This Friday , over-hyped blizzard 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 defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. 

Is it wrong to root against Philadunkia’s home team?  Is it even more of a basketball sin to hope that the 76ers (22-35) get their doors blown off by the Lakers tonight?  Well if it is wrong, then we don’t want to be right.  Here’s why…We have to figure that a blow out loss to the Lakers tonight would be the final nail in Eddie Jordan’s coffin.  Numerous Sixers insiders and beat writers were proclaiming this current road trip, which ends against the Lakers tonight, as some sort of last stand for Jordan.  If the Sixers did well on this trip, then Jordan holds onto his job until the end of the year.  If the Sixers soil the bed on this trip then allegedly Jordan is done.

Well, if the Sixers get pummeled tonight, then the team would end this road trip 1-3 and it would not be a pretty 1-3 either.  In Chicago the Sixers got simply embarrassed to the tune of a 32-point beat down.  Then at Golden State, the Sixers let a 24-point 2^nd half lead slip away to the pathetic Warriors only to miraculously pull the game out by the skin of their teeth.  In Phoenix the next night, Jordan’s crew got worked by the Suns.  Don’t be fooled by the 106-95 final score, it was never that close in the second half.  The Suns ran out to a 22-point lead in the 3^rd Q, thanks to all-world guard Steve Nash and his maestro-like skills at the helm of the Suns offense.  Nash did not see a single tick in the 4^th Q and Amare played only 2:07 in fourth, yet the Sixers never got closer then 11 points.

If you combine the above evidence with a lopsided loss to the Lakers tonight, then in our opinion Jordan’s demise would finally be sealed.  Hallelujah !!  We for one have been calling for his firing since right before New Year’s.  So if we have to root against the Sixers tonight to rid ourselves of Eddie Jordan and begin to move the 76ers ever so slightly forward, then that’s what we’re going to do and we’ll do it with passion.

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

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In the latest Foxsports.com NBA power rankings, the Sixers are sitting at #21.

ESPN.com NBA Insider David Thorpe posts a “Rookie Watch” piece about which rookies are hot right now.  The Sixers Jrue Holiday did not make the Top 10 nor the Honorable Mention List, but Holiday did eventually get mentioned by Thorpe.

Speaking of Holiday, here’s a great article by CSNPhilly.com’s Dei Lynam on Holiday’s recent trip home in LA to see his mom’s high school team play.  Both of Holiday’s parents are basketball coaches.

Also we have this ray of hope from from ESPN.com NBA Insider John Hollinger…The 76ers have a 1% chance of making the 2010 playoffs.  The problem is we need to decrease those odds even further if we want to get a good Lottery position.

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This snow anticipating, Wednesday 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 fun to watch Phoenix Suns.

After last night’s roller coaster win over the horrific Golden State Warriors, we have two angles on tonight’s game against PHX (35-23), one of the hottest teams in the League and the Western Conference’s current 5^th seed for the NBA Playoffs.  Here’s our breakdown for tonight…

1)      If the Sixers hit the court tonight and play the way they did on both ends of the floor in the first half against GSW on Tuesday night, the Sixers can pull off an upset of PHX.  That means on offense the Sixers must go into the post, specifically to Elton Brand and look to capitalize on either easy interior buckets or when the ball comes back out wide open looks for their guards.  Eddie Jordan’s team must be smart with their up-tempo game and run-n-gun only when they have clear opportunities.  Additionally,  the Sixers will have to play tight D and rebound well as they did in the 1^st half vs. GSW.

2)      If tonight the Sixers play — on both ends — the way they did during the late 3^rd and all of the 4^thquarter against GSW on Tuesday night, the Suns will run them off the floor.  The Sixers can not settle for long jumpers and 3PAs tonight.  They simply don’t make enough of them to rely on those types of shots to sustain their offense, plus the Suns will use those rebounds to feed their lethal fast break offense.  They also can not display the ole’ defense that reared its ugly head again during the 4^th Q vs. GSW.  The 76ers survived their second half collapse Tuesday night because the Warriors are awful on defense and they had an off night shooting.  Thus GSW could not capitalize on the Sixers poor play in the late stages of the second half.  Make no mistake, the Suns are significantly better then the GSW on offense and despite their reputation, PHX actually plays solid defense.  They will take advantage of long stretches of poor play by the Sixers tonight and bury Philadunkia’s home team.     

