Lavoy just struggles so badly to guard / hedge on the pick-n-roll that I can’t comment on anything else he did last night.

Another roller coaster game for ET.  He came out of the gate and threw up an ill-advised shot and had a bad TO.  For that DC gave him the quick hook. When he was sent back in during the 1st Q he committed 2 more TOs and went 1-3 from the field.  ET did rally in the 2nd half and had some solid drives to the tin.  However when he was at the point in the 3rd Q he failed on several pick-n-roll ops to hit Moultrie as dove to the rim .  Of course his driving lay up to get the 7-6 within 1 point during the closing seconds was very nice.  Anyone else have motion sickness?

If Spence could learn to provide any resistance at all on the defensive end, he could be a solid reserve in this League.  He simply carried the Sixers on offense during the 4th Q (10 pts.) and the Sixers needed that badly.  Still he doesn’t go to the bucket with authority and that soft finger roll he missed in the early 4th was just another example of that fact.

Jrue recorded yet another double-double last night, but some questionable shot selection in the 4th Q and a costly TO caused me to hit him with the “B”.  He did a nice job of finding Moultrie on the pick-n-roll and also took the ball to the basket frequently.  Two other things I noticed…Jrue can not get a foul call from the refs & Jrue will always have trouble guarding smaller-quicker guards (CP3, Jennings, etc.).  He’s 6-4 and nearly 200 lbs., so we’re going to have to live with the fact that some of the slighter point men in the League will give him fits.  Lastly, the dribble-drive, ball fake, lay-in move he made in the 2nd Q was fantastic.

Swaggy started out on fire as he was 4-4 on FGAs in the 1st Q and then thanks to fouls and DC’s quick hook, NY cooled off from there.  I really liked that he got to the FT line and made the freebies.

He needs to work on his FTs and I’d like to see him make a few more of his FGAs, but another solid night from Arnett.  It blows me away that in the 1st Q after two FGM on the pick-n-roll and a couple of boards that DC yanks him and he just sits on the bench for what seemed like an eternity

4 points in 7 ticks and 2-2 on FTs.  Not bad for a guy who is in the Do(u)g-house.

Pargo seemed a little off last night, but I like when he is playing point with Jrue on the floor.  I think more of that last night would have been a good move by DC.

The 3PA he hit in the late 3rd Q was huge for the Sixers, but other then that it was a quiet night for Ivey.  Ohh yeah until the final ticks…he needed to call a TO after the jump ball in the final seconds fell into his hands.  Turning the ball over there with a bad pass is simply a ridiculous mistake for a veteran.

5 mins…1 bucket…well done

Hey, did you hear the one about the big guy who sat around doing nothing and got paid $2 million?

I loved that he yanked ET early on, but I didn’t like that he pulled Swaggy in the 1st when he picked up his second foul.  Swaggy was on fire at that point and you have to let the guy play it out.  I continue to hate that he lets ET run the point for large stretches.  Moultrie deserved more minutes.  And I am starting to wonder why the Sixers can’t get a call — is it possibly a DC thing?

I know the Pacers lineup presents a number of match-up issues for Turner, but to be honest, I’m done here. Two words for you — trade him…

So he starts and plays respectable ball in the 1st Q against the very physical Pacers front line and then we don’t see him for the rest of the night.  What gives?

I like the 10 boards, but Spence’s flailing and whining last night drove me crazy.  It was obvious from the start that the refs were going to let them play last night. Instead of manning up and getting physical, Spence chose to continue playing soft and cry all night to the officiating crew.  My favorite Spence moment was when a bounce pass for Turner went through his hands, then through his legs and OB. His buzzer beater FGA at the end of the 3rd wasn’t pretty either.

Man was Jrue’s shot off in the 1st half last night.  He found his stroke in the 2nd half, but it was not enough to keep the Sixers in this game.  He did an solid job of driving th ball to the tin, but the 5 TO’s didn’t help much last night.

Last night was Swaggy’s first poor game since joining the starting line-up, so I’ll take it easy on him. Still, I would like to have seen him drive the ball to the cup a little more.

Lavoy has found the fountain of hoops and I hope he keeps drinking from it.  It also seems he has finally learned to cut / roll / dive to the basket for easy baskets.  However, I’m not sure I want him firing up 13 FGAs in every game.

Hey Doug…What’s My Name?!?…Say my name b*#@*…

In his first significant tick of the year, Moultrie did well for himself.  I was especially pleased with the way he cut / dove into the lane on offense and made himself available for easy hoops.  By my count he had 3 bunny slams in this game.

After a slow start (1-3 on 3PAs) this turned into a very solid all-around night for Wright who should start seeing a lot more burn with J-Rich done for the season.  Wright made the play of the night in the 2nd Q…after blocking Hansbrough’s shot at the defensive end, he went down the floor and threw a no-look alley-oop pass to Moultrie for a slam.

Just more evidence that the Sixers still need a viable back-up PG

According to Yahoo Sports, stick a fork in him…J-Rich is done for the year.

This team was not ready to go last night at all. He has to be held partially responsible for that item.  I also didn’t like that Wilkins saw no action last night vs. the very physical Pacers.  Finally, he gave 28 mins to Turner who was simply lost last night and that was obvious from the very start.

An outstanding night from Thad was capped with a huge 4th Q.  With the Sixers trailing by 1, Thad scored 6 straight to right the ship.  He also grabbed 6 boards in the Q which helped him tie a career high with 15.

ET is in a wicked funk right now and I am not sure what the answers are for Turner.  Watching him get abused by Tyreke Evans was awkward.

I like that Spence came out with an aggressive midnset in the 3rd Q and took the ball to the tin for 4 straight points.  However, I didn’t like that my 7-foot tall starting center grabbed only 1 rebound in 26 mins. and continues to launch 3PAs.

