Lavoy must have fallen into the fountain of hoops he recently discovered as he went out and had a career high 22 boards and put in 14 points as well. Lavoy  was incredible last night. In his last 3 games he is averaging 12 ppg. and 11 rpg. Any chance this run of stellar play continues?

A nice double-double for Turner that will hopefully get him back on track.  ET got going early as he hit two quick FGAs in the 1st Q and at half he had 8 points, 6 rebs., and 2 assists.  He was on his way to an A+ from me until the 4th Q.  After scoring 4 straight for the 7-6 in the final Q, Turner got a little out of control.  He continued to use his back down / post up move and missed his next attempt.  Then he jacked up an 18-footer and missed.  That was followed by a miss from 15 feet. He also had a iso-play FGA rejected by Mullens.  That’s when I threw the remote.

I’m not a fan of the multiple 3PAs he continues to hoist every night, but Spence hauled 40 mins. last night and nearly registered a double-double, so we’ll cut him some slack.  He missed he 1st two FGAs of the night — both long range J’s, but then hit his next 3 straight — all from around 12 feet or closer.

Not the most efficient scoring night for Jrue, but a I really liked the way Jrue took the ball to the tin consistently last night.  His 8 4th Q points were big in sealing this one for the Sixers and the backdoor cut for a lay-in he executed with the help of Pargo was a beauty.

Foul trouble led to an awful night for Swaggy.  I am bit concerned here because that’s two sub-par outing in a row for Nick. It didn;’t matter last night because of Pargo, but I’d like to see Nick get back on track.

I know Lavoy was on fire last night and Spence was solid, but Arnett has shown he deserves more minutes, so let’s give them to him DC.  The pick-n-roll he had for an AND 1 in the 3rd Q was a great basketball play. However he’ll need to work on those FTs.

Wright is paid to make jumpers and last night he did not do that at all.

Pargo had one practice with the Sixers before last night’s game.  Apparently that’s all he needed. Pargo delivered in a big way for the Sixers with his dribble drives and passing ability.  DC liked what he saw so much that Pargo played almost the entire 4th Q.  This is what a real back-up PG looks like…

The problem here is that he’ll have to play some minutes if we have any hope of moving Kwame at the deadline.

I like that he rode the hot hands last night — Lavoy, Spence and Pargo — to victory.  I also thought it was a smart move to just let Pargo play this game out.  A lot of coaches would not have had the guts to keep him in the game after only 1 practice.  I didn’t like that he allowed Turner to take over the offense on the early 4th Q.

I know the Pacers lineup presents a number of match-up issues for Turner, but to be honest, I’m done here. Two words for you — trade him…

So he starts and plays respectable ball in the 1st Q against the very physical Pacers front line and then we don’t see him for the rest of the night.  What gives?

I like the 10 boards, but Spence’s flailing and whining last night drove me crazy.  It was obvious from the start that the refs were going to let them play last night. Instead of manning up and getting physical, Spence chose to continue playing soft and cry all night to the officiating crew.  My favorite Spence moment was when a bounce pass for Turner went through his hands, then through his legs and OB. His buzzer beater FGA at the end of the 3rd wasn’t pretty either.

Man was Jrue’s shot off in the 1st half last night.  He found his stroke in the 2nd half, but it was not enough to keep the Sixers in this game.  He did an solid job of driving th ball to the tin, but the 5 TO’s didn’t help much last night.

Last night was Swaggy’s first poor game since joining the starting line-up, so I’ll take it easy on him. Still, I would like to have seen him drive the ball to the cup a little more.

Lavoy has found the fountain of hoops and I hope he keeps drinking from it.  It also seems he has finally learned to cut / roll / dive to the basket for easy baskets.  However, I’m not sure I want him firing up 13 FGAs in every game.

Hey Doug…What’s My Name?!?…Say my name b*#@*…

In his first significant tick of the year, Moultrie did well for himself.  I was especially pleased with the way he cut / dove into the lane on offense and made himself available for easy hoops.  By my count he had 3 bunny slams in this game.

