This 5 game west coast swing comes at a crucial time for the Sixers, trying to secure the best playoff seed possible. They are two games behind Miami for the 5 spot, which gets the Sixers out of a first round knockout against Boston, Cleveland or Orlando.
3 of the teams are over .500 including the Lakers tonight. Phoenix is tomorrow on a back to back, then Golden State, Sacramento and Portland.
Andre Miller thinks the team can take 3 of the five which means beating LA, the Suns or the Blazers.
If the Coaching staff tried to do a better job, I'd have higher hopes for the Sixers at LA. IF they start Speights alongside Dalembert, I'd be happy. The Lakers are an elite team and a very tough matchup. Keeping them off the boards and preventing 2nd chance points is big, as well as staying on their men and contesting shots. LA plays at a faster pace, but I wonder if they really want to get into that with the Sixers. This is the least likely game for the Sixers to win, but it would do wonders for them if they could pull that off.
IMO, the Sixers could take 4 of the 5, beating the Suns and Blazers along with the Warriors and Kings.
They still have a chance to catch Atlanta, who is 5.5 games ahead. The Hawks have a tough schedule over the same period that the Sixers are on their road trip.
I don't want to get too optimistic about this team's chances. They have the potential to do well, but they are dependent on their young players to win and they aren't always reliable. We can usually count on Miller and Iguodala to have good games. Iguodala had one bad game recently and he was hurt, so it's hard to hold that against him.
But a team needs at least 3 solid scorers to compete and recently Thad Young has raised his game to another level. In truth, he has the ability to do even more, he has a good outside shot and runs the floor very well. If Thad continues to produce this team can win a lot of games.
Of course the key is still Mareese Speights specifically because of his offensive skill set. He is a rookie and makes a lot of mistakes, picking up fouls to easilly, and he's not as good a rebounder as Sam. But he is a big body to put in at the 4 spot to enable the Sixers to block out and rebound. It should be noted that Speights and Ratliff did a great job on the boards when they were in, with some significant help from Donyell Marshall. The point is the Sixers need more big bodies in there to rebound, and Speights is the best option they have. I'm sick of talking about it, give the kid more PT.