Obviously 8 TOs is not acceptable from you starting PG. So that needs to be corrected and it will be. But overall a solid game from “The Jruth”.  However, his overall night was solid.  Jrue’s spin move that led to a baseline jumper in the third was smooth.

All aboard the Swaggy P bandwagon.  I am more impressed with his ability to score off the bounce then anything else.  Still 1-5 from deep is not good for a starting NBA SG.  Nick is playing care free right now as with J-Rich out and Wright in the Do(u)g-house he knows DC has no other choice at SG.

The tongue lashing he received from Philadunkia earlier this week must have inspired Lavoy as he has played much better in the last two games.  Again all I am asking from Lavoy is 6-8 points and 10 rips a night.

So our reserve SF grabs 5 boards in 17 mins, but our starting center…I’d like to see DC get this guy 20+ minutes per game.

Mehhhh

At least Kwame will be well rested to battle Vucevic on Monday night.

I’m not sure how much DC is at fault for the Sixers blowing a 19-point lead, but he has to share in the blame.  I would also like to have seen more pick-n-roll action for Jrue last night to help him shake off Tyreke Evans who gave Holiday some issues last night.

That’s three near double-doubles in the last week, but Allen (like the rest of the Sixers bigs) doesn’t play physical enough and he got eaten alive by Scola and Gortat.  When he cut the PHX lead to 60-59 on a 19-footer with 6:34 left in 3rd Q, I thought Sixers would pull this one out, but they simply could not get that next basket.

Last night I couldn’t decide overall whether or not Turner was forcing things too much or was simply unlucky.  He got a lot of clean/close/good looks and just could not get the ball to drop.  That’s unlucky in my opinion.  However I could be convinced that he was dropping his head too frequently last night and did a mediocre job of finding teammates.

A triple-double is amazing, but take a closer look at the stats and you’ll see why Holiday did not get an “A”.  He scored 16 points on an inefficient 16 FGAs (6-16 = 37.5%) and turned the ball over 6 times. And while his late 4th Q defense was outstanding, during most of the game, the tenacious Dragic made Jrue look slow and uninterested.

Uggghhh…He’s only a starter because of DC’s respect for his veteran leadership.

A solid outing from Wright who seems to have rediscovered his scoring touch after taking the night off vs. GSW a couple games ago.  The alley-oop he caught from Jrue that cut the lead to 87-85 with 2 mins. remaining was a thing of beauty.  He also hit a huge 3-pointer in the late 3rd Q.

Just a terrible shooting night by Spence.  When you’re a big that doesn’t rebound well or play solid defense, you have to provide some scoring punch and Spence failed to do that last night.

Irrelevant.

This is exactly the role I want to see NY cast in by DC.  One or two less running leaners and he would have gotten an A+ from me.

Did anyone else catch Kwame dancing to Gangnam Style??  That about sums up his time here in Philly.

DC should not have waited until the 4 min mark of the 3rd to get Wright back into the game.  Also why the hell is Holiday on the bench for so long in the 4th.  I can’t believe I am saying this, why did Kwame get no burn last night?  DC claims he is the Sixers “physical” big man yet did not see fit to put him in the game as the PHX bangers were knocking our guys all over the place.  Finally, playing a short bench vs. LAL came back to haunt us last night in the 2nd game of the notorious road B2B.

Honestly I don’t know what to think about this kid’s play anymore.  One minute his play is stellar play — 5 straight points and 10 overall in 1st Q — and the next minute you want to bench the kid — in the 4th Q he had a stretch where he missed an ill-advised FG; then had a TO; next he air balled a 3PA and followed that up by dribbling the shot clock out.  I’ll have more in depth thoughts on Turner after the jump.

After a slow start (0-5 on FGAs), Thad recovered to have a decent game.  His solid 3rd Q kept the Sixers in this game.  However he had significant trouble on the defensive end of the floor vs. DAL.

Again, I am grading this on “The Kwame Curve”, so 7 rebs in 19 minutes is just a sick outing for this guy.  Still the smooth dime from Wayns that he blew in the 2nd Q drove me crazy and Kaman abused him.

Sooner or later J-Rich going to find his stroke, right?  It amazes me how hard it is for career jump shooters to score when they have to create their own shots like Jason is being forced to do this year. Still he hits two shot clock buzzer beaters that bailed the 7-6 out and he provided some defensive presence on Mayo in the 2nd half, so not a terrible night.

He had a 4-point play and scored 6 straight in the 1st Q…That’s about all he did last night.  His defensive effort on Mayo was pathetic

Not sure what he has done wrong, to apparently end up in the Do(u)g-house, but the Sixers could have used him on the floor last night.

This is the D-Wright I was looking for when we acquired this guy.  I even thought he did a decent job of taking the ball to the cup last night.  He kept the Sixers in this game all by himself in the late 4th Q and if we can get efforts like this more frequently from Wright, this team could do some damage when Holiday gets back.

A very solid night from Spencer.  I love that he got to the FT line 8 times and knocked all of those freebies down.  His 10 straight in the 4th kept the Sixers alive in this one.  However his help defense on Mayo (Blew by Hawes 2x) and his man-to-man on Kaman in the final minutes was brutal.

I realize that his shooting last night was atrocious and that can not continue, but I thought the Sixers offense flowed much better with Wayns at the PG (more on this later).  His behind the back dime to Allen in the 2nd Q capped off a 9-2 run.  And when DC put him at the point with 3:55 in the game, he (w/ a lot of help from Wright) pushed the Sixers to make this game entertaining down the stretch.

Mehhh

I would like to have seen DC give Wilkins a chance to guard Mayo for a longer stretch.

Please come back soon!!