The 76ers are now 13-28 at the halfway pole of the 2009-10 season and after last night’s uninspired performance against the Portland Trailblazers, we here at Philadunkia have officially raised the white flag on this season for the Sixers. 

There will be no turn around, no winning streak that has the Sixers climbing the standings and no push for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoff race.  Nope, not this year and certainly not with this group.  They don’t have the heart or the X&O’s required for such a drastic revival. 

Last night we finally conceded that a turn around will not happen in 2009-10 because after their embarrassing loss in Minnesota on Monday, arguably the worst L of the season, the Sixers should have come out inspired, hyped, jacked up, looking for blood; then gone out and shut down Andre Miller and handled their business vs. the Blazers.  Whatever you want to call it, the Sixers didn’t have it last night and even after Blazers phenom Brandon Roy left the game with an injury, Philadunkia’s home team still couldn’t find it.  The result was a 98-90 “so many missed opportunities” loss.

The best part of it all (sarcastic overtones here), was that Andre Miller absolutely worked the Sixers last night and in the process kicked some dirt in Ed Stefanki’s face.

Continue Reading

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 down at the Wachovia Center, our man Andre Miller  and his Portland TrailBlazers. 

Believe it or not, we expect the 76ers to win this game tonight.  Yes we know Vegas has installed the Sixers as a two point dog at home.  And yes we know that Portland (25-17) is a very talented team that is currently holding on to 5^th place in the brutally tough Western Conference.  And yes we can see that Portland presents serious match-up problems for our home team.  And yes we realize that the Blazers have already beaten the Lakers and Magic this month.  And of course we also remember that the Sixers are coming off arguably their worst effort of the season in Minnesota on Monday.  And yes we’re absolutely aware that Eddie Jordan is still our head coach.

Continue Reading

He scored over 1,600 points at LaSalle, is a member of the Big 5 Hall of Fame, earned an MBA from The Wharton School and is married to a former Eagles cheerleader.  Basically ESPN analyst Tim Legler is almost as Philadunkia as Dr. J, Allen Iverson and The Spectrum. 

As a bonus, he still lives in the Philadelphia area, attends numerous Sixers games each year and is actually somewhat of a 76ers fan, so he keeps a keen eye focused on our home team.  Recently Legler gave me some time via the phone to discuss the 2009-10 Sixers and he was very open about his views on why the Sixers have struggled so badly this season.

Continue Reading

Was the 76ers (13-27) MLK Day matinee loss in Minnesota yesterday the worst L of the season for Philadunkia’s home team?  Possibly. 

For 76er fans, was Monday’s embarrassing loss to the 8-33 Timberwolves the most depressing defeat of the 2009-10 season?  Absolutely!  That’s especially true if you bought into the recent hype coming from the Wachovia Center and the local “main-stream” scribes that cover the team regarding the Sixers and how they had turned the season around with their recent three-out-of-the-last-four winning streak.

But we didn’t believe the hype.  The demons that the 76ers organization and the writers who cover the team wanted you to believe were in the past reared their ugly heads again yesterday in Minnesota and the result was a devastating step backwards for a Sixers team that can not afford this type of set back.

Here’s a look at the Sixer ills which resurfaced again yesterday and will continue to occur until a coaching change is made. 

Continue Reading

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 today’s MLK Day matinee opponents the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

We expect a high scoring affair this afternoon as the game will feature two of the worst defensive teams in the NBA.  Minnesota is giving up 106.75 ppg. on the season, the third highest opponent’s scoring average in the League.  The 76ers are allowing nearly 101 ppg., which ranks Philadunkia’s home team 12^th in the NBA in opponents’ scoring average. 

The biggest question for us regarding today’s game is how will the Sixers attempt to defend the T-Wolves low post tandem of Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.  To start the game, Dalembert will probably draw the assignment of guarding “Big Al” and that’s most likely going to lead to early foul trouble for Sammy.  On the offensive end, as the anchor of the Sixers defense and on the glass, Sammy has been playing out of this world of late, but he has yet to kick his habit of committing stupid fouls.  So we would imagine the Wolves will go right at Sammy and hope to send him to the bench early.        

