They both S-T-I-N-K !!!!!

In one of the few chances I had to watch the Sixers live without going to bed late, the Detroit game was not uploading on Int'l League Pass broadband, and now it's not archived yet, despite being over more than 1 hr ago.

But there is more: it took 75 minutes (S-E-V-E-N-T-Y F-I-V-E effin' minutes) to chat with LP live support. And the waiting turned out to be completely useless, because they couldn't solve any of the problems I was facing. Unbelievable.

150 $ totally wasted, F'K LEAGUE PASS BROADBAND !!

Oh wait, maybe it was better NOT to watch the game, as Sixers lost 88-81 to a Pistons team that was missing Rip Hamilton AND Tayshaun Prince.

We are now at 3-3, .500. Mediocrity, here we come.

Really a good Sunday, thank you all.

(recap coming if & when geniuses at LP broadband will allow me to watch the game...)

UPDATE: the LP live support just informed me that it takes FIVE HOURS (!!) to upload the game in the archive... good night.

UPDATE 2: I eventually managed to watch the game, 30 hrs after it was played. A quick recap follows, just not to miss anything.

So basically after we trailed all night, with small margins, we took the lead in the fourth, extended it to four points (73-77) but finished the game allowing Pistons a 15-4 run, missing three free throws in the last minute, all by Iguodala, and the last eight shots as a team.

Keys to our loss were: not rebounding the ball (Det grabbed an impressive 20 offensive boards), not making threes, all starters except Iguodala taking basically a night off, lack of execution in crunch time.

Brand, Dalembert, Williams and Young combined for 26 points on 11/36 from the field, while Ben Gordon alone scored 23 on 9/19: you do the maths.

THREE ANSWERS

1) No, I never heard of this Jerebko guy before last night. Good pick by Pistons, this dude fights and hustles. Still, it sucks that a second rounder does all this damage.

2) Yes, Brand is starting to become an issue. Guy can't finish, has no lift, his jumpers barely hit the rim. Not shocking that he sits in fourth quarters. If he's not even rebounding the ball, like at Detroit, then he's nearly useless.

3) Yes, I must admit Green is doing well lately. Last night, playing in his hometown, he was active also defensively and the increased number of his assists is something to point out.

THREE QUESTIONS

1) What's the difference between Wallace and Dalembert? Ben knows his limitations, and rarely attempts moves or plays that are too "difficult" for him. Sam had another horrible sequence with a goaltending, a 3 second violation and a three point play allowed to...Kwame effin' Brown.

2) When will Thaddeus Young start playing some defense? Interesting to know, I am eager to see him showing up on our half court...

3) Who is old enough to have watched DARREN Daye (father of Pistons' Austin) play? Your favorite guido blogger. Darren Daye was a superstar here in Italy for Scavolini Pesaro at the end of the 80's, and won two titles (1987/88 and 1989/90). Talking about an unstoppable SF with limited athletic ability but a fantastic mid range game and the capacity to draw fouls and get to the line. Just ask Mike D'Antoni, he played against Daye Sr. many times.

REASONS

Why we lost the game

No boxing out = too many second chances given up to Detroit. Let Bynum come close to a triple double (!). Starting lineup completely outplayed by Pistons'. 

To be optimistic

Uhm... I can't think of many last night. Ok, Speights was excellent again, Green is starting to become confident in his new 7th man role.

To be worried

We lost a game that should/could have won. Too many key players in bad-to-horrible form (= mainly Thad, Sam, Brand). Outside/three point shooting is still unconsistent.

Sixers play host to the 6-1 Phoenix Suns while I'm typing this. Recap coming (hopefully) tomorrow, after I'll watch the game.

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I think this deserved a post on its own.

FOR THIS PLAY, and only for this play, the Doc J comparison is not a blasphemy:

The original one:

What? A slight difference as for quality of the opponents? Ok, ok...

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I really can't enjoy these kinds of wins, I am sorry. I felt the same after the MSG game.

I think there are very few good things to save in the 97-94 win over New Jersey (3-2, .600), a team that would be euphemistic to define "depleted" as it dressed only nine players (!!), and one of those (Courtney Lee) had to leave in the third quarter because of a leg injury.

So first off let me take my hat off to the 0-6 Nets, that played without Devin Harris, Yi Jinlian, Chirs Douglas Roberts, Jarvin Hayes, Keyon Dooling, Tonie Battie. And Courtney Lee.

The Nets left played a great game, showed a lot of pride and only came up short in crunch time, maybe because they were tired, maybe because they are not talented enough, probably because of both.

In the last play of the game, with Sixers up three and NJ inbounding the ball, after 10 seconds of good team defense on the perimeter (finally !) Iguodala nicely stole the ball from Terrence Williams, avoiding a three point shot that could have sended the game to a scaring overtime. Before that, Sixers couldn't put away their opponents, missing two foul shots in the last 22 seconds, wih Iguodala and Thad making only one-of-two and giving Frank's team that last chance.

New Jersey stayed close for the whole night, and even built a eight point lead in the third (61-69), taking advantage of Sixers' poor game. Frank's defensive strategy was pretty clear: pack the painted area and challenge the Sixers to shoot from outside. He used a lot of zone, also because of his limited roster of course.