After a slow start (1-3 on 3PAs) this turned into a very solid all-around night for Wright who should start seeing a lot more burn with J-Rich done for the season.  Wright made the play of the night in the 2nd Q…after blocking Hansbrough’s shot at the defensive end, he went down the floor and threw a no-look alley-oop pass to Moultrie for a slam.

Just more evidence that the Sixers still need a viable back-up PG

According to Yahoo Sports, stick a fork in him…J-Rich is done for the year.

This team was not ready to go last night at all. He has to be held partially responsible for that item.  I also didn’t like that Wilkins saw no action last night vs. the very physical Pacers.  Finally, he gave 28 mins to Turner who was simply lost last night and that was obvious from the very start.

An outstanding night from Thad was capped with a huge 4th Q.  With the Sixers trailing by 1, Thad scored 6 straight to right the ship.  He also grabbed 6 boards in the Q which helped him tie a career high with 15.

ET is in a wicked funk right now and I am not sure what the answers are for Turner.  Watching him get abused by Tyreke Evans was awkward.

I like that Spence came out with an aggressive midnset in the 3rd Q and took the ball to the tin for 4 straight points.  However, I didn’t like that my 7-foot tall starting center grabbed only 1 rebound in 26 mins. and continues to launch 3PAs.

Obviously 8 TOs is not acceptable from you starting PG. So that needs to be corrected and it will be. But overall a solid game from “The Jruth”.  However, his overall night was solid.  Jrue’s spin move that led to a baseline jumper in the third was smooth.

All aboard the Swaggy P bandwagon.  I am more impressed with his ability to score off the bounce then anything else.  Still 1-5 from deep is not good for a starting NBA SG.  Nick is playing care free right now as with J-Rich out and Wright in the Do(u)g-house he knows DC has no other choice at SG.

The tongue lashing he received from Philadunkia earlier this week must have inspired Lavoy as he has played much better in the last two games.  Again all I am asking from Lavoy is 6-8 points and 10 rips a night.

So our reserve SF grabs 5 boards in 17 mins, but our starting center…I’d like to see DC get this guy 20+ minutes per game.

Mehhhh

At least Kwame will be well rested to battle Vucevic on Monday night.

I’m not sure how much DC is at fault for the Sixers blowing a 19-point lead, but he has to share in the blame.  I would also like to have seen more pick-n-roll action for Jrue last night to help him shake off Tyreke Evans who gave Holiday some issues last night.

I have no real complaints about Thad’s night vs. the Wiz, but to my eyes he looked tired at times and lacked his usual ultra-high level of energy.  DC confirmed my suspicions in the post game PC when he described yungsmoove as “simply tired”.  He did however drop his first 3PA of the year (1-4 on the season).

The roller coaster continues.  Poor shooting night and in the 2nd Q especially the offense came to a screeching halt with ET at the helm.  Even Malik Rose was exasperated with the way Turner pounded the ball into the floor last night.

If his stroke had been “on” at all last night and he could have defended Okafor better, this could have been a scary good game for Hawes.  All I ask is that he continue to grab 10 boards a night.  FYI…the breakaway dunk he had blocked by Wall was simply embarrassing.

Not the most efficient scoring night for Jrue (21 points on 22 shots), but a solid effort overall.  The left handed dunk he had blocked back in his face was hard to watch as well.  Still Jrue was steady for most of this game and he stepped up in the 4th Q.  He scored the Sixers final 7 points.  He also ended the Wiz’s big run during the very late 4th Q with a FT and a FGM.  That combo delivered this game to the W column for the Sixers.

Enjoy your moment in the sun all you Swaggy P lovers.  He shot 7-17 from the field (not awful) and produced a solid all-around game.

Is it possible that all the trade talk on Philadunkia yesterday inspired Mr. 500 to go out there and dominate?  There were two stretches of this game where he simply took over.  He scored 6 straight in the early 2nd Q and then did the same thing in the final minutes of the 3rd Q.  Any chance this production can be sustained?  I say NOPE.

Considering he received two straight DNP-CD this was an amazing effort from Wright.

He played some tenacious defense and handed out a few dimes.  I’d love it if my back-up PG could add some scoring to the stat sheet, but I’m happy with this from Ivey until we locate a legit back-up PG.