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

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Last night the 76ers (22-34) played solid basketball for a half and change of their game against the one-dimensional Golden State Warriors and the result was a 24-point lead.  Then the Sixers resorted to their bad habits and as a result, they let the Golden State Warriors climb right back into this game before Louis Williams bailed out Philadunkia’s home team in the 4th quarter.  The Sixers made this W much harder on themselves then it needed to be, which is not ideal considering they play again tonight in Phoenix.

Just as we had asked them to do in our preview, the Sixers opened the game by working the ball into the post for buckets or to create open looks for their perimeter players.  Iguodala spent some time on the blocks posting up the smaller GSW defenders and the Sixers also ran smart fast breaks when the opportunity presented itself, which was often.  Rookie Jrue Holday did a nice job on Stehpen Curry, Andre Iguodala did a solid job on which ever of GSW’s three back court gunners he was asked to guard and the Sixers as a whole played solid team defense.  The Sixers even rebounded the ball well in the first quarter.  The result was a 37-26 lead after one quarter.

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This rainy Tuesday 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 run and gun Golden State Warriors.

After the 76ers solid win over San Antonio and then the debacle in Chicago that resulted in one of the worst Ls of the season, we’re not sure what to write about this game against Golden State.  One thing is for sure, tonight’s contest will set defense in the NBA back 30 years.  The Warriors are the worst defensive squad in the League, giving up an average of 110.7 points per night.  Of course our Sixers are not that solid on the defensive end either – 100.2 ppg. (14^th  in the NBA). Eddie Jordan is probably foaming at the mouth, anticipating the opportunity this game presents for him to flex his offensive genius and play a chess match with Don Nelson, another head coach who has little respect for the defensive end of the floor.  So hold on to your seats Philadunkia nation and get ready to see ridiculous lineups and substitutions with no regard for defense all night long.   

It’s so hard to build any real excitement about this game tonight as the Warriors are awful and the 76ers stink.  One thing we will be watching with some interest is how the Sixers backcourt players — Jrue Holiday, Louis Williams and hopefully Willie Green (GTD) — match up with the trio of lethal guards from the GSW.  One could argue that Stephen Curry (24.3 ppg. in his last 7), Monta Ellis (25.6 ppg. in his last 6) and CJ Watson (21.6 ppg. in his last 5) are three of the hottest back court players in the League right now, so the Sixers guards will have their hands full. 

To win this game the Sixers have to get the ball inside and we don’t mean a couple of times each half either.  We mean pound it inside all night where the Warriors are suspect on defense as bigs Andris Biedrins and Chris Hunter provide little resistance for opponents.  The winning formula for the Sixers is that simple – call Elton’s number on the blocks all night.  Get Sammy some touches as well.  Let Mo Speights get a few looks in the post.  We’d even run a bunch of iso post ups for Iguodala.  If Jordan attempts to match the Warriors fire power from outside and lets the tempo of teh game get too quick, the Sixers will suffer another L 

For a little more insight into the Warriors team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Rasheed Malek from warriorsworld.net  to answer two questions on Golden State from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this GSW squad from an insider’s perspective.   

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As we all know, yesterday Allen Iverson took another leave of absence from the 76ers to be with his ill four year old daughter Messiah.  We have no issues with Allen’s departure as nothing is more important the family, not even the game we love and that’s especially true when the family member of concern is a child.  Any fan, media member or basketball expert who has a problem with Iverson’s second hiatus of the season needs to have their head examined. 

If this is, as several NBA “insiders” such as Stephen A. Smith claim, the end of Iverson’s career in Philadelphia, then we’d like to take a moment to salute and thank Allen.  The little man with the huge heart brought some fun and smiles to Philadelphia during an NBA season that has otherwise been a complete and utter disaster.  

