Today’s 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 upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent, the team the 76ers just defeated on Saturday night, the three-point shooting, defensively challenged Indiana Pacers. 

The 76ers and their new first-five should handle the Indiana Pacers again tonight and thus establish their first 3-game winning streak of the season.  However, even if the Sixers win tonight, we’re still not going to become believers in this team. 

The W over the Mavs on Friday night at first glance was impressive, but if you look deeper at that win, you’ll see that Dallas was road weary (4th game of a 5 game road trip), shot horribly — 39% on FGA and 20% on 3PA and got nothing from all-world forward Dirk Diggler (4-13 from the field).  So the Sixers caught a very good Mavs team on a completely off night.  In Saturday’s  win at Indiana, the Sixers played well, but defeated a horrible team in the Pacers that had an especially bad night (21 TOs that led to 27 points), even by the Pacers low standards.  So it’s going to take more then a second consecutive W over the lowly Pacers to convince us that the Sixers have righted the ship for the 2009-10 season.

For a little more insight into the Pacers team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Jared Wade from  EightPointsNineSeconds.com to answer two questions on the Pacers from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Indiana squad from an insider’s perspective. 

Continue Reading

One of the most frequent comments we’ve been hearing around the NBA about our Sixers this year is that they are a better team then their record. It is one thing that I don’t doubt about the team, but due to their lack of defense and killer instinct all year I had a hard time buying into this sentiment.

Last night however, the Sixers were a different team. They were a team that was seen only one other time this year in a road victory against the Portland Trailblazers. The Sixers beat the Dallas Mavericks 92-81 in a straight up rout which improved their record to (14-28) and dropped the Mavericks to (28-15).

Continue Reading

This Friday afternoon 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 upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent, annual Western Conference title contender, the deep and talented Dallas Mavericks.

This is going to be a nearly impossible game for the 76ers to win.  The Mavs are a very good offensive team with an arsenal of weapons and as we all know the Sixers are defensively challenged, which is putting it kindly.  The Mavs are also better on defense then most casual NBA fans seem to know, which doesn’t hold well for a Sixers team that often struggles to shoot the ball accurately  The Sixers only chance in this game comes with the idea that for the Mavs this is their fourth contest in a five-game road trip and fatigue may have set in.  Going back to Sunday January 17^th, the Mavs lost at Toronto, won at Boston on Monday and then won at Washington on Wednesday night, so there is an outside possibility that Dallas is road weary and the Sixers could steal one tonight.  However we see it as a remote chance at best.     

For a little more insight into the Mavs team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Rob Mahoney from thetwomangame.com to answer two questions on the Mavs from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Dallas squad from an insider’s perspective.

Continue Reading

The 76ers are now 13-28 at the halfway pole of the 2009-10 season and after last night’s uninspired performance against the Portland Trailblazers, we here at Philadunkia have officially raised the white flag on this season for the Sixers. 

There will be no turn around, no winning streak that has the Sixers climbing the standings and no push for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoff race.  Nope, not this year and certainly not with this group.  They don’t have the heart or the X&O’s required for such a drastic revival. 

Last night we finally conceded that a turn around will not happen in 2009-10 because after their embarrassing loss in Minnesota on Monday, arguably the worst L of the season, the Sixers should have come out inspired, hyped, jacked up, looking for blood; then gone out and shut down Andre Miller and handled their business vs. the Blazers.  Whatever you want to call it, the Sixers didn’t have it last night and even after Blazers phenom Brandon Roy left the game with an injury, Philadunkia’s home team still couldn’t find it.  The result was a 98-90 “so many missed opportunities” loss.

The best part of it all (sarcastic overtones here), was that Andre Miller absolutely worked the Sixers last night and in the process kicked some dirt in Ed Stefanki’s face.

Continue Reading

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 upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent down at the Wachovia Center, our man Andre Miller  and his Portland TrailBlazers. 

