| 31 October 2009
I saw some signs of hope after the rout in Orlando.
Premise: Milwaukee is one of the worst teams in the League, so let’s not get carried away by the 99-86 W (1-1, .500). I’m sorry but Bucks are really horrible: they are soft, play no D, turn the ball over like crazy (and not even under pressure), don’t have any presence in the paint and have a weak bench - if you take out Warrick.
The only positives for them last night were Jennings’ excellent debut in the League (one assist and one rebound shy of a triple double !), some flashes by Warrick and the fact that Redd is healthy again. Helthy, but still not effective. Other than that, they really suck, and I’d bet my november salary that they won’t win more than 33-35 games.
Still it took us a lot of effort to come out with a W, in front of a good 230/240 Sixers fans: the decisive quarter was the third, when we outscored Milwaukee 35-20 with Brand carrying the team, on both ends of the floor. The other key in the period was free throw shooting. We knocked down 19 of our 20 attempts from the line (!) and that was a huge factor in building a lead and pushing it to double digit. Bucks missed their first eight shots in the third, that helped also.
I think the good signs from last night were, in no particular order:
- a balanced offence, with six players in double figure, and our top scorer (Iguodala, 19 pts) taking only 12 shots. Talking about effectiveness here- Sam playing a really good game, contributing also offensively. I’m not a great fan of him, as you might know, but I am the first to tell that we are a completely different team when he’s on. He was called was a goaltending on Redd in the second when the block was 110% good (horrible whistle, really), he wasn’t called for a more-than-likely goaltending in the fourth, he missed a couple of putbacks, in pure Sam’s style, but overall he was a factor, in the best sense. When he plays like this, we are a tough team to beat (I think I wrote the same sentence around 2 billion times over the last 4 years) - More after the jump.
- Brand APPARENTLY getting back to a nice shape, with a good balance between low post moves and mid range jumpers: he added a couple of blocks and some strong defence. Then again, it’s not like he was guarding Garnett, or Stoudamire. He still dribbles too much for my taste, though: give the ball to your guard after a rebound, please.
- Kapono is money from long distance. We saw the importance of having a good outside shooter on the floor. Defensively, he’s the liability we already knew: he got schooled even by Ukic in the fourth (!) but on the following play immediately got his revenge, draining the three that basically put the game on ice (91-83)
- Jrue Holiday’s made his debut in the League and, while not as brilliant as Jennigs’, he showed some of his talent: the rookie scored on a tough scoop shot to end the third quarter (47-41). I liked his attitude, calm and strong. Well done, kid.
THEEE ANSWERS
1) Yes, everyone's fav whipping boy Green always sucks. Seven terrible minutes, despite the +7 in the +/- category (another proof that the stat is nearly meaningless), that included two embarrassing bricks from long distance and a comical turnover, when he kindly gave the ball to Ridnour at midcourt. Awful
2) Yes, Marreese Speights is a nice player and continues to grow. He had a reggievans-esque rate of rebound-per-minute (7 in 13). Which could lead to the question: “Why he got only 13 minutes?”, but we are still in the Answers paragraph…
3) No, I didn’t see many Princeton offence plays, to be honest with you. Still a work in progress, too many isolations and few circulation of the ball
THREE QUESTIONS
1) How sweet is to make your free throws? 85% is excellent, especially considering we shot 34
2) How can you possibly allow 57 year old-Kurt Thomas to score on a fastbreak layup (34-40)? I’ve heard some boos then, and I must say they were deserved at that point, Sixers were playing horrible basketball.
3) Why don’t we run a single play for Thaddeus Young? Dude must create his shot every time.
REASONS
Why we won
We are simply a better team than Milwaukee. And we showed we wanted to bounce back after the awful Orlando game.
To be optimistic
We recovered immediately, and winning builds confidence
To be worried
It was the Bucks. And we struggled to beat them: just a lil’ bit, but still much than expected.
Sixers meet the 0-2 Knicks tonight, and NY is coming off a double overtime loss at Charlotte. Guess they won’t be much rested ??
Check Knicks fanatics, the blog covering NY for the Bloguin network. A very cool site, unlike mine.