We also predict that Sixers starting power forward Thaddeus Young will have trouble with Kevin Love (6-10; 265) down low. Obviously Brand will get a chance at guarding Love as well which is a better defensive match-up for the Sixers on the blocks, but could provide another challenge for the Sixers.  Love is the best 3-point shooter on the Wolves (39%) and covering big-guys on the move and on the perimeter is not a defensive strength for Brand.  Hopefully Brand can slow Love down some while keeping his own rhythm on offense.  Speights won’t be able to guard either of the Wolves big men, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Jason Smith suddenly gets freed from the bench for some extended minutes this afternoon.       

Despite the challenges he 76ers face with the two big men of the T-Wolves, we like the Sixers to win the game this afternoon and dare we say easily.  The Wolves in general can not shoot, play no defense, struggle mightily from three-ville and their two premiere bigs are very slow.  So the Sixers will get a W today by playing fast and owning the defensive glass. 

For a little more insight into the Timberwolves team the Sixers face today, we turn to our man Patrick Hodgdon from howlintwolf.com to answer two questions on the Wolves from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on the Minny squad from an insider’s perspective.

Continue Reading

As the 2009-10 season approaches the halfway mark, the Sixers are sitting soundly in second-to-last place in the Eastern Conference.  Only the white flag bearing, Lebron James scheming New Jersey Nets are worse off then the Sixers so far this year.  It’s a position that to most NBA experts and fans certainly indicates something isn’t clicking and should signify the need for change.  However, the only item more curious than the lack of a coaching change in Philadelphia and the consistent laid-back, often smug demeanor of a coach who should be sitting squarely on the proverbial hot seat, is the player rotations (or lack thereof) that Coach Eddie Jordan employs.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to when or how often particular players get minutes, and if I was told that Jordan picks his fourth quarter lineups out of a hat, sadly, I would not be surprised. 

Continue Reading

What do you get when two of the most offensive minded teams in the NBA get together and both teams don’t shoot well for most of the night, one of the teams plays a zone defense for ¾ of the game and the other team scores 25 fast break points? 

 The answer: You get one of the most unwatchable NBA contests in recent memory.

 Unfortunately, the Knicks and their zone defense somehow managed to outplay the Sixers (12-26) down the stretch of this ugly contest and win a game that probably had Dr. Naismith rolling over in his grave.

It’s tough to decide which had a bigger role in the 76ers loss last night — the New York Knicks zone defense or the questionable lineup decisions Sixers Head Coach Eddie Jordan made in the 4th quarter, so we’ll examine both factors.  

Continue Reading

After the 76ers defeated the hottest team in the NBA last night, the New Orleans Hornets, that’s the question floating around the Philadunkia offices this morning. 

Our bewilderment is not all about last night’s W either.  Don’t get us wrong the win was awesome because it was much needed and came against a solid team like the NOH, but for us our headline question is more about how the Sixers got the victory.  You see for the second straight game (both Ws) Eddie Jordan did a complete 180 on his offensive minded coaching style and made moves that contradict everything he has said and done during the 2009-10 season.  Now we want to know is this new direction for the Sixers for real and here to stay?

Continue Reading

You may not like Reggie Evans, you may not hate Reggie Evans, and in terms of Philadelphia sports history he is a player who over the years will be all but forgotten, if he’s not already.  

In the five or so minutes it may take you to read this article however, I am going to take you down memory lane and by the time you’re finished reading I guarantee you that you will have some more respect for the man who suited up for the Sixers in 2007-08 and 2008-09. 

 
Continue Reading

To be honest with you, we only watched the 76ers game last night during commercials of the Eagles debacle, so we had to fire up the TIVO this morning to catch the full version of the W in Detroit.  As we’ve said before, we’ll take wins any way we can get ‘em at this point in the season, but it is hard to drum up any real excitement about a victory over the Pistons that extended the loosing streak of one of the worst teams in the League to 12 games.  However, one thing the TIVO revealed to us which we are very excited about, is that apparently some marching orders have been handed down to Eddie Jordan from Ed Stefanski and his superiors.

Continue Reading