Believe it or not, we expect the 76ers to win this game tonight.  Yes we know Vegas has installed the Sixers as a two point dog at home.  And yes we know that Portland (25-17) is a very talented team that is currently holding on to 5^th place in the brutally tough Western Conference.  And yes we can see that Portland presents serious match-up problems for our home team.  And yes we realize that the Blazers have already beaten the Lakers and Magic this month.  And of course we also remember that the Sixers are coming off arguably their worst effort of the season in Minnesota on Monday.  And yes we’re absolutely aware that Eddie Jordan is still our head coach.

Continue Reading

He scored over 1,600 points at LaSalle, is a member of the Big 5 Hall of Fame, earned an MBA from The Wharton School and is married to a former Eagles cheerleader.  Basically ESPN analyst Tim Legler is almost as Philadunkia as Dr. J, Allen Iverson and The Spectrum. 

As a bonus, he still lives in the Philadelphia area, attends numerous Sixers games each year and is actually somewhat of a 76ers fan, so he keeps a keen eye focused on our home team.  Recently Legler gave me some time via the phone to discuss the 2009-10 Sixers and he was very open about his views on why the Sixers have struggled so badly this season.

Continue Reading

Was the 76ers (13-27) MLK Day matinee loss in Minnesota yesterday the worst L of the season for Philadunkia’s home team?  Possibly. 

For 76er fans, was Monday’s embarrassing loss to the 8-33 Timberwolves the most depressing defeat of the 2009-10 season?  Absolutely!  That’s especially true if you bought into the recent hype coming from the Wachovia Center and the local “main-stream” scribes that cover the team regarding the Sixers and how they had turned the season around with their recent three-out-of-the-last-four winning streak.

But we didn’t believe the hype.  The demons that the 76ers organization and the writers who cover the team wanted you to believe were in the past reared their ugly heads again yesterday in Minnesota and the result was a devastating step backwards for a Sixers team that can not afford this type of set back.

Here’s a look at the Sixer ills which resurfaced again yesterday and will continue to occur until a coaching change is made. 

Continue Reading

As the 2009-10 season approaches the halfway mark, the Sixers are sitting soundly in second-to-last place in the Eastern Conference.  Only the white flag bearing, Lebron James scheming New Jersey Nets are worse off then the Sixers so far this year.  It’s a position that to most NBA experts and fans certainly indicates something isn’t clicking and should signify the need for change.  However, the only item more curious than the lack of a coaching change in Philadelphia and the consistent laid-back, often smug demeanor of a coach who should be sitting squarely on the proverbial hot seat, is the player rotations (or lack thereof) that Coach Eddie Jordan employs.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to when or how often particular players get minutes, and if I was told that Jordan picks his fourth quarter lineups out of a hat, sadly, I would not be surprised. 

Continue Reading

What do you get when two of the most offensive minded teams in the NBA get together and both teams don’t shoot well for most of the night, one of the teams plays a zone defense for ¾ of the game and the other team scores 25 fast break points? 

 The answer: You get one of the most unwatchable NBA contests in recent memory.

 Unfortunately, the Knicks and their zone defense somehow managed to outplay the Sixers (12-26) down the stretch of this ugly contest and win a game that probably had Dr. Naismith rolling over in his grave.

It’s tough to decide which had a bigger role in the 76ers loss last night — the New York Knicks zone defense or the questionable lineup decisions Sixers Head Coach Eddie Jordan made in the 4th quarter, so we’ll examine both factors.  

Continue Reading

After the 76ers defeated the hottest team in the NBA last night, the New Orleans Hornets, that’s the question floating around the Philadunkia offices this morning. 

Our bewilderment is not all about last night’s W either.  Don’t get us wrong the win was awesome because it was much needed and came against a solid team like the NOH, but for us our headline question is more about how the Sixers got the victory.  You see for the second straight game (both Ws) Eddie Jordan did a complete 180 on his offensive minded coaching style and made moves that contradict everything he has said and done during the 2009-10 season.  Now we want to know is this new direction for the Sixers for real and here to stay?

Continue Reading