Andre Iguodala is playing like an all-star even if he isn't one yet. The shot he made with six seconds left to go in front was huge, and he even did his Kobe "big balls" imitation after making the shot.
Pathetic defense on the last play. Dalembert out on a guard at 3 point range?!?! absurd. Thad should have stayed with him the whole way.
But the important thing is the coaching was stupid. The Sixers were having trouble scoring and they put Speights in and he scores like 6 points in a row and blocks a shot (ok, it was a foul, but the refs didn't call it.) Then he commits one foul on Pierce and on the next play Iguodala missses a jump shot, there's a floor time-out and they sub him out for Thad. WHY would anyone take him out of the game when he's clearly the spark that put the Sixers back on top?
I would have played Speights until the end, trying to score and trying to put pressure on the Celtics. Even if we had won, I would have just said they did it without playing against Garnett so it means little. But it was a bad loss, simply because they could have won it, and might have with one less mistake or Andre Miller missed shot. Do keep in mind that it took two consecutive three-pointers by Ray Allen to beat the Sixers. How many times can he do that? Ray was 3 of 8 for three-pointers last night, just amazing that he managed two in a row at the end.
I have no problem trading Miller if we can find a viable replacement. I don't see any out there. I would rather extend him with another contract and draft a point. I'm not convinced we can't turn Williams into one, either. Miller is not a great point guard, he makes a lot of dumb decisions and he never makes the pass he supposed to off a pick and roll. At least Lou makes that pass.
Miller does some good things out there that are not typical of a point guard but do work well. I like the way he draws contact working down low. It pissed me off to no end, that he didn't do that once last night, but instead stayed outside and missed shot after shot. IMO, that's being lazy, and not willing to work to break down the defense.
It's just that we need a replacement PG before you loose Miller.
You will not find a Gm in the league who thinks that AI is a better player than Andre Iguodala. None of them would do a trade even up, even though the money is way out of whack and would require additional players. AI is on the downside of his career, Iguodala has barely gotten started yet.
