This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent, the deep and star studded Dallas Mavericks who are the foes for game two of this four game road trip. 

This is going to be a nearly impossible game for the Sixers to win.  The 76ers are short-handed with only 10 players available, they played and lost in San Antonio last night and the Iverson drama is in full effect which has to be a distraction.  On top of all of that, tonight’s opponent, the Dallas Mavericks are a very good squad and at 12-5, are one of the best teams in the deep Western Conference.  

For a little more insight into the Mavs team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Rob Mahoney from thetwomangame.com to answer two questions on the Mavs from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Dallas squad from an insider’s perspective.

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Word is breaking everywhere about a 2-hour long meeting in Dallas between Allen Iverson with his appropriate people in tow (Leon Rose and Gary Moore) and 76ers General Manager Ed Stefanski, SVP Tony DiLeo as well as head coach Eddie Jordan and assistant coach Aaron McKie. 

Obviously this is a huge update / progress on the story of the Sixers having “interest” in signing Iverson which was first broken by Stephen A. Smith on his website over the weekend.  Stephen A. was all over sports radio today here in Philly talking about Iverson’s possible return to Philadelphia.

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We’re back after a little Turkey Day hiatus and obviously a lot happened on and off-the-court (more on that later) in 76ers land over the long weekend. 

The 76ers losing streak stretched to six games after last night’s tough loss in San Antonio.  They’re now 2-7 on the road this season and 5-12 overall which is the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference.  But to be honest, it’s hard to criticize this squad of walking wounded that are wearing the Sixers uniforms right now. 

They gave us an unbelievable effort against the mighty Boston Celtics last Wednesday.  Then the depleted Sixers gave us a more then respectable effort vs. the red hot Atlanta Hawks on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Finally, last night Philadunkia’s home team traveled to San Antonio and gave the now healthy and surging Spurs all they could handle.  Still all three games ended in losses and as coach Jordan has said, “There are no moral victories.”, so a great effort won’t be sufficient for us either.  However one thing has become obvious during the last three games, especially in Sunday night’s loss vs. the Spurs.  This injury riddled 76ers squad simply doesn’t have enough firepower to compete and win on a nightly basis in the NBA.

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As you probably know by now, Louis Williams is out 6-8 weeks after suffering a fractured jaw on Tuesday night thanks to a collision with Antawn Jamison’s shoulder.  Louis had surgery yesterday, yes on Thanksgiving Day and on his way to the hospital had this to say via Twitter, “On my way to the hospital to get my jaw wired shut on thanksgiving.  How fun.”

After the operation was over, Louis posted this Twitpic of the surgeon’s handy-work and said, “shining like baby in there.”  That’s a smooth reference to New Orleans hip-hop artist and Cash Money Records founder Bryan “Baby”, a.k.a. “Birdman” Williams who is famous for his ridiculous teeth grills. 

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There were only three things that did not surprise us about the 76ers 108-107 loss in Washington last night: (1) the Sixers awful defense (allowed 40 points in the 3^rdQ) cost them the game…, (2) the 76ers bench played well…and…(3) which ever Sixer took the last shot, that player would settle for a long range J. 

The 76ers lost their third game in a row last night and are now 0-2 on this brutal streak where they play 7 of 8 games on the road.  To be honest we here at Philadunkia are as mystified by this team as any we can ever remember.  This Sixers team defies all basketball logic and last night was further proof of that theory.  Here’s six items that blew away our basketball minds during last night’s game.

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This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent and Eddie Jordan’s former team, the Washington Wizards.  This trip to the District of Columbia is the second game of a three game road trip for the Sixers. 

We feel like we’re writing this a lot lately, but the Wizards much like the 76ers have struggled mightily here at the start of the 2009-10 season and a lot of ills that have plagued the Sixers are hurting the Wizards efforts early on this year.  The Wiz struggles have mostly been associated with poor shooting (43% from the field), adjustments to a new coach and new roles for key players.  Sound familiar?

This is going to be a tough game for the Sixers to win.  Yes the Wizards are a mess and there is some infighting going on in the locker room, but Washington is athletic, potentially they can score from outside, the team certainly has a great set of bigs (Haywood & AJ) to compliment their perimeter shooting once that gets going and they also have a go to player for clutch moments in Gilbert Arenas.  Plus they are familiar with Eddie Jordan’s Princeton offense.  If you can even call what the Sixers have been running in the half-court offense a form of the Princeton offense.  It’s more like the adopted kid brother that nobody likes to Pete Carrill’s version of this “read-and-react” offensive scheme.  So the Wizards present a load of problems for the defensively challenged Sixers.  Still the Sixers showed signs of turning the corner against Cleveland and dare we hope possibly getting this season back on track.  So, there is a glimmer of hope that the Sixers can steal one down in the nation’s capital tonight

For a little more insight into the Wizards team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Kyle Weidie from the Wiz faithful blog  truthaboutit.net .

