Thad always plays with incredible heart and hustle.  If he doesn’t receive at least an A- nightly, something went terribly wrong.  Tonight, the prototypical small-ball PF was extremely efficient from the field and played great D on David West.  But he shouldn’t play 37 minutes at this point in the year, Doug.  Give some of that burn to Moultrie!

Evan put together a decent night of his own against a team that should have provided a tough match-up for him: lengthy and athletic perimeter players.  It’s a positive sign that he only shot the ball 11 times, but he should have converted more of them.

Wow.  After blanking a crucial layup in his last time out against the Heat, the big ole’ stiff comes out and delivers a near quadruple-double!  He even made contact on a few screens and rolled to the basket!  And, he embarrassed Roy Hibbert!  Wow.  Just, wow.

Jrue played like an all-star this evening.  And, of his 3 turnovers tonight, two came when he was arguably fouled in the 4th Quarter.  He could have shot a much better percentage overall, but he straight carried this team to a triumphant victory.

Damien Wilkins should not be playing 19 more minutes than Arnett Moultire and Charles Jenkins combined at this point in the season.  He shouldn’t.  ‘Nique’s nephew is shooting 43% from the field this year.  Why is he playing over two young guys who might actually be able to contribute to your rotation for the next five seasons?

You’re the man, Arnett! Keep fighting hard for rebounds!  Keep blocking shots!  Keep running the floor! Keep smiling on the bench like you’re not pissed about playing behind Damien Wilkins!  Maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll have a coach that recognizes your potential and how it would be very beneficial to give you some playing time.

Dorell Wright took the form of a quality wing perimeter player that he can be with regular minutes this evening.  Over the team’s last five games, Wright is playing 23.0 minutes and scoring 14.2 points per contest. Why couldn’t he have gotten to this consistent run earlier in the season?

Eh.  Lavoy is what he is.  16 minutes is a good number for him and 4 points and 3 rebounds is a solid contribution.  But he was just another face in the crowd, tonight.

Unfortunately for Charles, Collins refuses to acknowledge this guy is the second-leading scorer in Colonial Athletic Association history behind only David “The Admiral” Robinson.  Give this kid an opportunity to prove himself!

Again, only a few more games before Kwame Brown becomes, “Kwame Brown’s expiring contract” That’s worth some trade value, right?

It’s not his fault he’s really irrelevant at this point in the season for this particular team, right?

Who?

At least Swaggy looks swaggy on the bench.

DC did a good job of coaching tonight to win this game.  He played the hot hands, he left units in that went on big runs.  He even made key substitutions in a few situations.  However, he gave Moultrie and Jenkins 14 minutes, combined.  Their are 240 minutes to divide amongst a roster in an NBA game. They got 14. Come on, Doug!

Back-to-back double-doubles from Thad has a nice ring to it.  It’s especially impressive that it came on the 2nd night of a road, then home back-to-back set and that it was an efficient shooting night on a rough schedule.  His 4 straight points in the 4th Q were huge.

This was a much better night for “The Enigma”, but still far from great.  16 points on 18 FGAs is not an efficient night and 1-5 from deep is not good.  He also made several plays in the 4th Q, including a FT lane violation and an ill-advised jumper early in the shot clock, that made me cringe.  However, he had a decent 1st Q and the 3-pointer he buried in the 4th Q was clutch.  Plus the board he grabbed at :48 mark of the 4th was key to sealing the win.

I have said this numerous times over the 2012-13 season…It’s really a shame that Hawes is sooo bad defensively. Lopez absolutely killed Spencer last night, especially in the 1st Q (14 pts.) and that happens too often for me.  I don’t love his “soft” offensive game and some of his decisions, but when Spence decides he wants to play, there is no doubt he can score the ball.  Like in the 3rd Q when he went off for 10 points.  He also threw in a block during the 3rd Q.   If he could just give us 14 & 10 every night, this team would be a lot better.

It was obvious that Holiday chose to get others involved early on in this one and then picked his spots to score.  Hopefully this is the end of his shooting slump.  He did a great job on penetrating the Nets defense in the 4th Q.  FYI…including last night Jrue has attempted 8 or more FTs in a game only 4 times this season.

I tip my hat to Wilkins for his recent stretch of stellar play and the block he had on Lopez last night was tremendous.  However I ask you, “What good does it do the Sixers to give a 9 year veteran who likely won’t be on the roster next year 26 minutes in a lost season?”

A great dive to the rim by #5 in the early 2nd Q for a hoop earned him nothing in the minutes department.  Someone needs to have a talk with coach.

A very nice 2nd Q by Wright — 13 pts. & a charge drawn — helped the Sixers grab the lead in this one. So where was he for the rest of the game and where has Wright been for most of the season?

Given that I expected him to receive a DNP-CD last night, Allen played well in his limited run.

Jenkins took two awful 18+ foot jumpers in the 2nd Q.  I threw the remote after his second FGA and cried out for Pargo.

