Philly rips Detroit a new one.

[rickortreat]

Finally, the Sixers played a game up to their potential.  Detroit was in the second game of a back-to-back.  They were missing their best player, and their coach is layed up in a hospital.

But they are the world champions and they should have been able to put forth a better effort.  The Sixers simply outplayed them in every area of the game.

Most significant was the inside play.  Typically Detroit outboards other teams and dominates in the paint area.  Tonight, they got dominated by Sam Dalembert, along with CWebb and Marc Jackson.

If the Sixers can continue to play like this, they can go deep into the playoffs.  When Andre Igoudala goes for a triple double, A.I. gets 39 pts. on 15-26 and 10 boards, and CWebb goes for 19pts. the Sixers are a very difficult team to beat.  The key stat is shooting percentage and when they can manage .539 from the floor and .588 from beyond the three, they're going to win.

Detroit is suppossed to be a good defensive team, but no defense can stop a team that plays unselfishly, passes the ball and works for easy shots.  

I wanted the Sixers to play like this from the beggining of the season, I could see the potential and wanted it on the court.  Maybe I'm just too impatient with OB.  It's always been like this for me as a fan.  The coach's are always behind where they should be.  

[SPURSX3]

good game by Philly.  Yeah, i was ticked off at my team for the sorry play last night.  they played like someone died - i mean it's just and ankle sprain - he WILL be back guys!!  in any case it's alwasy good to see a team step up when they need to.

[rickortreat]

Very tough problem for da Spurs.  They're so dependent on TD, that without him, I don't think the Spurs will end up with the top seed.  I'd be worried about the Suns, the Rockets and Dallas as teams that could give SA trouble down the road in the playoffs.

The Spurs are better than all of them, but the margin is so slight that loosing the home oourt might be a factor.

Then again, if the team can learn to win and play without TD, they'll be that much better when he does come back.

This is only one game for Philly.  They've got alot to prove before people start to look at them as a good team.  

[Guest_JoMal]

I watched this game repeated on ESPN. I was curious to see how C-Webb was playing on his new team. While that was a push, as his same limitations exist, but his snappy passing is the same, what caught my eye was how effective the Sixers ran the floor - until the second unit came in. Iverson essentially had to do everything with that group to maintain Philadelphia's advantage.

Then I remembered that most of the Sixers bench is now on the Kings and doing a fine job I might add. Other then getting Webber, all the Sixers did was get rid of any effective players they had left to come into the game and make an impact.

This team could really use a Matt Barnes, for instance, who would not interfer with Iverson's ball control, but would step in to disrupt the other team's offense, help clean up around the basket, and do all the little things these team player can contribute.

The Pistons played like crap, and it was not the defense of the Sixers doing it. They just could not finish a play around the basket if you paid them (something about that last sentence doesn't seem quite right). I can't see how not having just Hamilton could do that, but without Brown - maybe.

It was a good game for the Sixers, but I would not judge them just yet. I would question the bench, though. Not much depth there.

[Derek Bodner]

we only gave up 2 guys who played in the webber trade, so it's not like we gave up all that much bench.

Our primary bench has been mckie, salmons, rogers and jackson.  For the most part, they do a fine job.

[JoMal]

we only gave up 2 guys who played in the webber trade, so it's not like we gave up all that much bench.

Our primary bench has been mckie, salmons, rogers and jackson.  For the most part, they do a fine job.

The best acquisition we got turned out to be Skinner (for the position he plays), who did not play with the Sixers, but the more we see of this guy, the more we have to wonder why.

Not playing him does not equate with him not being a good bench player and his departure would weaken any bench, whether JOB thought otherwise or not.  

[Derek Bodner]

Not playing him does not equate with him not being a good bench player

I didn't say that.

But we don't get less production from our bench than we did before the trade.

Whether or not O'brien uses him DOES have an impact on how productive our bench is.

[Guest_Randy]

Before heralding the Sixers a success based on this game, I'd sit back and recognize that the Pistons have tanked games ALL year long.  With ZERO explanation for why they have played so poorly.  In fact, check out their previous game -- a 76-91 blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers (who aren't exactly playing the best ball of the year).  Coincidently, both of the blowout losses concur when Hamilton went down with his sprained ankle.  It's quite interesting that the Pistons can't overcome the loss of Hamilton but it's not a team with a great bench, IMO (McDyess is a great lift off the bench inside but they don't have great outside help).  Also, Hamilton is a decent defender and when paired with Prince they really help offset the deplorable defense played by Chauncy Billups.  

While getting excited about the way that the Sixers played, I wouldn't put much stock in them winning against a quality team (because it looks like without Hamilton, Detroit ISN'T a quality team).

[rickortreat]

Very true Randy.  Frankly I was never impressed with the Pistons even when they won the Championship.  

Their coaching is sound and their role players are usually up to the task,  but without Rip's offense, they simply can't score enough to win against most NBA teams.

On the other hand, their defense last night was appalling.  No box out's which let Dalembert run wild.  No-one to get in front of AI to stop him from driving, no-one to get out and cover Korver or Igoudala.

When they buckled down in the fourth, or tried to, all they were doing was fouling and getting some breaks from the officials.  Even when they got stops they couldn't score.

Dabods- did you notice Dalembert getting all those easy buckets in the post?  I cringed when he took that off-balance shot from near the free-throw line.