V. DWade/Heat

[tk76-]

Who will be guarding DWade, and what do you expect from him?

Will Speights start earning more minutes.  More than Evans?

Will Thad bust out of his shooting slump?

[rickortreat]

They'll start out with Willie on him and go from there. They'll try everyone but unless they put Iguodala on him, he'll just keep scoring.

I have no idea when Speights will start getting more minutes. I keep waiting for them to put in a post-up game with him or Young on the block. This team can run plays inside-out or outside-in. They should always be able to get a shot if they can get players the ball in postion.  It can only help Thad to get the ball near the basket.

[anklebreaker]

Wade's going to get his points regardless of who's on him.

Wouldn't mind seeing Thad focus more on the defensive end since he'll probably be going back and forth between guarding Beasley and Marion.  I'd prefer that he try and let the offense come to him rather than try and shoot himself out of his slump... maybe make an effort to get out on the break and get an easy one or get himself to the free throw line.... something to get him feeling a little more confident in his offense before firing jumpers at will. 

Speights should be getting more minutes off the bench than Evans.  It's no doubt in my mind that he's the superior player right now.  Part of me wants him to start now that Brand is out.  Maybe we'll see a jump in his minutes tonight... I'd like to think he can be fairly effective against Miami's bigs. 

[rickortreat]

Nice win for the Sixers this time, with multiple players in double figures.  They score 94 points and no one has more than 15. Speights gets 22 min. and gets 15  and 6 plus 2 assists and 2 blocks. The rest of the bench comes up big as well, with Royal Ivey helping to shut down Wade and go 2 for 3 from downtown.

Apart from the weird loss at New Jersey, the Sixers are beating the teams they should, and I do include Miami in that mix.  I think it's clear from tonight that Phila. is too much for Miami. Over the rest of the month of Feb. the Sixers face only 4 teams over .500 Phoenix, Denver, Miami and Orlando. Out of the nine games, you could see them winning them all, and loosing no more than 4.  If they beat Miami when they play next all other things being equal, they will move into a tie with them in the standings.

The team has a real chance to make up some ground against the other teams and put together another win streak. They should be able to get into the 5th or 4th spot by the end of the year and give themselves a good shot at getting to the 2nd round. If the young players continue to develop they might even go deeper than that.

It's not clear how badly Orlando has been hurt by the loss of Jameer Nelson, but that may even open up the 3 seed in the East. That will be a huge game for the Sixers on the 28th.

[Skates]

Great showing by the bench and the young guys tonight.  Ivey is showing that he was a fairly decent pick-up for the minimum.  I recall Stefanski saying that he felt Ivey would compliment Lou very well and it seems to be coming to fruition.  Ivey's development of that spot up three pointer has been a nice surprise.

Speights played a nice game out there, looking aware in more phases of the game than usual.  He seems to play better when Reggie is out there with him, maybe it is Reggie's energy or yapping, but it seems to do Speights good.  Nice win going away down the stretch.

[tk76-]

Strange how they were able to hold on so long with only FTs (reminded me of similar win last year-Rockets?)  Good to see them stick with in when the shots are not falling and them turn the quarter.

Reggie and Royal frustrating 1st 1/2, great 2nd half.  Evans will some day be a 90% FT shooter 

Good to see the bench bail out the starters after the reverse the previous game.

[anklebreaker]

How about the bench leading us in the 4th quarter to outscore the Heat 31-15?  I enjoyed that match-up between Speights and Beasley, mainly because Speights didn't disappoint.  The 6 boards he recorded doesn't jump out at you, but he was pulling down some man's rebounds in the 4th and he also changed a few shots in the paint. 

Ivey isn't going to give you much, but he's been fairly consistent since DiLeo came in and gave him this little role.  You can tell he's been working on his outside shot and he's letting them fly with confidence.  Personally, I think his defense is somewhat overrated and his offense a tad underrated. 

Good to see Thad break out of his slump.  I thought he helped himself out on his first touch by taking advantage of his speed over Haslem and blowing by him on the baseline for the and-1.  He did a good job of letting the offense find him by cutting to the basket and getting out on the break... after that his jumpers started falling. 

Nice win to shrink the gap to the 6th seed to just one game.  Above .500 is a pretty cool place to be.. we should hang out here more often. 