7 minutes well played.

Did he make it back from Florida?

Isn’t this the same guy who hung 28 on the Sixers earlier this year?  Didn’t he also score 12 points in his Sixers debut after only one practice session?  Yet DC can’t find a way to get this kid some minutes. You deserve better Mr. Pargo…

I’m sorry, I know the Sixers got the W last night and that’s great (sort of), but this season is over and Collins needs to get on board with playing the kids who could possibly be on this roster next year.  No offense to Ivey and Wilkins because they are playing well, but they need to take a seat.

He may be from Memphis, but man does Thad love Florida.  After hanging 25 on the Heat, Young recorded his 16th double-double of the season against ORL.  He was huge in the 3rd Q with 8 points. However it was the stretch in the 4th Q where he scored 4 straight pts. and then grabbed a steal that blew my mind.  I didn’t love the 20-footer he hoisted up with 1:37 left in the game, but that’s being very picky.

Turner’s run of awful play continues and thus he found himself on the bench during the clutch minutes of the 4th Q.

I had a hard time grading Hawes tonight.  He had a solid offensive game, but he still goes to the tin too softly for my tastes.  The play in the 3rd Q where he had a bunny blocked and then fell to the floor like someone shot him was an example of what I am talking about.  Also he got simply worked over by Vucevic on both ends.

I’m running out of patience with Jrue’s recent struggles.  He’s relying on the jumper too much.  To get out of this funk he has to get to rim for some easy hoops or trips to the FT line.  He really pressed in the 3rd Q tonight and it was not pretty.  I did love the dime he hit Thad with in the 4th Q that gave the Sixers the lead.  His steal and hoop to tie the score at 85 was also nice, but that’s about it.

I said after the Heat game that Wilkins getting the start was coming.  To his credit, he delivered with another great effort. I really like that he gets to the rim on the break and in the half-court.  Wilkins had great energy in the 3rd Q and scored 7 pts. in that Q.

Why does Collins insist on playing with this kid’s minutes?!?  Play him 25 a night and let Moultrie develop.

Isn’t this guys supposed to be a 3-point specialist?  Plus he missed 2 FTs.

A brief escape from the Do(u)ghouse did not go all that well for Lavoy.

Jenkins lost his the starting job he held for one night, but didn’t sulk.  His jumper in the 3rd Q was huge at the time, but in the end it turned out to be just an insignificant note in the box score.

Moving on…

I hope Kwame enjoyed spring break down in Florida.

It’s killing me that Collins is not playing Pargo.

I understand that Wilkins earned the right to start tonight, but that doesn’t help the future of this team. Neither does playing Moultrie only 15 minutes and slapping Pargo with a DNP-CD.  Sooner or later it’s going to sink in with Collins that he needs to play the young guys — right???  I did like that he benched Turner in the 4th Q.

Thad had the tough task of guarding either Josh Smith or Al Horford all game and was still able to score an efficient 16 points on 8-of-11 from the field and pull down six rebounds.  I don’t understand why Collins decided to give him just 26 minutes.  Maybe he was noticeably tired or his hammy was bothering him.

This was one of Turner’s worst games of the year.  He hit a jumper to cap off a Sixers 8-0 run to start the game (I’ll get to that after the jump) and then went on to miss his next six FG’s and completely disappear.  What happened to this guy?  He’s clearly given up on the Sixers, coach Collins, the fans and maybe even himself.

Hawes had a big third quarter which helped cut the Hawks’ lead to just three after they had led by as many as 19 before the end of the first half.  Hawes scored six points and pulled down six of his team-high 11 rebounds in the quarter as well.  Overall it was a decent effort from Hawes.  It could’ve been inspired by his uncle Steve Hawes, who played for the Hawks for seven seasons from 1976-1983.

This was yet another “Poison Ivey” effort from Royal.  He nearly fouled out of the game in 13 minutes, committing five fouls in that span on the court.  He’s simply been awful the past two games and for tanking purposes, maybe that’s a good thing?

“The Jruth” had a rough night shooting the ball and apparently took a slight beating physically in the game as well.  Jrue was seen with his wrist wrapped with ice in the locker room postgame and he admittedly rolled his ankle pretty badly towards the end of the first half.  Shooting 3-of-12 from the field is unacceptable, but it did seem like something was off all night in Jrue’s game.  Defensively he was also unable to contain Jeff Teague who had a career night, scoring 27 while dishing 11 assists.  The A+ is for playing hurt and going hard all game — that’s called leadership.  Bynum could learn something from Holiday.  Holiday had these comments in the locker room post game.

