First Dwight, now CP3? That schedule isn't conducive to winning

The Sixers were back to their choke artist ways on Saturday night, losing to the Orlando Magic 106-100.  There were some positives to take away from the game, but the 76ers inability to score late in the game resulted in their 5th loss of the seven games since the All-Star break.

Sixers vs. Magic Game Notes:

• The Sixers came out with strong team rebounding and Dwight Howard didn’t get a rebound until midway through the 2nd quarter.  Superman ended the game with only 12 points and 8 rebounds.
• Dalembert didn’t contribute much, and again struggled with foul trouble.  Sammy played only 16 minutes, and managed only 8 points and 6 rebounds.
• The Magic adjusted by passing the ball out to waiting shooters around the 3-point line when Howard was double teamed in the paint.  Courtney Lee threw up 12 threes himself, as Orlando ended up hitting 15 of their 37 3-point attempts.  Although many of the threes didn’t fall early in the game, the Magic’s shooting was key in their late game comeback.
• Andre Miller did everything he could offensively to keep the team in the ballgame late, but couldn’t finish off the Magic by himself.  Miller ended with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

Tonight, CP3 is going to strip the 76ers faster than a dance girl on a Friday night

Now the NBA’s other 23 year old superstar is coming to town, and the outlook doesn’t look much brighter for tonight’s game.  CP3 and the Hornets have won their past four straight games, and Paul has a way of owning the Sixers.

The SOB nation will be fully represnted at the game, as Espozita and CheezWhizard (formally DawkPlex) will be a few rows being the visitors bench throwing dimes at Chris Paul.  Yea CP3, we’re good at that too.

Do they cancel NBA games due to snow?

Last night’s 98-96 last-second loss to the average-to-poor New Jersey Nets exemplifies the way the 2008 - 2009 season has gone thus far for the Sixers.  Ups and Downs, we’re a team that isn’t quite there.

The Nets did thieve Dallas in the Jason Kidd for Devon Harris trade last year though.

No 76er players were selected to this year’s All-Star game, and that time off allowed the Sixers sit back and view their situation from afar.  That’s the last thing the team needed, and they have come out 0-4 after the break.

The reality that the Sixers saw is that they are a very mediocre team that wins off effort.  It’s hustle plays on defense and on the boards that spring those enjoyable Andre Miller outlet pass to out-of-control Iduodala fast breaks.  The 76ers are nothing short of bad in the half court offense, and if they didn’t have their explosive transitional offense the team wouldn’t be as close to .500 as they currently are (27-28).

The Sixers will turn it around down the stretch, and the next two games against the Wizards and Knicks will help it start (the following two against ORL and NO will bring us back to .500).  The recent late-game meltdowns/missed free throws/inconsistent play won’t stop the Sixers from reaching expectations this year; a playoff entrance and first round exit.

Not only did Andre Miller’s fight through the calf strain he suffered on Wednesday night, but he did it with style, posting 30 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists in 40 minutes.  Unfortunately, Miller’s heroics wasn’t enough to lift the Sixers over Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat.

Andre Miller was just about the only Sixer to show up on Saturday afternoon in Miami

Miller did everything he could, although the same can’t be said for many other Sixers.  AI was only able to put up 14 points, hitting only 4 of his 16 shot attempts.  Willie Green, who I’ve been disappointed with all year, started the game but was a cold as ice 0-9 from the field.  Addressing the glaring need at scoring guard is looking like a top priority for next season. Speaking of glaring needs, Samuel Dalembert put up another gem of a game, playing only 22 minutes due to foul trouble en route to a 2 point, 7 rebound outburst.  Ugh.

This is their third consecutive loss coming out of the All Star break, and the Sixers clearly struggling to find consistency both offensively and defensively.  As we continue to dig ourselves deeper into our hole, the Heat currently stand at fifth overall in the East.  Miami’s trade of Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Toronto for Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon is looking like a pretty great move for the Heat at the moment, as the two players put up a combined 29 points and 12 rebounds in their second game with their new team.  An SOB salute goes out to Heat General Manage Pat Riley for swinging the deal.

Andre Miller has been the glue that holds the Sixers together.  Night in and night out, he has been relied upon to fuel the 76er’s quick strike offense, be it by creating for other players or taking matters into his own hands and scoring.  Thus far in the 2008 - 2009 season, Andre has averaged 15.8 points, 6.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.

Maybe Andre cutting his hair has something to do with the potential end of his 501 straight games played streak

Not only has Miller’s game been consistent, but coming into Wednesday night’s contest with the Nuggets, Miller had played in 501 consecutive games.  That streak, the longest of any active NBA player, may be in jeopardy on Saturday when the Sixers take on the Miami Heat.  Andre was forced to the game in the 3rd quarter with a strain to his right calf, and underwent an MRI Thursday morning.  His injury put the kibosh on any potential trade (thankfully), as the NBA’s trade deadline quietly came and went at 3PM today.  The injury sure won’t help the Sixers get back on the right track following pathetic losses to Indiana and Denver following the NBA All-Star break.

Miller is currently listed as day-to-day, and even though I don’t expect a long absence, the Sixers will be missing his court general mentality greatly until he’s back at full strength.  If there is any silver lining here, Miller’s injury gives DiLeo and Stefanski a chance to see Lou Williams and Royal Ivey platoon the minutes that Andre’s injury will create.  When it comes to Lou, the extra playing time will provide an opportunity to prove he can start in the NBA and continue to refine his skills at the point.  Royal “Wit Cheese” Ivey has much more to gain, as his contract expires at season’s end.  So far this season, Royal’s been a solid contributor off the bench and has exceeded expectations with impressive defense and 3-point shooting.

