Philadelphia 76ers

85

FinalRecap | Box Score

77

Minnesota Timberwolves

	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF 28 MIN | 4-9 FG | 4-5 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +6Embiid’s mentor got another start tonight and 6 points in the 1st Q helped produce a near double-double. Still he missed a couple jumpers in the 4th that nearly cost the 76ers the game.
	Nerlens Noel, PF 25 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | -2How does an athletic, 7-foot big man only grab 3 boards against one of the worst teams in the League? However, he did execute nicely on that pick-n-roll alley oop with MCW in final minute of the game.
	Henry Sims, C 25 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-3 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +5Sims was solid last night, but when he scored a quick 5 points in the 1st Q I thought he was in for a big night. He hit a key bucket in the late 4th Q, but other then that it was quiet night for #35.
	Michael Carter-Williams, PG 43 MIN | 9-20 FG | 2-7 FT | 9 REB | 9 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 6 TO | 20 PTS | +14A near triple double for #1, who by the way is averaging a triple double over his last 3 games — 20; 10;10. Honestly it’s too bad his stroke is broken because last night he had some easy looks from three and just gave away points at the FT line.  If he owned even just a decent jump shot he would have put up 30 last night.
	Hollis Thompson, SG 30 MIN | 1-6 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 3 PTS | -11Hey coach Brown…Are we done here yet?

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It’s time for another edition of Philadunkia’s 4on4…

As a reminder, this Philadunkia question and answer series is “loosely based” on ESPN.com’s highly successful, NBA related series of posts titled “5on5″.  Our version of this genre of posts will ask 4 Philadunkia scribes to answer 4 topical, hot button questions about our Philadelphia 76ers.

Now you’re probably asking, “Why not simply stick with the “5on5″ format that ESPN.com uses?” 

Well as any great hoops coach will tell you — playing 4on4 is the best way to truly learn the game of basketball.

After the jump, Philadunkia scribes Jeff McMenamin, Carey Smith, Michael Kaskey-Blomain and Tyler Cook will examine four key questions surrounding our winless, but developing 76ers.

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San Antonio Spurs

109

FinalRecap | Box Score

103

Philadelphia 76ers

	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF 22 MIN | 3-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -6Other than the fact that Luc shot the ball entirely too much last night — including a 2-8 1st half — I only have one note on Embiid’s mentor and that was a nice assist he had in the 3rd Q.
	Brandon Davies, PF 19 MIN | 3-7 FG | 2-3 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +3Outside of one ill-advised 3PA from the top of the arc, I thought Davies played solid basketball last night.  I still don’t want him on the roster next season, but last night he was tolerable.
	Henry Sims, C 25 MIN | 5-9 FG | 0-2 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | -10Sims played very good basketball last night, including a 3-ball in the early 3rd Q and another in the late 4th. The baseline, reverse lay-in he executed in the 4th Q was smooth and led to 7 points in the 4th Q.  However, when you get posterized by Marco Belinelli (who is 4 inches shoter than Sims) and end up in the #1 spot on SC’s Top 10 plays, I have to knock you down at least one grade
	Michael Carter-Williams, PG 35 MIN | 9-19 FG | 4-5 FT | 11 REB | 7 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 24 PTS | -11MCW started out the game by shooting 2-5 in the 1st Q, but a strong 2nd Q in which he scored 8 straight for the Sixers at one point helped produce a near triple double.
	Hollis Thompson, SG 29 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | +5Obviously I am not a fan of #31, who started again last night, did absolutely zip in the 1st Q and scored his only bucket of the 1st half right before the intermission.  Still, he did score 5 points in the 4th Q to help make this game interesting and overall he shot the ball decent;y, so I’ll give him a passing grade.

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In business, there is a concept called Fitness Landscape.  The concept is derived from evolutionary theory and it is accepted and exercised widely in the business world.

Here how it goes:  Imagine a system that we want to improved performance from.  The system can be a biological species, a business system, or for the sake of our conversation an NBA team such as the 76ers.  This system is located on a plain or a landscape that measures its performance.  Any time the performance improves the system goes up to reach a peak.  Anytime the performance drops, the system will go down into a valley.

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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 key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Brooklyn Nets who have lost 6 of their last 7 and are 2-5 on the road this season, but boast a roster filled with veteran NBA players (Garnett, Johnson, D-Will, Lopez) who have simply killed the Sixers over the years.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Nets team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague David Vertsberger at brooklynsfinestblog.com, as David will answer Fo’ questions on his Nets squad from us here at Philadunkia.