Yes!!! Maybe Doug Collins is starting to read this blog, rejoice!!  Other than sluggish defense on Anthony Tolliver all night, Moultrie continued to impress scoring eight points and more importantly grabbing seven rebounds in 27 minutes of tick.  He makes the Sixers exciting to watch when he’s on the court and he’s already dunked the ball with authority more times than Spencer Hawes, Lavoy Allen and Kwame Brown had all season.  Here’s some examples of Moultrie attacking the rim…

It wasn’t done efficiently, but 20 points and nine rebounds is a super performance from Wright. Wright hadn’t scored 20 in a game since the Sixers road win over the Memphis Grizzlies back on December 26th.  His nine rebounds also ties his season high.  Getting things done DWRIGHTWAY will hopefully get him further away from the Do(u)g house.

Jenkins went from receiving a DNP against Boston, to playing an absurd 29 minutes the very next game. Jenkins had seven points, two rebounds and two assists in his first 13 minutes of action, but the next 16 minutes were unnecessary.  I don’t know what Jenkins did to get on Collins’ good side, but his minutes from one game to the next were an example of classic Doug.

Really Doug? Why????  Ivey and Jenkins have no business receiving the minutes that should’ve been Pargo’s in the past two games.  Pargo is being underutilized and should start at the point guard spot for the Sixers while letting Jrue Holiday off-the-ball for open looks.  Pargo’s quick, he has size, he takes the ball strong to the tin and he has good passing instinct.

DAM-I-EN, DAM-I-EN, DAM-I-EN…The man was possessed against his Uncle Dominique’s former team. He hit for 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and even grabbed six boards and got to the FT line a couple times. In the past seven games he’s scored double-digits in three of them.  The last time he scored twenty in a game goes all the way back to a game against the Hawks in Atlanta as well on November 16, 2007 where he scored 41.  To state just how long ago that was, Damien Wilkins was a member of the Seattle Supersonics at the time…Someone on Twitter even suggested he should’ve done the Michael Jordan shoulder shrug after hitting a deep three to give him his 21st point in the 4th.  I couldn’t agree more.

It’s about time!!! Kick back and watch some Temple basketball in March Lavoy, because you have no reason to get any more playing time for the foreseeable future.  I’ve never seen a player as soft and mellow quite like yourself.  You broke the boring scale months ago.

In the last 28 Sixers games, Kwame Brown has played in just five.  Money well spent.

Overall Doug has his team competing again which is something to be proud of.  He’s also given more playing time to Moultrie and less to the likes of Hawes and Lavoy.  All good things.  Next he has to start Pargo and Wright at the point guard and small forward positions.  It’s the only way to make Evan Turner wake up right now.

IMO it was a quiet and interesting double-double for Thad. He played with his usual energy and intensity, but his scoring came in odd bursts. His 6 point run during the second half of the 3rd Q helped the Sixers claw back into this one, so that way key. However, if you look a the game closely you’ll see that another 6 of Thad’s point came after the 1:32 mark of the 4th Q when this game was already over.

Turner played a lot of PG last night and the result was…Too many 3PAs by ET…Too many FGAs by ET and not enough ball movement.  He did a nice job of getting into the lane for buckets or trips to the FT line.  Still, at the 4:50 mark of the 4th he threw up two wild shots and missed a lay-in and I chucked the remote across the room.

Let me say that Hawes played decently last night on the offensive end.  However KG simply owns this guy and it’s sad to watch.  In this game Spence caught and alley-oop and blocked one by BOS.  I have no stats to back this up, but a I believe that’s the first time Hawes has pulled off that combo.  My favorite play was when KG pinned (it was goal tending, but still) Spence’s shot from behind because Hawes decide to lay-in a bunny rather then slamming it home.

A third straight start for Ivey (Sixers are now 1-2 in those games) and now that he has some confidence, Ivey is hurting this team.  I know he has been hot from behind the arc this year, but seven 3PAs is too many for this career journeyman.  He also was not much help slowing down Bradley.

A wildly inconsistent night from Jrue.  He did a great job of getting to the rim, but didn’t score efficiently.  He handed out 10 dimes, but he turned the ball over too many times.  He has moments of great defense and lapses of simply awful defensive play.

12-12 from the field in his last 4 games and as a bonus, Moultrie is exciting to watch.

Wright has one job — hit open jumpers. Last night he did not do that for the Sixers

So Allen has had decent success guarding KG in the past, but he only gets 3 mins. of run vs. BOS.

Moving on…

Does anyone know what the Sixers record for DNP-CDs is in one season?

I liked that DC played Jrue off the ball for most of the time that Avery Bradley was in the game.  It was a smart way to get Jrue some easier looks.  I liked that he played Moultrie early, but the red hot Moultrie should have played even more.  KG kills Hawes.  Allen gives KG problems.  Yet Hawes played 28 ticks and Allen only 3.  That’s a head scratcher.  I also don’t like that he has buried Pargo.  I would like to have seen Pargo at the point with Holiday at the SG for stretches of this game.  Also why was Holiday on the bench for a large stretch to open the 4th Q?  Finally, DC has to come up with a solution for the Sixers terrible 3rd Q starts.  A quick 6-2 run by the C’s out of the half killed the 7-6 in this one.