He was probably exhausted from the 11 minutes of burn he received vs. Memphis on Monday night.

I liked that he stuck with the “new” starting-five and that the team seem inspired on defense.  However I still cringe every time he put the ball in Turner’s hands at the offensive end and allows him to “direct” this team.  I also am not a big fan of the way DC has had the team wind the shot clock down on each possession while leading in the late 4th Q of the last two games.  This squad does not execute well in those situations.

Forget about his tremendous stats for a second and look at the fact that Thad held Z-Bo to 4 points last night.  I dropped him to an A- because of the ill-advised 3PA down the stretch and the fact that he faded away on that last possession when he should have gone strong to the tin for a lay-in and/or to get a foul.

One of his best nights of the season and in the 3rd Q he was tremendous, but…(more on this after the jump)

I need more from my starting center, but as far as Hawes goes this was a decent outing vs. a much bigger front line.  Still his defense on Gasol was pitiful.

A double-double is nice, but he hoisted up too many jumpers last night.  I thought he and the Sixers would learn from the NYK game, but I was wrong.  His defense on Bayless also left something to be desired.

A red-hot 1st Q (9 points) did not lead to a big not from Swaggy.  I need more from my starting SG. But that’s something I have been saying for years now while covering the Sixers

Anyone want to bet that Lavoy is dealt at the deadline?

We have a Kwame sighting and outside of dropping two passes that would have led to sure fire dunks, he played well.  So on the Kwame curve he gets a “B”.

A very solid night from Royal (with cheese).  He was especially huge in the early 4th Q when he drained a 3PA and then had a steal and dime that led to a Thad slam.

Last night the jump shot disease even infected the most physical player on the Sixers.

I liked that he stuck with the “new” starting five.  I also liked that he got Jrue some extra rest with a 15 point lead in the 1st Q.  I didn’t like that he rested the red-hot Turner in the early 4th.  And I did not see any adjustments to slow down Gasol who was simply killing the Sixers.

Thad delivered his usual energy and hustle which is really all the needed him to do on a night when the Sixers had three players score 20+ points. Still, I bet he’ll be hearing from his teammates about that two handed flush he missed in the 4th Q.

Last night was one of the best efforts we have seen from Turner in a couple of weeks. However, I am still not a fan of putting the ball in his hands and letting him orchestrate the offense. On several occasions last night he pounded the ball into the floor too much and he routinely turns his back to the basket 20-25 feet from the tin. That’s a major no-no when you are playing PG.

Hawes got the start and delivered — sort of. He scored all 4 of his points in the 1st Q and helped ignite the Sixers quick start, but that was it for Spence in teh scoring department.  The 4 blocks were a nice toss in.

Simply amazing to watch last night. Two notes from Jrue’s career best scoring night. First, he recognized a mismatch in this game (hobbled Felton on him) and exploited it by taking the ball to the rim repeatedly. Second he committed only 1 turnover and that hiccup came in the 4th Q when the game was well over.

In J-Rich’s absence Swaggy got the start and put together a nice game.  But it didn’t start out that way as NY missed his first 3 FGAs before a 4-point play in the late 1st Q seemed to ignite his scoring touch. IMO Swaggy also did a decent job of putting the ball on the floor and going to the hoop.

It’s gotten to the point were I am not against trading Lavoy.

With the Sixers standing on 97 points, Mack missed a wide open 3-ball that would have given the Sixers 100 points and delivered fee Big Macs to the sellout crowd.

I liked a lot of what I saw from Ivey last night, but I would have liked his effort even more if he could hit a few more shots

Wilkins has found a role on this team — play tough, physical defense and drive the ball to the tin — and his does a great job of delivering those elements every time he steps on the floor.  IMO his bucket in the early second was an important NYK momentum stopper.

The Do(u)g-house strikes again.

Somewhere there is a big that can actually help this team and not just take up space.

I’ll assume it was by DC’s design that Jrue and others drove the ball to the hoop like they have not done all-season. I have a suspicion Jrue may have been freelancing. I guess we’ll never know.