Philadelphia 76ers

93

FinalRecap | Box Score

99

New York Knicks

	Thaddeus Young, SF 36 MIN | 5-12 FG | 1-3 FT | 10 REB | 1 AST | 4 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 11 PTS | +11 It was absolutely refreshing to see Thad back out their on the court tonight. Considering he played 36 minutes after missing the last six games and hadn’t appeared since February 4, you can live with the 5-of-12 shooting.  Especially when the team was +11 with him on the court and he pulled down 10 boards.
	Evan Turner, SF 41 MIN | 7-18 FG | 7-7 FT | 6 REB | 8 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 21 PTS | 0 This was a very tough game to evaluate from Evan.  A 21-8-6 is very impressive stat-line from him on the surface. He also drove to the cup with a purpose, hitting 7-of-7 from the line.  However, his tech at the end of the first quarter was devastating and he shot 7-of-18 from the field.  High risk high reward.
	Spencer Hawes, C 29 MIN | 3-11 FG | 4-4 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | -7 It’s absolutely bewildering Hawes almost finished this game with a double-double.  He played arguably his worst half of basketball in a Sixers uniform tonight in the first half.  If only the Sixers had a big above 6’10″ who could take it to the rim with authority…(Or if only Doug Collins would let Moultrie play)
	Jrue Holiday, PG 44 MIN | 12-24 FG | 3-4 FT | 5 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 30 PTS | +9 Jrue played very well tonight. 30 points on 50 percent shooting from the field is a job well done.  He also made the game interesting when he led the Sixers push to make it somewhat of a contest in the waning minutes of the fourth Quarter.  Unfortunately for Jrue, it was too little too late.
	Nick Young, SG 17 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -2 Wait… Nick Young played in this game?
	Lavoy Allen, PF 22 MIN | 5-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | -4 Thad’s return to action and Jrue’s high scoring night definitely overshadowed how efficient Lavoy was and how soft a touch he had around the hoop.  It didn’t show up in the stats, but the Temple grad also had some nice interior passes which setup Spencer and Thad for the charity stripe.
	Dorell Wright, SF 14 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -22 When Wright goes into each game not knowing if he’ll play 28 minutes or register a coach’s decision DNP, it’s kind of hard to realistically expect any relative production out of him.  He’s arguably been the most misused player on this roster besides Arnett Moultrie.
	Jeremy Pargo, PG 31 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 7 PTS | -5 Pargo played some nice basketball in his 31 minutes of play, but an NBA team can’t really expect to win when he receives that many minutes and when he’s an intricate part of your crunch time lineup. It’s intriguing when he plays with Jrue, but not overly dynamic.
	Damien Wilkins, SG 8 MIN | 1-2 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -10 Meh. Wilkins produced on the offensive end of the floor in his time tonight, but he’s supposed to be a defensive stopper and didn’t really do any of that in this game against Amare.  Oh, and why was he playing at PF?
	Arnett Moultrie, PF DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | Tonight. Moultrie gets an A+++++.  How is this guy not playing at all?  How is Damien Wilkins eight minutes better at the PF position than Moultire?  How is he not playing if this organization ranked him in the Top 10 of last June’s draft class?  This is criminal.
	Kwame Brown, C DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | Only 28 games remaining until Kwame Brown becomes “Kwame Brown’s expiring contract” as well as Spencer Hawes.  That would hopefully get interesting in the offseason, but who are we kidding with this front office?
	Charles Jenkins, PG DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | Charles Jenkins is second all-time in scoring in the Colonial Athletic Association behind only David “The Admiral” Robinson.  But, he’s behind Jrue, Evan, Pargo, and most likely Royal Ivey in the rotation. DiLeo said they will evaluate him down the stretch, but not if he doesn’t play.
	Royal Ivey, PG DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | I wonder how Ivey feels whenever Jeremy Pargo makes a shot.  Does he cheer, or curse under his breath? Or, does he cheer while thinking of ways to give him food poisoning before the team’s next game?
	Doug Collins On Twitter tonight, people were debating if Collins has started tanking.  That’s not really in his system. What else isn’t in his system?  Using smart defensive units, playing potential-filled rookies and designing an offense that has some form of motion.  Maybe if he wore a tie things would get better?

After the Jump, Six Things We Saw Last Night

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After last night’s loss in Minnesota and DC’s post game comments, the 2012-2013 season is nearly a wrap for the 76ers.  To be honest, outside of Jrue Holiday’s All-Star campaign, this year has been a highly disappointing one for the 7-6. 

That disappointment will continue today as it’s very unlikely that the 76ers are major players at the trade deadline.  Toni Dileo squashed any sliver of hope we had left when he came out and said, “we don’t plan on making any moves”. 

Why any NBA front office person would make that statement and show his poker hand just before the trade deadline is a mystery to us here at Philadunkia, but that’s another post for another time.

