Nice to Meet you Jrue, Welcome to Phildelphia.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

With the 17th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the new old logo Philadelphia 76ers select Jrue Holiday from UCLA.

Coming into the night, Ty Lawson was the player I was hoping the Sixers would select.  How can you not draft Lawson; he was the leader on both sides of the court for the NCAA Champion Tarheels, and he is the basketball version of Brian Westbrook.  To see him get drafted with the very next pick after the Sixers by Minnesota, only to get traded to the Nuggets (who are going to be sick next year) hurt at first.  Shit it still feels like we missed an opportunity, but the more I see about Jrue the Damaja the more I like him.

Jrue is a 6′4, 200 pound, 19 year old point guard who was the 2007-08 Gatorade National Boys (HS) Basketball Player of the Year and self proclaimed “Floor General” at UCLA last year.  He fits exactly what the 76ers needed, especially with Andre Miller leaving in Free Agency (probably/hopefully).  We need to move on to a new era.

Forget Holiday’s 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game during his one year at UCLA.  The kid plays defense, hustles, passes the ball, has handle, court vision and can clearly score beyond what his college numbers indicate.  They don’t give High School POY honors to kids who can’t score.  Check out the McDonald’s All-American game highlights, we might have a problem here.

Best Kept Secret backdrop an added bonus to Holiday’s domination.

The Sixers clearly have a long ways to go, and although Thaddius and I both thought that Ty Lawson would have made a great Quarterback for the 76ers, there is a lot to like about the kid Jrue Holiday.

Check out more Jrue with a J Holiday media, including his college coaches assessment (and comparisons to Russell Westbrook), more highlights, plus some pause-able back tattoos

Still a ways to go, but if it started today...

Yes.

But as a Sixers fan, it’s hard not to with the way the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs seem to be shaping up.  Dwyane Wade and the young Heat are only two games ahead of the Sixers for the fifth spot in the East.  The benefits of having the fifth spot over their current sixth seeding are clear, it’s a matter of playing the Atlanta Hawks (6 games ahead of the Sixers) or Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs.

Going up against Orlando (aka Dwight Howard) would mean an immediate exit from the playoffs.  The Sixers have a much better chance hanging with the Hawks in the first round.  Even though Atlanta is a more talented and complete team than the 76ers, their inconsistent play leaves them open for an opportunistic team like ours.

With a lucky 13 games left in the season, the Sixers have a legitimate shot to steal the fifth seed in the East and have a chance to make it to the second round of the playoffs.  Not bad for a team whose $82 million dollar free agent signing played only 29 games and averaged 13.8 points/game.

The Sixers are back home tonight against the Timberwolves, and need to win the easy ones as they play Cleveland twice and Boston once in these final games.

Maybe instead of getting injured, one of Wade’s infamous “marijuana sex parties” will get busted up by the police.  His immediate suspension would give the Sixers the opportunity to gain on Miami’s two game lead for the 5 seed.

Daaaamn Kobe! Who stepped on your face? Andre IIIIgg-gwwaaa-DALA-Dala-dala?

Andre Iguodala just out-Kobed Kobe Bryant, hitting the game winning 3-pointer as time ran out in the 4th quarter.

The 76ers pulled out a close win tonight, 94-93 against the Lakers to maintain the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference.

After coming out old soda flat early in the game, the Sixers stuck around with the lethargic Lakers.  The line-up of Iggy, Miller, Reggie Evans, Lou Williams and Donyell Marshall closed out the game, and Marshall’s 3 for 3 3’s were key.  Scoring was pretty spread out, and DiLeo did a nice job of rotating in players in situations and got the most out of everyone.

Iguodala really showed me something in the final minute of the game.  With under a minute left, Lou Williams declined the check back to Andre Miller with a fresh shot clock on offense and he and took it to the rim only to get blocked by Gasol.  As the Sixers ran back to defend, Andre was visibility upset with Lou, clapping in his face.  Kobe then hit a long 2 in right in front of AI with six seconds remaining.  AI D’ed up tough, but Kobe will hit that clutch shot regardless, whether he had 9 points in the game prior to that or 59.

But for the last shot of the game, Iggy was able to get open to get the inbound pass, dribble twice, and knock down the game winning three pointer right in Trevor Ariza’s eye.

After the game, Iguodala said “coach told me to get to the lane, and I said NO.  I want to win this game right now” in his immediate post-game interview.  And he was right, who wants to go into overtime in LA?  The man stepped up, and proved once again why he is the core of the franchise.

I’m enjoying this late-night basketball and there is more in store, as this was the first game in a five game west coast road trip.

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.

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.

Matchup:

• Philadelphia 76ers vs. New Jersey Nets

Score:

• 83 - 85, 76ers Lose

Summary of The Game:

• Man was I right on the sloppy game.  The Nets came out strong behind a career day from rookie Brook Lopez.  The Sixers took control in the 3rd quarter with a 14-0 run, and then followed that up with a stretch of 18 missed shots in the 4th quarter.  18 STRAIGHT 4TH QUATER MISSES.  Sixers are by no means good enough to pull out a win shooting like that in crunch time.  Nets D came up big in the final two minutes, and Lou Will and both the Andre’s had chances to tie the game.

Keys of The Game:

• Devin Harris and Vince Carter came into the game averaging a combined 43 ppg, the highest combined average of any NBA backcourt combo.  The Sixers did a good job of handling the two, limiting them to 24 total points as Carter turned his ankle in the 3rd quarter and did not return.
• The Sixers staff clearly has a better handle on the health of the Sixers frontcourt than I, as Dalember ended up playing 15 minutes and Brands roll actually decreased as he posted only 5 points and 9 boards in 18 minutes.  Not only were the bigmen ineffective offensively, but allowed Brook Lopez to absolutely go off.
• Did I mention 18 straight missed shots to end the game?

SOB of The Game:

• Brook Lopez - A career line of 24 points, 17 boards, and four blocks in 38 minutes.  Although Dalember and Brand were in there, they clearly weren’t 100% and allowed the rookie to dominate.

Full Box Score: