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.

Yes he could have grabbed a few more rebounds, but overall another tremendous performance for Thad.  His loose ball, dive on the floor steal in the late 2nd Q was just another example of how important his energy and hustle are to this team.

The slump continues for “The Enigma”…Turner is now 15-52 (28%) in his last 4 games.

A very respectable effort from Hawes and his new haircut last night. He got off to a quick start by scoring 8 in the 1st Q.  That led to 13 & 7 in the 1st half and a double-double on the night.  However, outside of an ill-advised 3PA in the 3rd Q Hawes was invisible in the 2nd half of this game. That can’t happen if you are going to win on the road, especially in Miami.

Jrue’s shooting woes continue, but I have to say that he did a nice job of not forcing things last night.  A lot of primary options would have hoisted up 20 FGAs trying to shoot their way out of the slump. Instead he got others involved and picked his spots to get shots.  His 5 points were key to the run the 7-6 made in the early 3rd.  Still he’s got to get his stroke going again.

Outside of one filthy crossover and hoop in the 3rd Q he did not capitalize on his first start.

Moultrie did a nice job of keeping the ball alive on the O-glass on several trips.  He also may be the only Sixer who actually boxes his guy out when the ball goes up.  However, he is still struggling on the defensive end and the play where lost “Birdman” on pick-and-roll that turned into a reverse alley-oop was embarrassing.

Wright’s offense was a key part of the Sixers ability to stay in this game, but it came in one quick flurry.  He had a tip-in and two 3PM (9 straight points overall) at the end of the 3rd Q which was exciting to watch, but where was he the rest of the game?

Offensively, Ivey did all I can ask of him.  However, it was mentioned in the TV broadcast that the reason he didn’t start was because Collins wanted Ivey to guard Ray Allen.  That didn’t work out so well…Allen scored 5 straight at the end of the 1st Q and 12 overall on 5-8 shooting.

Wilkins stretch of solid play continues.  Although I would like to have seen him challenge Ray Allen a little better on that FB dunk Allen threw down.  So the question for me is at what point does Collins start this guy?

It’s official, Lavoy has entered the Do(u)ghouse.

At least he got to work on his tan down in South Beach.

What has Pargo done wrong that Charles Jenkins is getting the start over him?

I liked that the Sixers got off to a fast start in this one.  I also liked the effort and tenacity the team showed all night.  Collins deserves some credit for those items.  I did not like that he started Jenkins over Pargo.  I also didn’t like that Moultrie saw only 15 mins. of burn.  And having Holiday on the bench during the start of the 4th Q in this game was simply stupid (IMO).

Thad had his hands full with Anderson Varejao and was invisible for most of the night.  Next to Detroit, his worst performance so far.

Wow. Just a superlative performance by ET.  His shot was falling early (he was 5-of-7 at the half ), and as it often does, it galvanized him.  He chipped in six rebounds (all in the second half) and a career high nine-assists.

“Kwame Brown is just a big body” I think I remember Mark Zumoff tossing off at some point.  That was the best you could say about him tonight.

From the first quarter onward, Jrue scored 11 points with six assists against a single turnover and held Kyrie Irving to two points on 1-of-8 shooting.  He was, obviously, tremendous defensively. His strip of Kyrie with 1:50 left was the icing on the cake.

Another very good, very balanced performance by the guy who’s been, so far, the best piece the Sixers landed in the Iguodala trade.  Feels like it’s been ages since the Sixers had a consistent veteran perimeter threat, doesn’t it?

After a pair of encouraging performances against the Pistons and Jazz (24 points and 14 rebounds in total) LA returned to form against the Cavs.

After an occasionally terrific start to the season (better than advertised defensively; intermittently explosive on O) Wright seems to have found his way back into Doug Collins’ doghouse.  He’s played just 17 minutes combined the last two games after never playing fewer than 20 in the first eight. Someone please explain this to me.

Spence was an assassin down the stretch on Sunday, scoring nine points in the fourth quarter with a pair of blocked shots and a 3-pointer for good measure.  Each time the Cavs threatened, he did something improbable and helpful.

Everyone’s least favorite backup point guard scored just a bucket, but it was a big one.  With the Cavs charging early in the fourth he scored a layup off an Evan Turner assist to push the Sixer lead back to seven.

It was falling tonight.  Swaggy was in the midst of his best performance of the season until what’s been reported as a “dizzy” spell took him from the game.  He scored ten of his 13 in 11 very good first half minutes.