Get well soon, Andre.  We will need the game’s best head/ball fake back ASAP in order to get back on track in the second half of the season and upcoming playoff push.

The Sixers played a hell of a game tonight, but came up just short of upsetting the defending world champions thanks to a last second buzzer better from Ray Allen.   Allen was a thorn in the Sixers side in the 4th quarter - he hit 5 of 7 shots and scored 12 of his 23 points int he final stanza of Tuesday night’s game.  His three pointer with less than  0:01 remaining in the game stole what would have been a very nice win away from the Sixers and pushed two 2 games below .500.

The Andre’s both hit big shots in the final minute of the game to give the Sixers two point leads on two different occasions in the final 60 seconds, but both shots ended up meaning very little after Allen drained his game winner.   Here are some highlights courtesy of ESPN and some notes courtesy of yours truly.

HIGHLIGHTS

GAME NOTES

• Marresse Speights had a really impressive run in the 4th quarter with 6 quick points in just 6 minutes of action.   He added a rebound and steal and didn’t miss a shot in his limitd action.  Give the kid some more PT.
• Both Andre’s topped 20 points and turned in well rounded games.  Iggy had 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and block.  Miller dropped in 21 points, 4 boards, 7 assists, and a steal.
• Elton Brand played ummmm 9 minutes and scored 0 points??? Where is the Elton Brand that played so well last week against the Rockets?  The Sixers were facing a Celtics team without Kevin Garnett and against the likes of Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis, and Leon Powe, our big free agent acquisition only sees 9 minutes of rather in effective playing time?
• While Iggy had a great stat line, his +/- was by far the worst on the team tonight with -15.  For those of you unfamiliar with this stat, it means that during the 40 minutes Igoudola was on the floor tonight, the Celtics held a 15 point advantage over the Sixers.  This means that in the roughly 8 minutes he wasn’t on the floor, the Sixers held a +14 advantage over the Celtics.
• Reggie Evans meanwhile held a +14 +/- rating and was the only Sixer to reach double digits in rebounds with 10.  He also scored 8 points and notched 2 steals while hitting a very un-Reggie Evans like 6 of 8 from the free throw line.
• The Sixers really let this one get away.  Without Garnett in the lineup, the Celtics had almost no low post pressence tonight and the Sixers couldn’t capitalize.  The Celtics perimeter players combined for 72 of their 100 points.
• Slammin’ Sammy’s 14 points where actually a season high.  I’m sorry, but that’s just sad.
• The Celtics turned the ball over 20 times compared to just 9 turnovers for the Sixers.
• The Sixers are now 0-3 against the Celtics this year and have lost back to back games while leading going into the 4th quarter.

POST GAME QUOTES

• Tony DiLeo on not playing Elton Brand in the 2nd half: “His shoulder stiffened up a little. He said he could play if we really needed him. It was a situation where we just decided to throw Marreese (Speights) in there because his (Elton Brand’s) shoulder wasn’t quite loose enough.”
• Andre Igoudola on where the Sixers stand in comparison to the Celtics: “We should have won the game and we lost. We’re just trying to get wins right now. We have to play good ball no matter who we play. They didn’t have one of their Hall of Famers so there’s no excuse.”
• Doc Rivers on the play of Reggie Evans: “Give them a lot of credit. Reggie Evans turned the game around for them He came in and played with great energy. It looked like he got everybody else on his team going.”
• Ray Allen on his game winner: “We figured out we had a great chance to send the game into overtime. It was a tough situation for their (Sixers) defense because Paul had the ball and he was isolated and they were going to make it tough on him and that’s what I got to my spot. (Peirce) made a great play. I knew that I wanted to get to my spot. At least if someone was running out on me, at least I got to where I got my ball and my legs in the air. Again, Paul made the play at the right time.”

Hi, my name is Andre!

Tonight’s match up features last year’s NBA champion Boston Celtics (40-9) coming to town to face the Sixers (23-23).  The 76ers are coming off a pathetic loss to the New Jersey Nets at home on Saturday night.

Keys of The Game:

• Make things difficult for KG down low -  I would like to see a variety of centers/forwards (Evans, Dalembert, Brand, Ratliff) rotate in to foul and double team Garnett.  When he’s on the whole team benefits, and KG him having a great night is the fastest way to get blown out by the Celts.
• Rebounding - Strong team rebounding will be needed to compete tonight, as the the Sixer’s cant let the better team here get second chances.   It’s an every game key, as defensive rebounding feeds the fast break, which will also be needed to score points on the stingy half-court D of the Celtics.
• Elton Brand - the big $$,$$$,$$$ man will be need to have a big game and prove he’s back on both sides of the ball for the Sixer’s to pull one out against the defending champions.  This is why we brought him in right?

The Sixers have not had much success playing against Boston of late, losing by 24 and 19 already this season, and winning only 1 of their 4 meetings last year.  Can’t say the outlook is positive here, but if the Andres can get the team out and running early, and the crowd plays a strong 6th man, we could keep it close.

This group seems to play to the competition, so I’m thinking this game could get interesting.