Obviously we hope that first and foremost his daughter gets well quickly.  We also hope that we see Allen back on the floor in a 76ers uniform very soon.  But just in case we never lay eyes on the sight of #3 clad in Sixers red, white and blue again, today we present our Top 5 favorite moments from Allen Iverson’s return to the 76ers.

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That’s right, all of us here at Philadunkia would like to wish Julius “Dr. J” Erving a very happy 60th birthday. 

For the record, in his 11 seasons in a 76ers uniform the good Doctor…

Totaled 18,364 points (22 ppg. average) and left in third place on the team’s all-time scoring list.

Racked up 5,601 rebounds to go with 3,224 assists and is the franchise’s all-time leader in blocked shots.

Was selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game in each of his 11 seasons and was chosen MVP of the All-Star Game on two occasions (1977, 1983).

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At the NBA trading deadline last week the 76ers were allegedly involved in numerous different trade talks.  One of the rumors that has been confirmed on multiple fronts is that Sixers GM Ed Stefanski declined to trade Andre Iguodala and Sammy Dalembert to the Houston Rockets for Tracy McGrady’s expiring contract and rookie Chase Budinger. 

We all know what McGrady’s expiring could have done for this franchise and it seems that Budinger may have been a decent addition as well.  We know it’s very early in his career, but recently Budinger has been seeing plenty of tick down in H-town and producing.  Over the last five games he is averaging 12 points to go along with 4 rebounds per run and last night Budinger pulled off this nifty little move against New Orleans… 

One of the things that will go down as a trademark of the 2009-10 season for the Philadelphia 76ers (21-34) is how wildly inconsistent this team has been all year.  We can provide no better example of the roller coaster ride we have taken with the Sixers this season then the back-to-back games from this weekend. 

First there was the Friday night thrashing of a very good San Antonio Spurs team down at the Wachovia Center.  Then on Saturday night the Sixers soiled the bed in Chicago during an embarrassing loss against an improving, but still very beatable Bulls team.

Here’s a look at the ying and the yang; the ups and the downs;  the terrific and the horrific of the Sixers efforts over the weekend against San Antonio and Chicago…

 
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This post trade deadline 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 San Antonio Spurs and Eva Longoria.

We’re going to keep this one brief as we are still disgruntled about the 76ers inability / refusal to pull off a blockbuster trade that cleared loads of cap space.  Thus we have no idea about the direction for the future of this franchise, are very down on the Sixers organization right now and don’t have the energy to preview this game. 

The Spurs have an advantage over the Sixers (20-33) in every facet of the game.  They’re better on paper.  They’re better on the court.  They’re better statistically in almost every category.  They’re playing better ball right now (winners of 2 straight).  They certainly have a significantly better head coach.  In short the Spurs should win this game tonight at the Wachovia Center without much of a problem.        

However we give the Sixers a long-shot chance in this game for two reasons.  The first reason is that in 2009-10 the Sixers have continually risen up and played their best ball against the NBA’s elite teams.  Against teams like the Lakers, Celtics, Nuggets, Cavaliers, Trailblazers and Mavericks; the Sixers have frequently either hung tough and lost a close game or even pulled off the occasional upset.  Since the Spurs still cling to elite team NBA status, we are expecting a Philly-max effort against the Spurs tonight from the Sixers, not the garbage we witnessed against the Heat earlier this week.

The Second reason we give the Sixers a long-shot chance at pulling off an upset tonight is that the Spurs are playing their sixth game of an eight game road trip.  Even though this away game stretch was broken up by the All-Star weekend, the Spurs have not run at home since January 31^st and played at Indiana on Wednesday night.  So they should be road weary and thus there is always the possibility for an upset.       

For a little more insight into the Spurs team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Graydon Gordian from 48minutesofhell.com to answer two questions on San Antonio from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Spurs squad from an insider’s perspective. 

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