Sixers Postgame 2/09: Remember When the Suns Where Good Edition

The Sixers continued trucking along in the absence of Elton Brand with a relatively easy 108-91 victory over the Phoenix Suns Monday night.  The Sixers were led by their young power forwards - Thaddeus Young and Maresse Speights - who combined for 49 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 54 minutes.  They did this against a Suns team which features a front court of Amare Stoudemire and Shaquelle O’Neal - not bad for a couple of young kids who wouldn’t be playing nearly as much if the big off-season acquisition hadn’t gotten hurt.

The Sixers had the benefit of playing the Suns on the backend of back to back games which limited Shaq to 21 points and Steve Nash to just 22.

A year ago this would have been a much better game to watch.  Since the Suns traded Shawn Marion for Shaq and canned Mike D’Antoni they haven’t been nearly as good or nearly as exicting as they were just 12 months ago.  Watching the 08-09 Sixers vs. the 07-8 Suns would have matched two fun and gun teams and the final score would have probably been something like 115-110.

Instead, this game matched two teams who both sabotoged their 08-09 seasons while trying to take the step from pretender to contender.  The Suns imploded their team by completely revamping their style of play when they acquired Shaq and then pushed D’Antoni out the door.  The Sixers ended up bringing in a power forward which didn’t fit their system when they had two perfectly good ones, much younger in age on their roster after finally having tons of cap space for the first time in years - as evidenced by tonight’s breakout games for both Young and Speights.

Andre Igoudola had another well rounded game and is looking more and more like the player the Sixers thought they were locking up over the summer.  Iggy chipped in 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists.

The Sixers are sitting two games over .500 with one more game before the All Star break.  Memphis visits the Wachovia Center Wednesday.  Highlights below.