Sixers get ZERO respect.

[WayOutWest]

A tale of two halves.
what happened to Philly in the 3rd qtr?

The Pistons finally showed up.

[Derek Bodner]

A tale of two halves.
what happened to Philly in the 3rd qtr?

The Pistons finally showed up.

Not really.  The Pistons showed up in game 2, but the 3rd quarter wasn't so much an awe-inspiring performance as it was a series of mistakes.  Dalembert and Iggy played about the worst quarter of basketball humanly possible.  The only one with a pulse was Thaddeus Young.

[Randy]

The tale with Dalembert has always been inconsistency, hasn't it?  Getting him to rebound and play defense consistently and be smart offensively?  The Sixers seem to struggle in the halfcourt and prefer the run-and-gun game.  They have been able to suck Detroit into that game quite a bit whenever they can slow down the game, the Sixers begin to struggle.

The Sixers have done themselves PROUD!  They have brought their game and played it with passion and have never allowed Detroit's rep to cause them to doubt that they can beat the Pistons.  I still think that the Pistons will win but I give the Sixers props and admit that I was wrong in my assessment of them.  They still need a true low post scorer and I can't help but wonder if Dalembert will always be an inconsistent player (a Dampier type player).  Only time will tell about Sam but this team is very young and their future looks very bright.

[rickortreat]

No matter how you spin it, the Sixers came out lame and unprepared when they should have been out for blood.

Cheeks really has to go.  Why is Iggy being allowed to force up shots and get the most minutes when he's playing so poorly. And, why is Cheeks allowing him to be guarded by Prince, one of the few 3's that Iggy is physically overmatched by (as are most 3's who play him!)

Iggy is a two and should be guarded by Billups or Hamilton, where HE would have the advantage.  If the Pistons refuse to switch and guard Thad or Reggie with a small player, then you post them up until Detroit stops!

Even in the fourth, there was no effort or attempt to get back into the game and the Sixers were close enough.  But there was no run, again Cheeks didn't come up with a line-up, and took out the one player who was showing signs of life- Willie Green.

When they play like this, they don't deserve respect.  They let Detroit back into the series, and have lost home-court advantage.

The only good thing is, they get another chance to do it right in game 5.  They better come back to Philly up 3-2!

[WayOutWest]

The tale with Dalembert has always been inconsistency, hasn't it?  Getting him to rebound and play defense consistently and be smart offensively?  The Sixers seem to struggle in the halfcourt and prefer the run-and-gun game.  They have been able to suck Detroit into that game quite a bit whenever they can slow down the game, the Sixers begin to struggle.

The Sixers have done themselves PROUD!  They have brought their game and played it with passion and have never allowed Detroit's rep to cause them to doubt that they can beat the Pistons.  I still think that the Pistons will win but I give the Sixers props and admit that I was wrong in my assessment of them.  They still need a true low post scorer and I can't help but wonder if Dalembert will always be an inconsistent player (a Dampier type player).  Only time will tell about Sam but this team is very young and their future looks very bright.

Dalembert sucks, he has always sucked and will continue to suck ala Miki Moore.  Sam is good for a dunk or two, he is dumb, lazy and doesn't work on his game.  Sam is one of those dummies that relies stricktly on talent alone, he will never amount to anything with that attitude.

I am very impressed with the level of play the Sixers are able to maintain.  The Sixers are clearly an inferior team in almost every aspect of the game, but their effort combined with the lack of interest from the Pistons, has allowed them to make a series out of this matchup.

[Reality]

The Sixers have done themselves PROUD!  They have brought their game and played it with passion and have never allowed Detroit's rep to cause them to doubt that they can beat the Pistons.  I still think that the Pistons will win but I give the Sixers props and admit that I was wrong in my assessment of them. 

Props for you Randy.
And a refreshing board change.

[westkoast]

Let me get this straight Rick....

After one playoff loss you want Cheeks to go?  The same coach who helped turn this squad around the second half of the season?  The same one who was able to prepare a bunch of young players to be able to take not 1 but 2 from one of the most experienced playoff teams in the league?  Something Avery Johnson and Mike D'Antoni have been unable to do with season veterans...

I find that crazy.  The fact they've even made this series should get him an extension LOL

[rickortreat]

Stefanski did give him a one-year extension, which means he's back next season.  Cheeks deserves some credit, but face it, he had these players on the bench NOT PLAYING until Stefanski told him to.  Since these young players were all better then the people he had playing ahead of them, it's clear that his ability to develop young talent is lacking, since he only did it when forced to!

These young players all have tremendous potential, all any of them needed was playing time, and Cheeks is playing Calvin Booth and Kevin Ollie!

Cheeks is a terrible coach when it comes to game-time adjustments and preparing his team for the things that can happen during games.  He has no real concept of substitution or how to use his players to create match-up advantages to be exploited.  When a player gets hot and puts down two shots in a row, Cheeks substitutes someone else in. 

Iggy gets over 40 minutes and can't shoot to save his life (4-16).  Lou Williams shot 3 of 5 and got only 13 minutes.  Jason Smith puts up 4 points in 11 minutes along with some boards and hustle plays and doens't see anymore time.

How can a coach allow his team to come out of half-time not ready to play?  They let the Pistons take the game away and they didn't even put up a fight.  About 2 minutes into the 3rd and the lead is gone, Cheeks finally calls timeout. The Pistons score again and he calls another time out.  The Sixers start to play and are ahead 51-47 and Detroit hits 2 3ptrs in a row with Dalemebert goal-tending our own shot in between. Another 3 minutes and the Sixers are down 12.  No substitions until the 6 min. mark when Willie Green gets taken out for a foul.  The next sub comes in with 3 min. left and the Sixers down 8.  So through the entire collapse Cheels is leaving the same team out there expecting a different outcome.  That's just bad coaching.