Sixers turned the ball over way too much (six times in the first quarter alone), something we are sadly getting used to see. Our big men were totally dominated by a fantastic Brook Lopez, but we shot well, even from deep, we made the right plays down the stretch, with Lou Williams having a pair of big baskets and Iguodala knocking down the go-ahead three. Andre made it 95-92 with 2.02 left, after a very good offensive possession in which we patiently moved the ball on the perimeter, finally finding the man for the open shot.

Even Sam, embarassed by Lopez, had a key offensive rebound, that led to Thad's free throws (96-94), and before that Willie Green drained a jumper that tied the game at 87, completing our comeback.

I noticed some really interesting things last night. Let's see them in the following section (after the jump) no comments

The 74-105 home loss to the Celtics (2-2, .500) is one of those cases in which watching the game replaying is a salvation.

Thank God I didn't watch this rout live, I would have gone to bed at 3 AM completely broken. Not that the wins over Bucks and Knicks (= the 'best' of the garbage of the NBA) made me think that we are a great team, so it wasn't actually a "reality check". No one had particular illusions here, nor overrated the last two games. 

Still, getting trounced that way by Boston wasn't nice. Because it was Boston, obviously. Because it was the 5th straight loss vs Boston, also. Because we had to watch Eddie House one more time, also. Because we had to 'enjoy' another rain of threes, also.

If you think Celtics' 14/20 vs Sixers' 1/16 from three point land played a factor in this game, shockingly you are right. Talking about 42-3 points scored from downtown. Even the last scrubs from the Celtics bench knocked down a three in the fourth, but of course Wallace had already made the biggest part of the damage before that: Sheed, particularly inspired, shot 6/8.

Interesting how Sixers basically shut down Ray Allen and a struggling Garnett, but still managed to get destroyed, losing every quarter and allowing Celtics' reserves to make a decisive push. Pierce had a very 'quiet' 21 points, Rondo was extremely effective, same for House, as always against the Sixers.

Unusually, Sam Dalembert had a very good game and played a great first (6+5+1), even being the go-to-guy in an offense that started the game very cold (0/6). Boston started 2/13 but closed the period knocking down its last eight shots.

One thing I noticed, especially in the first half, is how Boston ALWAYS looks for the extra pass. This is clearly a sign of a very good team, a veteran squad that plays unselfish basketball: their circulation of the ball, their spacing is something we can learn from. While in Sixerland the Princeton offense is still nowhere to be found, at least for me. I would have a hard time remembering 3 FGs made after executed PO plays last night.

And defensively... well, forget about that. Yes, hitting 14 out of 20 threes would be huge also without any defense, but Sixers contested not more than 3-4 of those shots. Same as it happened at MSG, only difference Boston was putting the ball in.... (more after the jump) no comments

Nice (?) mug shot of Mavs' ugliest player ever assistant coach, I found it on italian daily newspaper La Repubblica's home page:

http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gallerie/sport/arresto-popeye/1.html

He was apparently found drunk while driving his SUV and refused to cooperate with police officers.

We prefer to remember him like this:

Uhm, not so sure. Anyway...

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I had another title ready, “Pathetic Sixers lose a won game”, but fortunately it ended well, with a 127-141 overtime win (2-1, .666).

It was not the kind of game that gets me excited, these shootouts always leave me wondering: unfortunately I’m afraid we’ll see a lot of these shows this year.

So Sixers nearly lost it, and this should have NEVER happened, especially with a sorry ass team like this season’s Knicks that, by the way, were in the second night of a back-to-back and had lost in Charlotte after a DOUBLE overtime.

Keep all of the above in mind and you’ll agree with me that one thing is to waste a 23 point lead vs Orlando, Dallas, or Lakers, one thing is to let a no defence-no frontcourt-no playmaker WEAK squad like NY come back, allowing career highs to fellow guido Gallinari (30) AND Al frekkin’ Harrington (42 !!). Add that Hughes (I mean, L-a-r-r-y H-u-g-h-e-s !!) chipped in a whopping 18 and you’ll see why there is nothing to be particularly proud of, even after the road win.

Sixers simply did (well) what they were supposed to do for three quarters. Dominating the boards, the paint, driving to the basket pretty much at will, taking advantage of the fact that Knicks actually have no C and their only good big man is an undersized PF, yesterday slowed by foul trouble (Lee).

That’s how it become 24-40 at the end of the first, in which Sixers shot 16/22, 51-70 at the half, 81-96 after the third. Lou Williams, Iguodala and Brand led us, with Speights very effective again. Not only Knicks never came close, they never gave the impression they could do it.

But in the fourth quarter Sixers showed their worst side. Static offence, with too many isolation plays especially down the stretch, non existent defence, slow rotations on the perimeter. Harrington torched us with his inside/outside game, Gallinari shooting the lights out and Hughes creating for himself and for others (also 6 dimes).