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After the pathetic effort and loss at home against the lowly Grizzlies on Friday night, we’re willing to admit that going up against The Lebrons on the road was not a game we were looking forward to playing.  Thus when the 76ers fell behind 20-4 in the opening quarter and Lebron & Co. were yucking it up and performing their choreographed high-fives for the home crowd, we were tempted to call it a night on the Sixers and change the channel.

But we didn’t grab the clicker which was a smart move.  Apparently the Sixers looked in the mirror, conducted a gut check and decided to actually play some ball.  Arguably their best ball of the 2009-10 season. 

The result was a great game vs. the much more talented Cavs.  For that we have to give the Sixers credit because coming off Friday’s ugly loss combined withhitting only two of their first nine shots in Cleveland, it would have been easy for Philadunkia’s home team to fold and thus get rolled by the 10-3 Cavs.

However the max-effort the Sixers gave for nearly three ful quarters last night against The Lebrons wasn’t enough, as a 4^thQuarter filled with bad defense (of course), shaky point guard play and poor shooting sunk the Sixers (97-91).

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Fundamentals, especially defense and rebounding, that’s what wins championships in basketball.  It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about high school hoops or the NBA, if you want to raise the hardware at the end of the season you have to do the fundamentals, the dirty work.  Simply put, the 76ers don’t have anyone who is willing to get dirty and that’s why the current group will never get a sniff of an NBA title.

We all knew that the Sixers don’t play a lick of defense and that they struggle to clean the defensive glass, but last night’s loss to the Grizzlies showed just how terrible Philadunkia’s home team can be in both those categories.  Last night was simply pathetic and the only question in our minds is how many times we will type that line this season.

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This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent, the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies much like the 76ers struggle mightily of the defensive end, can not hit the three (29.6%) and have a roster full of young cats that all play significant minutes.  Actually, the Grizzlies are an even younger squad then the Sixers as they boast a starting lineup with four players who are 24 years of age or under.  Despite a 3-8 record, their 7-game losing streak and all the Allen Iverson drama, Memphis has not fallen apart this season.  In fact, this young, athletic and offensively talented squad is riding a two game win streak coming into the Wachovia Center tonight. 

Despite the Grizz’s offensive talents, their athleticism and the recent winning streak, we expect the Sixers to get a W tonight and establish their own two game winning streak.  We’re really going on gut instincts alone here as these two mediocre teams match up fairly evenly.  So don’t hold us too stronglyto that prediction.  We all know it will be close as the Sixers have demonstrated in 2009-10 that they have serious trouble putting away teams that on paper they should handle.  Also we know this will be a high scoring affair as neither team plays a lick of defense.  OJ Mayo and Mike Conley may each get 30 tonight, but so will Louis and AI9.  Finally, coming off his huge night vs. the Bobcats, it will be interesting to see how Elton Brand does against two “real” bigs in Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol of the Grizzlies.  Neither is great defender, but they can both bang, am element Charlotte did not have in the post on Wednesday night.

For a little more insight into the Grizzlies team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Chip Crain from 3 Shades of Blue.com to answer two questions on the Grizzlies from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Charlotte squad from an insider’s perspective.

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Was Elton Brand trying to make a statement on Wednesday night?  Let’s hope so.  Were Eddie Jordan’s harsh words earlier this week about Elton Brand “not being a 40-minute player” any more and that he might start Rodney Carney ahead of Brand meant to inspire better play from the former All-Star power forward?  If so, “genius” we say.  Could Mo Speights injury and resulting absence from the Sixers lineup produce something positive (a return to form by EB) in the long run?  Possibly.  We may never know the answer to these questions and we’re not sure we care either. 

What we do know is that if Elton Brand continues to play like a man possessed as he did vs. the Bobcats, the outlook for the Sixers in the 2009-10 season will be significantly improved from the preseason predictions.

Simply put Elton balled last night.  Brand had his mid-range going, he blocked shots, rebounded, made steals and dove on the floor for loose balls.  It was a thing of beauty to watch, but the scary part was the 76ers needed every ounce of Elton’s game to narrowly escape with a 86-84 W over the hopeless Bobcats.

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