| 23 December 2009
Not only Eddie Jordan is an idiot and can't coach, which was pretty obvious even before this game. There is one more reason to fire blame him.
His unbelievable, continuos mistakes have become a comfortable cover to hide the players' shortcomings. So Jordan takes all the blame, while this bunch of sissies that wear the glorious Sixers jersey somehow get a - completeley undeserved - free pass.
"The coach sucks". 100% true. How about we start to add "The players do their part in sucking". Time to call like it is: many of these players should be fired together with the coach. Make them accountable just as much as the moron who's calling the plays (?).
The 105-98 loss at Washington (15th in 17 games, 7-21, .250) was another example, just as if we needed more.
Jordan did his usual amount of bullshit moves. In no particular order:
1) kept Brand on the bench again, so that for the ....th time we fell under a double digit deficit in the first quarter (19-9, 22-11)
2) couldn't find a way to defend the three. Wash shot 4/5 in the first quarter alone, 7/15 at the end, to coninute in our "tradition" of sucking. 28 games into the season and one would expect to see at least SOME improvement in that, right? Because this has been an issue since Game 1. Litterally. With Jordan there is no hope.
3) contradicted himself with bonehead moves. After Sixers made a nice comeback in the third, closed at 72-79, Jordan started the fourth with a line up of Holiday-Iguodala-Jason Smith (! playing small forward !)-Speights-Brand. Meaning he abandoned the small ball crap (nice) to use a nonsensical squad that never played together (more crap) and of course didn't work: in fact in that stretch, Wizards came closer (80-84).
That was quicly corrected after three minutes, but of course gives you the idea of a coach that doens't know where he (and his team) is going.
4) took horrible decisions down the stretch, and fouling a 85% free throw shooter with 35 seconds to play, trailing by three (read it again please: 85%, 35 sec, down 3), is only the main one. He admitted some but I would like to point out that when Jordan says...:
"It didn't get good till we put Sammy [Dalembert] in the game and we got some stops, then we throw the ball away"
... is saying a bullshit. Not only Sixers got outscored (also) in the final 4.02 minutes, after Sam was put back in (9-6, even if later Jordan substituted him and Speights often for defense/offense purposes), but due to our poor rotating system on defense, on two possessions Sam found himself guarding Arenas out of the three point line (the play lasted pretty long, but none of his team mates came to make him switch), and then Boykins. Of course, he was beaten in both occasions. Add to it that the most shocking (for Sixers fans) basket of the night, a layup by Boykins for the 98-92 (2.03), was scored with Sam in.
That was a nice combo of two AWFUL displays of defensive inability. You had Lou Williams "inviting" Boykins to drive to the hoop, Boykins, well, driving... and fouding no opposition because Sam was under the rim but staring at his opponent, his back to the ball. Easy layup, count two, +6 Wizards. In Defensive lesson 1 in Day 1 of any basketballl camp you'll hear: "You have always to look at your opponent AND keep an eye on the ball. Never lose eye contact with the ball".
So actually no, Sixers' didn't get better defensively when Sam got in, they remained atrocious, like they were before, like they have been all season, AS A TEAM. Not a specific knock on Sam this time, he played even some good basketball last night, he was better than what we are used to see.
Which would lead to the players' chapter of the post (read about the plyers after the jump).ALL PLAYERS, WITH THE NOTABLE EXCEPTION OF BRAND AND GREEN, MADE TERRIBLE PLAYS/MISTAKES IN THIS GAME, so it's time to address this also.
1) Speights: can't box out to save his life, 1 defensive rebound in nearly 20 minutes, ridiculous. Gave up an offensive rebound to Blatche off a missed free throw, I tried to hit the wall with my guido head when I saw that. We all love him, he's young, will improve bla bla bla but it's a fact that he's still a poor rebounder. That can cost games.
2) Lou Williams: can't guard my grandma. Arenas and Boykins combined for 48 points on 19/34 from the field, with at least 8-9 of those 19 fgs being layup or shots in the paint after drives. Lou played 32 minutes at PG, you do the maths. And the play mentioned above. We all love him, he's talented, was coming off an injury bla bla bla, but I'd put him immediately after Kapono in the "S4g atrocious defenders ranking". Missed also a wide open three from the corner that could have put us in front, 99-100, with 1.10 to play.
3) Iguodala: "too passive, didn't take any responsibility in the fourth". As soon as I took note of that on my paper, he threw an horrible alley oop on the possession that could have put us 96-94 (=turnover). Few moments after that stupid play, with Sixers down three (101-98) and 40 seconds to play, chosed to take a rushed "long two pointer" in transition instead of either going for a drive or giving the ball to the PG and set up a "normal" play.
That was a double mistake, because even if he had drained the shot, it would have counted for two (he stepped the line... at least take a look at your feet, since there is nobody around, no ????) and not tied the game. We all love him, he's a very good player bla bla bla but his performance in crunch time was questionable again.
4) Thaddeus Young: subpar game, to the point that perhaps many didn't even notice him on the floor. I was shocked to see that he actually played 30 minutes. We all love him, he's improving bla bla bla, but he has yet to find some consistency. He has this tendency to start strong and then disappear for long stretches, he has to fix that.
It was the playes that turned the ball over SEVEN TIMES in the fourth. It was them to get outscored 33-19 by a bad team in the same period. Yes, they are poorly coached, but they are on the court.
So Elton Brand and Green (yes, Green) were the only guys who played well last night, plus, to a lesser extent (because after all he's still Sam, so he will always commit his trademark mistakes), Dalembert. I am 100% with Brand when he (politely, but clearly) calls out his teammates and coach.
THREE ANSWERS
1) Yes, we got even a good help from the refs, that made two terrible calls in our favor. In the third they disallowed a basket by Young because they called a loose ball foul on Blatche, committed after Young had released the shot (that therefore should have counted). Down the stretch they called Sixers ball when Boykins was double teamed and Brand (I believe) was the last to touch the rock. On the following possession Williams made a three for the 98-97.
2) Yes, finally Kapono got some minutes, same for Carney and Smith. The first showed he can play, the other two at least didn't make any damage.
3) No, we didn't protect the rim at all in the fourth, with Areas and Butler feasting in the paint for many minutes (12 and 10 in the period respectively, mainly on easy shots). But as I said before it didn't change much with Sam, we couldn't get stops, and when we got them it wasn't because of Sam.
THREE QUESTIONS
1) how long will Jordan last? I don't know, but I see the moment of Iverson's comeback (Dec 28 maybe) as a turning (boiling?) point. The situation can definitely epxlode there, because is clear that Iverson is expecting to start and play major minutes. Then you have Lou, Iguodala, Brand...
2) Will/would Stefanski have the balls to fire him? I don't think so but now I hope it: it's clear that will be like admitting he screwed up in hiring him. It would make the players finally accountable, and it would show that he's not afraid to learn from his mistakes and move on. It's a decision that will make Stefanski earn much respect (because it could also cost him the job, obviously. That's why I'd love to see that, it would be a bold move at this time).
3) What does the fact that we are 0-2 vs the Wizards tell you? You know it
REASONS
Why we lost the game
The small things, one more time. A turnover here, a missed assignment there, a good shot that doesn't get in, a bad shot taken while there was a chance to take a good one. We are 3-7 in games decided by 4 points or less: this won't be filed under tha category but it's like it is
To be optimistic
The day of Jordan's firing is approaching. Elton Brand is still an effective NBA player. Long time issues are getting closer to be addressed.
To be worried
Maybe our GM will stay with this coach because he thinks he has no better options.
Saturday we play at Utah where I don't rememeber I ever saw a W. Tic toc, tic toc...
