and Philly native Lowry doing a fantastic job with their timely scoring and hustle play.
In Sixerland is exactly the opposite. Since Iverson came, Jordan switched basically to a 7 man rotation, that is clearly not working – just as it wasn’t working before. Carney is falling out of it (15 seconds yesterday…), same for Ivey, while Green of course (?) is always getting his minutes (25), regardless of his efficiency (1/7).
With Holiday finally back, I think we are going to see a lot of DNP CDs for Ivey (and I don’t give a damn) and reduced minutes for Kapono and Carney at the SG/SF spots. This because, of course, Willie Green MUST play. While it’s true that Carney has been in a (long) shooting slump, I think his defense and atheticism could he useful, at least on our half court.
Kapono is our best outside/three point shooter but he never found some consistency, to be honest, with a bunch of unusual (for him) open shots missed in the last games: needless to say, defensively he’s always from ‘useless’ to ‘detrimental’.
Bad news also from our frontcourt: Jason Smith – that I am a fan of - with his own streak of really poor games is losing his role of first big man off the bench in favour of… Primoz Brezec. You got the picture uh? (more after the jump)
Of course, Sixers are lacking more things: three point defense was bad again, allowing Rockets 8/21, while three point shooting was not existent (1/6). That counts for a 24-3 edge.
Luck isn’t on our side either: similar to what happened against the Pistons, Brooks knocked down the decisive basket after we played some good defense on that possession, managing to break their play. Like Stuckey, their PG quickly caught the ball again and hit a very tough corner jumper. Game over.
THEEE ANSWERS
1) Yes, we outrebounded one opponent ! 52-40 baby !! Too bad their starting C is smaller than our SG (Hayes is listed at 6’6, Iguodala at 6’7).
2) Yes, Iverson is slowly progressing: 12 fourth quarter points are definitely a sign that his legs are starting to get stronger. He carried the team during our late comeback, even with some misses.
3) No, we didn’t continue to pound the ball inside as we should had in the third quarter, choosing to settle for long jumpers – that weren’t falling of course. One of the reason for their decisive break. Btw Brand missed the jumper for the potential -1, while I would have preferred if he had played in the low post.
THREE QUESTIONS
1) Why no one, and I mean no one, was going for the offensive rebound in the third quarter? As soon as one of our perimeter players was throwing his brick, our big men were getting back to our half court. I don’t know if that was a call from our coach, fearing Houston’s fastbreaks, anyway it was completely idiotic.
2) Why wasn’t Thaddeus Young playing in the fourth ????? Another bad call. He was hot (7/11) and was hitting the boards well, we could have used him effectively on both ends. Instead, he had to watch Green… WHY ?????????
3) What’s happening to Jason Smith? Really horrible game. He looks lost and not motivated in the (few) minutes he gets. Wake up, dude.
REASONS
Why we lost the game
Usual deficiencies (bench, outside shooting, defense etc) + a little bit of bad luck + costly mistakes in crunch times. Outcoached, also, but this is no news.
To be optimistic
Iguodala had a solid game and he started to make his free throws, which is good. Jrue Holiday is back, and this is the best thing from last night’s game. Iverson seems to get better. Dalembert LOOKS more involved and efficient, I would say that he is the player that benefited the most from Iverson’s return. Team plays hard and united, players’ body language is ok. Despite the terrible losing streak, players at least seems to be on the same page.
To be worried
Not only we always lose, but we always lose close games. That’s obviously a confidence-killer. We get there, but can’t get the job done. Scaring, makes losses look “inevitable”.
We’ll have to wait until Monday night to try to snap the losing streak: next up are the Golden State Warriors. It should be fun. Ok, I was kidding.