What irritated me the most was the unbelievable amount of three point plays allowed. I lost the count but I think we gave up something like 10-12, the majority of them coming after stupid, useless, sissy fouls. I mean, we weren’t even able to foul right, you get this ?? Sam of course had his usual, ‘good’ amount, but Kapono decided to follow him with a costly one, letting Harrington cut the lead to four, 117-121 with 48 seconds to play.

It wasn’t the only mistake by our sniper, because he surprisingly missed one of two from the line with 10 seconds left (120-122), leaving NY the door open. Duhon took advantage of our porous defence, tying the game on an easy drive (122-122, 5 sec to go) and the last shot by Iguodala, a tough but doable jumper at the buzzer, was off, sending the game to overtime.

I was about to throw up when Harrington put the Knicks ahead at the beginning of the period, also because he did it on another three point play (125-122), but fortunately Sixers decided it was enough. Harrington fouled out and Iguodala carried us for the decisive break. He had a fantastic fastbreak dunk while being fouled (127-129) and Williams and Thaddeus Young did the rest, finishing off the Knicks with a 17-0 final run. Thank God.

THEEE ANSWERS

 1) Yes, Gallinari is a legit NBA player. I’m glad he seems to be 100% healthy, it was painful to see a 20 y/o guy out suffering back problems last year. Great game by Gallo, even if he has to mix things up offensively, he has to take the ball to the rim more. And he can do that.
2) Yes, Brand had another nice game. He was playing against nobody, but he seems he is finding his spots in the offence
3) Yes, Sam is still Sam, therefore he followed the good game against Milwaukee with a sub par one. Six fouls in 19 minutes, playing against virtual opponents. (more after the jump)

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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.  no comments

...for staying up until 2.30 AM to watch live the Sixers getting buried in Orlando (0-1, .000) as the 120-106 final score does NOT tell.

A longer recap coming tomorrow, with an edit of this post, but I must say I am really scared after this epic blowout.

Just some half time stats to give you an idea: score at 70-47 (!! no, it wasn't Doug Moe's Denver Nuggets team with English and Vandeweghe...), Orlando shooting 66% (27/41, including 10/16 from three point land), vs Sixers' 41% (17/41), 15-8 assist edge for the Magic, that also outrebounded us 20-15.

Game was over after 24 minutes, maybe less. We simply didn't show up.

But Sixers managed to lose also the third quarter, ending it down 31 at 100-69... at a point Magic were leading by 28 (90-62) with 14/20 from beyond the arc: that counts for 70% baby. It was either a three or a layup, courtesy of Sixers' "defense".

Speights' career high 26 points are the only thing to save tonight: and there's a fire already lighted under Elton Brand's ass...

More to come tomorrow, now I can go to bed "satisfied"... FUCK !!

EDIT - I added some points, below.  More after the jump.

 

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Really !!!

Sixers start their 2009/2010 season tonight in Orlando but I have a strong feeling that I am among the few ones that actually give a damn about it.

It's true that Philly has always been "a football town", as I've heard some million times.

It's true that tonight Phillies start their second straight World Series, facing the Yankees. ("In culo alla balena !!" *)

It's true that Flyers apparently have a good team and a big core of die hard fans.

It's true that tonight Genoa plays Fiorentina in italian Serie A.

It's true that Sixers come off three consecutive years of mediocrity and face an uncertain future, with ownership clearly in "cut costs" mode, as we saw this summer - in case you missed it, I was for giving Miller a (fair) extension.

All of the above it's true, but there are several reasons to show this team some love.

New coach. New system. New starting line up (even if with "old" players). New uniforms. "New" logo.

A young, deep, athletic, flexible team, with a lot of high jumping, strong, very quick players ready to explode to the rim, run from side to side of the court, block shots. Usually fans love this, right? 

 

I think this year we'll enjoy a lot of nights of fun basketball and some memorable, high scoring games. The risk is becoming "The Golden State Warriors of the East", I know, but since we are NOT going to be contender this season, nor the next one, I think we should focus on realistic goals and be happy to achieve these. Samples? no comments

Some small steps towards the season opener.

1) Dei Lynam will not be Sixers' sideline reporter anymore. She will stay in studio for pregame and post game shows, while a new girl, Jaime Maggio, will replace her on the court. Honestly I am never much caught into these "media gossip" news, I don't care much.

Of course this Jaime clearly has guido roots - and looks cute, see the pic - so she will get at least my respect, but I always found Lynam pretty good. There is a latin saying that goes "promuoveatur ut amoveatur", something like "promoting (someone) in order to move (him)": well, not sure this is the case because the studio job is a better one, I guess. So congrats to both of them for the new role.

2) I purchased my Int'l League Pass subscription. Hope the 150 dollars will be a good investment.

3) on ESPN I found this nice Uni Watch preview by Paul Lukas, covering all NBA teams. Here is what he's saying about the Sixers:

Good news in Philly, where the Sixers have switched to a really nice retro-ish uni set. They've also resurrected their old ball-shaped logo, which will appear on the new shorts. Meanwhile, the team's alternate road uni has been mothballed. Further details here and here.

Welcome aboard, Paul.

Don't mean to brag or anything, but further details, and the complete story of Sixers uniforms switch(es), can be seen here.

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