[JoMal]

I think these young Sixer players are all relearning how to play team basketball now that "superstaritis" has been cured for the team. Once Iverson got traded, the players remaining in Philadelphia could finally display their own games once again, like they did in college. Their biggest problem is remembering to rely on teammates and play through the tough spots without relying on Iverson to bail them out.

This problem was evident with John Salmons once he signed with Sactown. Removed from Iverson's shadow, John felt he had to prove his game once again and at first it was painful to watch, as he looked like he wanted to play one on five. But this season, after a calming down period, it could easily be argued that Salmons was the best Kings player the first half of the season.

I see the same type of thing happening with the Sixers. They suddenly, in the second half of this season, started to see how to play the game again without having one player dominate the ball. But there will still be stalls for a while and that is what you see happening against the Pistons. Whether they are completely ready to be the players they thought they were coming out of college is the problem. I see them losing this series, but winning the development battle for next season.

[Derek Bodner]

These young players all have tremendous potential, all any of them needed was playing time, and Cheeks is playing Calvin Booth and Kevin Ollie!

Kevin Ollie And Calvin Booth actually played more in the second half of the season (14 mpg combined) than they did in the first half of the season (12 mpg combined).

[rickortreat]

These young players all have tremendous potential, all any of them needed was playing time, and Cheeks is playing Calvin Booth and Kevin Ollie!

Kevin Ollie And Calvin Booth actually played more in the second half of the season (14 mpg combined) than they did in the first half of the season (12 mpg combined).

Which actually proves my point!  The player getting the majority of the minutes now going to the young players was the guy who got traded, Kyle Korver.  Once Cheeks didn't have him he went to his other vets instead of the young players, even though Stefanski told him to play the young ones.

A smart coach would have tried to develop Rodney Carney, realizing that his physical ability gives him twice the upside of a Kyle Korver.  He would have never played Korver at the 4 spot if he was a smart coach! 

It isn't fair to Kyle, but the Sixers would never have developed into the team they have if he wasn't traded.  The blame lies with Cheeks, and the cure was Stefanski.  Ed may have to get rid of Mo to get the Sixers to the next level.  He just isn't the kind of a coach willing to take the risks necessary to develop his players potential.

In fairness to Cheeks, what really killed the Sixers were the referees, who haven't given the Sixers a fair shot the entire series.  In the third and fourth quarters of last night's game, nearly every call went against the Sixers and for the Pistons, fouls weren't called that should have been. Calls that should have been charges were blocks if the Pistons were driving, and Calls that should have been blocks were charges when the Sixers were driving.  Best thing Cheeks could have done was scream at the refs, and force them to make calls or throw him out.  In that way he could get a fine and get to tell the papers how his team is getting shortchanged by the refs at every turn.

At the same time, Cheeks did nothing to help the Sixers at the end of the game, and allowed the Pistons to run out the clock.  I saw no deliberate attempt to foul to stop the clock or give the Sixers a chance to get back into it, and I saw no hustle or desperation at the end. Simply a team that was going through the motions.

[Derek Bodner]

Which actually proves my point!

Except that wasn't the point you made.

[msc]

Throwing Cheeks under the bus?  Blaming the refs?  Oh brother. 

It's easy to second guess a coach's moves in hindsight and blame everything from player energy to bench development or lackthereof on Cheeks (see Reality w/Pop). But please don't lose track of the big picture here, rick.  Midway through the season, this team didn't even look like it would have a chance to make the playoffs.  They rallied down the stretch, secured the 7th seed and are now tied 2-2 with the odds on favorite to challenge the Celtics for the EC title.  They have one subpar half against a good team and you're throwing Cheeks under the bus?  Doesn't he get any credit for the fact that this team is where it is today?  Or does Stefanski deserve the credit?  Do you honestly believe that?  Please tell me you're just venting after a frustrating loss.  Cheeks deserves better than that. 

[Randy]

Actually, the freethrow spread has been very consistent with the exception of game 2 (a game Detroit won even though the freethrow spread was like 20 in favor of the Sixers).  It's been about 5 or 6 freethrow margin in favor of the Sixers the rest of the games.

Rick, I have never been a been Cheeks fan but if you think that the Sixers are aspiring to all of this on their own you know less about basketball than I think you do.  These players aren't just rising to overachieve on their own -- Cheeks deserves a GREAT deal of credit for what they are accomplishing.

[JoMal]

Posted on: April 28, 2008, 02:38:45 pmPosted by: rickortreat

In fairness to Cheeks, what really killed the Sixers were the referees, who haven't given the Sixers a fair shot the entire series

.

Well, from what I looked up, you could not be more correct, rick. The Sixers have only shot 93 free throws in these three games, compared to a whopping 64 for the Pistons. I mean, that is potentially only 29 MORE points the Sixers should have at least had a shot at, and with a loser coach like Cheeks, they clearly need a margin of plus fifty by now, because being up only two games to one against the number two seed in the East is total failure on his part.

But you are stuck with Cheeks. This has to have a happy solution for all concerned. I suggest spilling oil under his chair so he might slip and fall and crack his head open, or sticking a voodoo doll made up to look like him to make him die in agony, but let's face it, that would be too good for him.   

What can we do about this bastard, Cheeks, who is letting his team beat up on a truly lousy Pistons team, or these clearly biased refs who you would think could squeeze out at least another 10 or 20 favorable calls that would bend the games more in favor of the Sixers.

Why oh why did I become JazzMal, instead of Mal-Sixer.