After the jump, Philadunkia scribes Jake Fischer and Steve Toll each propose three deals that the Sixers should make today because the trades potentially make sense for the future of this franchise.  

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Putting aside Andrew Bynum’s interesting hair style choice for a second, let’s take a deeper look at the comments he made to the mainstream media regarding the latest setback (I guess that’s still the proper term.) with his knees.  While we review Bynum’s words, let’s also remember a short-lived article posted back in November that had an interesting prediction for those same knees.

In short, on Tuesday Bynum pushed back the timetable for his Sixers debut yet again, by stating that he could begin practicing with the team in “a week, could be two” and is “a couple weeks out” from going live against defenders.  He then followed those gems with this comment, “I’ll definitely be back sometime this year,”  

That last comment is interesting to me because Bynum has an appointment today with yet another doctor – Dr. Glashow.  Glashow as you may recall just happens to be the same doctor who recently determined Jason Richardson’s nagging knee needed season-ending surgery.  Glashow then performed that operation earlier this week.

“He said he has some new software or something that can show what’s going on,” Bynum said about Glashow. “I’m waiting to see what he says.”

Ohh boy.  Does anyone else see where this is headed?

If it is determined today that Bynum does in fact need surgery, it would be ironic as surgey is something that Jason Wolf of delawareonline.com wrote  back in November could be in store for Bynum’s knees after he spoke with an “internationally respected orthopedic surgeon”. 

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On Monday night, the 76ers were beaten by the Los Angeles Clippers in nearly every statistical category recorded for the game of basketball.  Considering they lost to a team nicknamed, “Lob City”, you would think a defining storyline to discuss two days after a 107-90 dismantling would be points in the paint, rebounding and/or fast break buckets.

Even though the Sixers did lose all of those statistical battles vs. the LAC, to me what stuck out more in that contest was the polar opposite impacts each team’s bench had on the game.  At one point in the blowout affair, the Clippers bench combined for 19-straight points in the first half as they tallied 41 points overall in the game.  Meanwhile DC’s second unit contributed virtually nothing until the game was well out of reach.

On the season overall, the Clippers have utilized their talented and plentiful bench to secure numerous victories.  The depth and versatility of LAC’s reserves allows coach Vinny Del Negro to run five bench players on the court at several points in each game without much of a drop-off  – 40.4 ppg. (2^nd in the NBA).

The Sixers, on the other hand, have been the recipients of close to zero production from their bench this entire season – 25^th in the League with 27.6 ppg.  Prior to their garbage time induced 32 point outburst against the Clippers, the Sixers bench had been simply brutal in its last seven games.  Over that stretch, Collins had received the following point totals from his non-starters — 15, 33, 19, 7, 21, 11 and 8. 

If you’re keeping track at home those numbers produce an average of 16.2 ppg. over the seven game span.

That’s simply disturbing.   

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83 minutes. 

The Sixers are 45 games in to the 2012-13 season and that’s how much tick rookie Arnett Moultrie has received this year.

And now with Sixers all-everything forward Thaddeus Young sidelined for the next three weeks (at least 8 games) because of a strained hamstring, the little used Moultrie (15 GP) will be expected to make a positive contribution to this team and help keep the 7-6 within arm’s reach of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  

If the 6-10 rebounding machine from Mississippi State seems rusty at first or heaven forbid fails overall to make a contribution to the Sixers efforts during this upcoming Thad-less stretch, Doug Collins has no one to blame but the man in the mirror.  We all know that DC has a stubborn attitude towards playing rookies and this maybe the year it finally come back to haunt him.

After the jump, I’ll show you some disturbing stats which indicate that with regards to Moultrie this year DC has taken his rookie issues to new heights and as a result DC has put the Sixers in a precarious situation while Thad is sidelined.

