Sixers vs. Knicks 1-17-2009

[rickortreat]

Normally I would say this was a dangerous game, with the Sixers having a big win last night.  In this instance, however, I feel very positive since DiLeo was conscious of the danger and deliberately rested his starters.  Even iguodala only played 33 min. and he was on the floor longest for the team.

Another advantage is that the Sixers are young, and are therefore able to recover quickly. Finally, they may decide to give Brand a few minutes tonight, if they need him.

Of course, this is the Knicks we're talking about.  They are not a good team and don't have enough players to be good any time soon.  They also like to score at a high pace, averaging 103 pts. per. this plays right into the Sixers hands, since they also allow 106 pts. per. What do yo9u expect from Kike D'Antoni!?!?! A team that likes to score, but can't play defense doesn't present much of a problem, as there are few teams that can score like the Sixers, and the Knicks will have trouble with Philla's defense. One important point is that the Sixers do not seem to fare nearly as well at Madison Sq. Garden, and the Knicks were playing better prior to their loss to Washington.  Since they played last night and had to travel, from DC, neither team has a rest advantage.

So, this should be Seven in a row for the Sixers, and a win will put them at .500 for the season.  Hollinger projects them to win 44 games total.  I originally thought the team would be capable of a 50 win season.  Having Cheeks as coach for the first 20+ games may have made that much more difficult, but still not impossible.  It simply means that they have to beat some of the better teams that were thought to be losses- teams like Boston, LA, Cleveland, etc. Now that they have done what they did to San Antonio, it doesn't seem to be unreasonable to think they can. Over the past 5 games the hottest team is not the Sixers, but Orlando. Philla. is a close second.  All the Sixers stats are screwed up because of Mo. Eventually, it will become clear how much better the team performs with DiLeo running things.  For example, they now actually score more points than they allow for the entire season, by half a point.  It will take a couple more 20+ pt. wins to improve that stat.

[tk76-]

No Brand tonight.

[rickortreat]

Surprised by the Knicks tenaciousness, and their ability to spread the floor and take outside shots.  Their offense is really pretty good and they manged to shoot 55.3%.  The Sixers are only up by 2 at the half, managing only 47.6%, which is actually pretty good, but below what they have been doing lately.

Most interesting part of the game so far was the inner game between Nate Robinson and Lou Williams.  Nate likes to talk some smack, and Lou likes to shut him up with some play.  Nate shot a 3 ball and jawed down the court and Lou put in a thee himself.  Lou jazzed him the other way and Nate tried another one and missed and Lou came down, created some space and  drew a foul. Then, the next time the Sixers had the ball, he went to the basket to catch an alley-opp.  That quieted down Nate for a while, he should know better than to try and play head-games with a better player!

[Skates]

The Knicks only real strategy is to try and outscore other teams.  They play no appreciable defense, but can get you into the habit of taking overly quick shots.  A nice game all around.  Speights was getting abused a little by Lee on the boards.  He needs to find his man and body him up on the block out.  A lot of missed, flat-looking FT's or this game would have been a blow-out.

[bebopdeluxe]

Andre Miller - 3 years, $28 million (with a 3rd year team option?  Probably getting greedy here....)

We can't give this guy away, you know...

(I can't believe I am saying this)

[rickortreat]

Nice win against an inferior team, but I really like what D'Antoni is doing with what he has.  That's 7 in a row, very good.

I agree that we really can't afford to loose Miller.  He has a knack for doing what needs to be done at exactly the right time and he is as crafty a player as there is.  In the post-game interview Iguodala said he was learning from Miller how to see the floor and notice the miss-matches. The mental aspect of the game is not to be overlooked! More games are won by playing smart than by anything else, and if the Sixers can add that to their superior athleticism it makes them much, much better.

This is the second game in a row that Sam Dalembert has played under control and provided the interior defense the team needs.  I swear that the statistician is cheating him out of blocks and rebounds. He was the real reason the team got the lead in the third quarter, changing shots, blocking shots and rebounding.  I'm not sure if it was him or Theo that got called for a goaltend on a clean block.

Next game is Monday afternoon in honor of Martin Luther King. Dallas comes to the Wachovia center in yet another revenge game.  The last game was closer than the final score, as Dallas closed them out at the end. That really bothered me, that the Sixers couldn't find a way to score in crunch time. That has been a big difference during the win streak, and they showed that toughness tonight against the Knicks when they got within a single point before the Sixers closed them out.

[tk76-]

A bit of a stinker, but still a W.  Not really high on the teams play or the substitutions for this one, but good to see them come up big down the stretch.  Also huge to see the team willing to go to Thad each of the last two games.