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Portland Trail Blazers

114

FinalRecap | Box Score

104

Philadelphia 76ers

	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF 25 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -9This is who Luc is and there is nothing wrong with that if your are a role player coming off the bench. But I need more from a starting PF and I probably won’t get that during Tank 2.0.
	Brandon Davies, PF 14 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +11Ugghhh. All you Davies fans have suddenly gone stone quiet.
	Henry Sims, C 34 MIN | 8-14 FG | 6-6 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 22 PTS | -1I believe last night was one of the best games I have seen from Sims.  #35 had a nice roll to the tin in the 2nd Q on which he scored the ball with a lefty lay-in.  The baseline J he knocked down in the 3rd Q was a thing of beauty.
	Michael Carter-Williams, PG 33 MIN | 10-24 FG | 4-5 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 24 PTS | -11Despite his nice scroing line, I did not like the way MCW played last night. The offense was stagnant when he was in the game as there were too many trips where MCW was the only player to touch the ball or where he shot the ball early in the shot clock.  There were several points in the game where MCW seemed hell bent on doing it all himself ( I can’t blame him.), but this team needs to move the ball to stay competitive.
	Tony Wroten, SG 38 MIN | 7-18 FG | 6-9 FT | 2 REB | 9 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 20 PTS | -12I saw so many things I liked last night from TWroe and so many things that made me scream in anger. He displayed great court vision last night; a nice ability to finish at the rim and got to the FT line (two AND1s by my count).  He also continues to chuck up ill advised 3’s, can’t gaurd the perimeter and that over the head, blind pass he threw (TO and hoop at other end) was ridiculous.

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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 key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Phoenix Suns who stand at 7-5; have won two straight and feature Eric Bledsoe who recently made some interesting comments on a potential 76ers vs. Kentucky Wildcats match-up.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Phoenix team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Kevin Zimmerman at valleyofthesuns.com, as Kevin will answer Fo’ questions on his Suns squad from us here at Philadunkia.

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Boston Celtics

101

FinalRecap | Box Score

90

Philadelphia 76ers

	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF 34 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-2 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 11 PTS | -3I don’t care that Luc shot nearly 50% from the field and did shoot 50% from three last night. There were numerous moments in the game that he caused me to slam the remote and declare “What the hell is that guy doing!?!?” My favorite one came with 2 mins. remaining in the game when he took teh ball to the hole during a 1-on-4 FB and got swatted by Brandon Bass.
	Nerlens Noel, PF 34 MIN | 5-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | -15Nerlens is obviously very raw on offense, but he did make a couple of nice dives to the hoop for buckets last night. He displayed a half-decent cross-over move last night as well. What was alarming to me last night was how bad his on-ball defense was throughout. It didn’t matter who he was guarding (Olynk; Sullinger; Bass) that Celtic simply got buckets whenever they wanted.
	Henry Sims, C 32 MIN | 6-12 FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 14 PTS | -3That’s three straight solid nights from Sims who appears to have found his jumper again and threw a beauty of a dime to Nerlens in a high to low post half court set.
	Michael Carter-Williams, PG 32 MIN | 4-13 FG | 2-2 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 11 PTS | -6MCW simply shoots too many jumpers for a guy with a broken stroke and what makes it even more frustrating is that he gets to the time whenever he wants.
	Hollis Thompson, SG 27 MIN | 1-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | -9Hollis plays solid on-ball defense for like 5 seconds each time his man has the ball. That’s the only thing positive I can say about #31 these days.

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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 key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Boston Celtics who despite playing some solid basketball so far this season have now lost three straight (3-6 overall) and are statistically are worse on defense than our 76ers.  Over their last 3 defeats the C’s are giving up 116 ppg. and on the season opponents are averaging 109 points per night.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game.  Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Boston team (23-52) the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Chuck McKenney at red’sarmy.com, as Chuck will answer Fo’ questions on his Celtics squad from us here at Philadunkia.

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Philadelphia 76ers

75

FinalRecap | Box Score

100

San Antonio Spurs

	Brandon Davies, PF 18 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -19BD threw up consecutive bricks in the 1st Q and his night did not get any better from there. Over his last 3 games, Davies is averaging 4 points and 4 rebounds per night.  I think it’s safe to say the BD lovefest is now over.
	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF 25 MIN | 4-10 FG | 3-4 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 13 PTS | -4A decent night for Joel Embiid’s babysitter began in the 1st Q with 4 quick points and a nice drive to the tin for a bucket.  But he didn’t score another FG untill the 11:37 mark of the 3rd Q and the inbound pass/TO he threw under the Sixers’ offensive hoop in the 2nd Q was horrific.
	Henry Sims, C 28 MIN | 3-6 FG | 3-4 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 9 PTS | -15A near double-double for Sims who IMO has played much better in his last two games and seems to have found his storke again — 9-14 in his last 2 games.
	Tony Wroten, SG 30 MIN | 4-14 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 8 PTS | -27The immature TWroe showed up last night as he launched one ill-advised shot after another and he posted 4 TOs against 3 dimes.
	Hollis Thompson, SG 26 MIN | 1-8 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -33First something positive on #31 — there were moments last night where I saw decent defensive fundamentals from him. However his shooting and especially the corner 3PA he put up in the 4th Q that hit the top of the backboard was disturbing. Again I say — enough of this experiment, it’s time for KJ to start.

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