TK, By the way, what's the deal with Ramon Sessions???  Figures he EXPLODES for 44 and 12 a few days after I trade him to you!

[tk76-]

Derek wrote a piece on the blog (phillyarena.com) focusing on Royal.  He's on the same page as you.  I just checked, and Ivey is 27, so I doubt there is a ton more room to grow, although maybe with his shot he will be a late bloomer.  Certainly filled his role last night in the 2nd half.

TK, By the way, what's the deal with Ramon Sessions???  Figures he EXPLODES for 44 and 12 a few days after I trade him to you!

I guess timing is everything ... I had to double check that I had him active, as I still have too many guards (but not enough 3 pt shooters anymore.)  The day the trade went through I was all the way up to 1st place, with more games remaining than most, so I'm curious to see if my team can make a run.  Appreciate you're being willing to give up Howard for non-superstars, although he's a high risk/reward player with his FT shooting.  I'm lousy at FT shooting anyway, so at most I'll lose 5 pts.

You should be able to make a run since a lot of people have played too many games, but it will be hard to climb very far with so many teams in the league.

[Skates]

I grabbed Sessions off of the scrap heap in our Philaphans fantasy league last week and scooped up Kirilenko off the waiver wire today.  Hopefully, Kirilenko is really going to be back shortly after the break, my bigs need a lot of help.  Sessions was a big late season pick-up for me last year, with Ridnour and Bogut, he and Charlie V are really racking up the stats.  It doesn't hurt that they are FA this summer.

[anklebreaker]

Derek wrote a piece on the blog (phillyarena.com) focusing on Royal.  He's on the same page as you.  I just checked, and Ivey is 27, so I doubt there is a ton more room to grow, although maybe with his shot he will be a late bloomer.  Certainly filled his role last night in the 2nd half.

TK, By the way, what's the deal with Ramon Sessions???  Figures he EXPLODES for 44 and 12 a few days after I trade him to you!

I guess timing is everything ... I had to double check that I had him active, as I still have too many guards (but not enough 3 pt shooters anymore.)  The day the trade went through I was all the way up to 1st place, with more games remaining than most, so I'm curious to see if my team can make a run.  Appreciate you're being willing to give up Howard for non-superstars, although he's a high risk/reward player with his FT shooting.  I'm lousy at FT shooting anyway, so at most I'll lose 5 pts.

You should be able to make a run since a lot of people have played too many games, but it will be hard to climb very far with so many teams in the league.

Just read Derek's blog.  It's easier said than done to get yourself in the flow of the game and make an impact on a nightly basis when given such limited floor time.  For the minimum, Ivey's done a decent job of providing energy and knocking down shots... that's really all you can ask for out of him so I'll take it.  To even expect 11 point outings from him consistently wouldn't be fair. 

Like I said before I made that fantasy deal, it was time for a hail mary.  My roster had suffered casualties of tremendous proportion (Melo, Arenas, T-Mac, Redd, Z. Randolph).  Not easy to go make your way up the rankings with all of your top guys (sans Howard) on the shelf.  I picked up Villanueva off the waiver wire just in time and I figured with his play of late and Randolph coming back from injury, I could afford to part with Howard for a couple of 20 point scorers and a rebounder/shotblocker.  I was on the fence at first about including Sessions since I knew his numbers would slightly increase with Redd going down, but I can honestly say that I did not anticipate him touching 44 and 12 with a 60 foot pole.  Looks like you caught some nice luck with Ridnour going down right after the trade went through.  Overall I'd call it a win win. 

[tk76-]

Fantasy BB has a lot of luck involved- especially with injured guys like Arenas and Ellis.  Also, usually someone cuts ties with a good player too early (I picked up Ginobili off waivers in the philiphan league.)  I admit I'm not dedicated to it enough to be the first to make great pick-ups, and with my early choices I miss as often as I hit.  I had Chalmers and Westbrook early this year at let Westbrook go way too early.

BTW, in the Phillyfan league, I'm on track to lose 9-0 head to head against the worlds biggest Willie Green fan...  I believe the word I'm looking for is ignominy

[Skates]

BTW, in the Phillyfan league, I'm on track to lose 9-0 head to head against the worlds biggest Willie Green fan...  I believe the word I'm looking for is ignominy

He has been churning his roster like it's playoff time, he is who I picked Kirilenko up from.  I think all of the drops he's making in a deep league will come back to bite him later.