 
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Orlando Magic

61

FinalRecap | Box Score

78

Philadelphia 76ers

	Thaddeus Young, SF 15 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +10The Sixers are in BIG, BIG trouble.  The score doesn’t explain the biggest storyline which happened in this game. Everything started off well last night.  Thad was off to a nice game with six points and five boards in just 15 minutes.  But, early in the 2nd quarter when diving for a loose ball, Thad seemed to have pulled his hamstring badly.  He was writhing in pain and had to be taken to the locker room by trainers and teammate Kwame Brown.  He didn’t return to the game and coach Doug Collins said postgame that, “[Thad] is going to be out a while.”  Just when it seemed like things were finally going well for this team, the Sixers just lost arguably their most valuable player for an unknown period of time. More on this after the jump.
	Evan Turner, SF 32 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | +16Didn’t see much of anything from Turner in this game. He’s been playing really quiet lately. He’s averaged just six points, six rebounds and five assists a game in the last three games. Since he was doing everything besides scoring well in this game, I won’t be too hard on him. However, it’s the typical Turner disappearing act. Who knows when he’ll suddenly have a 27 point, seven assist effort next like he did against the Memphis Grizzlies a little over a week ago.
	Spencer Hawes, C 37 MIN | 9-17 FG | 2-3 FT | 14 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | +20Spencer was the man in this game.  He played inspired basketball after Thaddeus Young exited the game with his left hamstring injury.  21 points, 14 rebounds, a big-time throwdown and even a three. You can tell that Hawes is playing with confidence in the starting role.  It was just his 7th double-double of the season.
	Jrue Holiday, PG 41 MIN | 6-15 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 14 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | +18Jrue didn’t shoot very well, but was his typical floor general self.  13 points and 14 assists is good enough for me.  The best stat was just one turnover!
	Nick Young, SG 36 MIN | 7-15 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 4 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 15 PTS | +19Swaggy had it going on in the first quarter.  He was 5-of-7 for 10 points with one of the top plays of the year, his “P60″ jam (video below).  He disappeared the rest of the game however, besides some surprising defense. Since Swaggy’s been inserted into the starting lineup, he’s averaged 17 points per game and the Sixers are 4-1.  Efficient or not, he seems to be the scoring punch the Sixers were missing all season.
	Lavoy Allen, PF 30 MIN | 5-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | -1Finally…Lavoy HAS COME BACK to Philadelphia.  Lavoy has put together a decent stretch in the Sixers’ past three home games and I was especially surprised by his 2nd quarter swat a little after Thad had left the game with his injury.  Maybe there’s hope left after all.
	Arnett Moultrie, PF 12 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | +3Arnett Moultrie played 12 minutes.  Rejoice! In his first real tick of the season (and most of his career) Arnett didn’t play too bad. He showed his range on a jumper and grabbed a couple boards.  With Thad out for what seems will be for close to a month, this man deserves the chance to prove himself with more minutes.
	Dorell Wright, SF 6 MIN | 0-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | -3I was thinking to myself when Dorell entered the game in the 2nd, that it had looked as if he’d put on some weight since the start of the season.  He didn’t do anything in this game but brick city in just six minutes and quickly found his way back to the Do(u)g House.  Don’t expect him to return to form anytime soon, his confidence is shot big time.
	Royal Ivey, PG 20 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | -5He played 20 minutes?  Where was I?
	Damien Wilkins, SG 9 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | +7All I know is his fade-away shot at the FT line and bricked three on back-to-back possessions in the 3rd made me want to puke.  Damien, please don’t do that to me again.
	Kwame Brown, C DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | His best assist of the season was helping Thaddeus into the locker room after his injury.  Forreal.
	Jason Richardson, SG DNP LEFT KNEE INJURY MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | It looks like his knee could be a real issue.  He’s now out indefinitely.  Not good at all.
	Doug CollinsNothing to say here.  It looked like a high school game not an NBA game.  The Sixers won by 17 but in an ugly fashion.  Doug didn’t really do much out of the ordinary except for giving Arnett Moultrie extended minutes.  I’ll tip my hat to that.  Another way to look at it, is as one big slap in the face to the Magic’s Nikola Vucevic who rode the pine last season on the Sixers about as much as Moultrie has this season. Vucevic led the Magic in rebounding for the game with 14…Sigh.

After the Jump, Six Things We Saw…

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At the Orlando Sentinel, John Robbins talks with Nik Vucevic about playing his former team tonight.

2012 Sixer draft pick Maurice Harkless had 19 points, 14 boards and 4 steals on Saturday night for the Magic.  It seems some advice from Arron Afflalo is the reason behind Mo’s recent success. 

John Finger at csnphilly.com looks at “Big Nik’s” surprising year  in ORL which he categorizes as the “biggest surprise in the NBA this season.”  FYI…Vucevic is averaging 15.8 points and 12.8 boards over the last six games.

NBA.com has a preview of tonight’s Magic at 76ers game.  FYI…The Magic have lost 9 in a row, but hold a 3-game winning streak vs. our 7-6.

On Saturday TMZ.com had a great post on an Atlanta judge that called Allen Iverson, “the worst parent ever” during Iverson’s divorce proceedings. 

Iverson’s former 76er teammate Dikembe Mutombo had a better weekend.  Mutombo was featured in one of the few solid Super Bowl commercials last night. 

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Jrue is an All-Star and Thad has been the best player on the team.  It’s clear as night and day, but that doesn’t make it right.  Fans of mine know that I don’t think very highly of the average NBA coach and GM.  For that reason, this post has nothing to do with Jrue being selected as an All-Star. 

Holiday seems like a hard working, nice kid with a good deal of talent, and if he was my best friend, I’d still say the same things to him about my thoughts on his place in the NBA pecking order. 

However, the post for that topic is not this one.  No, this one is about Jrue and Thad. 

Who has been the better player this year, and who is more important to the team’s success?

After the jump, I present the numbers for the entire season. 

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