Sixers @ Wolves - November 19 2008

[jemagee]

Your perplexation pleases me.

[Skates]

I don't know what to think about Reid, he seems to be a good coach who has hit a rut and is too stubborn to adapt and get out of it.  He may do better on a team where he is not as powerful regarding personnel decisions and where he just has a fresh start.  I am not an Eagles fan so I don't really follow them as closely as you guys do.  I am a Cowboys fan (hate away, but I was there through all of the bad years, so at least I'm not a bandwagon jumper) so if you want to trade coaches I'd be more than happy to consider it. 

[bebopdeluxe]

While I am certainly frustrated with Mo, Andy Reid is the worst coach, IMO...and it isn't close.

A 58/18 pass/run ratio against a team ranked 26th against the run...in blustery, windy conditions on the road?

That's not bad coaching...that's stupidity (with some arrogance on top).

Man...I simply cannot wait for this team to do a 4-12 or 5-11 season so we can get Reid's fat ass out of here.

[jemagee]

Man...I simply cannot wait for this team to do a 4-12 or 5-11 season so we can get Reid's fat ass out of here.

They do that often under reid when they're healthy?

[tk76-]

Reid and McNabb's flaws where hidden when McNabb was still a running threat.  It effectively neutralized a defender in the passing defense, amnd created a legit run threat even if they called a passing play.

Now McNabb can't/won't run, they are being exposed.  the defense gets to load up on the pass becasue of the unbalanced play calling and lack of run blocking.  And McNabb's weaknesses as a passer/decision maker are exposed because he now has to go up against defenses geared for the pass, and without the crutch of having a spy that could otherwise be in coverage or pass rush.

The McNabb/Reid  combo was a successful one for many years, and I give them credit.  But I doubt either survives the current downturn.  The team needs to get a better passer to succeed in Reid's system, and I doubt Reid will get to rebuild the team.  his only shot is if Kolb can quickly show himself to be a star.

[jemagee]

Now - that's a fair point - to me - and one i've been wondering about for a while...if it was reids decision to stop using Donovans feet as a weapon then i have some issues, if donovan said 'i won't run any more' that's on donovan

[Skates]

Who would have thunk that a day would come when Charlie Manuel is widely considered the best head coach/manager in Philadelphia (I am a passive Flyers fan, I think some fairly young guy coaches them, no idea of his name).

[jemagee]

I never was all that down on Charlie Manuel - I never liked the pulling of pat burrell but even when it 'cost' - it didn't cost too much (or help too much) it seemed to me - unlike the end of donovans running which i think has had a severe impact on the eagles.

I think charlie gots a lot of grief because of his dialect so people just were assuming he was yokel hick (which is kind of prejudice when you get right down to it)...but again, another guy with a track record...one of the reason i didn't want mo in the first place is i didn't like what happened in portland and i felt he bore some of the responsibility for that

[Derek Bodner]

I think charlie gots a lot of grief because of his dialect so people just were assuming he was yokel hick (which is kind of prejudice when you get right down to it)...but again, another guy with a track record...one of the reason i didn't want mo in the first place is i didn't like what happened in portland and i felt he bore some of the responsibility for that

Wait?

Another guy with a track record?

Are you trying to be hypocritical, or just sorely uninformed?

Charlie Manuel spent 3 seasons as a manager before coming to philadelphia, with a 220-190 record (.536 winning percentage).  He had never won a playoff series.

Before coming to Philadelphia, Maurice Cheeks had been a manager for 4 years.  He had a 162-139 record (.538 winning percentage).  He had never won a round in the playoffs.

Yeah, having been a manager for a whole 3 seasons and never winning a playoff round.  he had such a great and pronounced track record.

[tk76-]

i've been wondering about for a while...if it was reids decision to stop using Donovans feet as a weapon then i have some issues, if donovan said 'i won't run any more' that's on donovan

Who knows, but all of McNabb's complaints of being labeled as a "running black quaterback" suggests that McNabb was resistant to running.

Its moot now.  he can longer can be a threat running (both has lost a step and too fragile) so defenses won't waste a defender to account for his scrambling.  As you guys pointed out, McNabb lacks the skills to run a precision west coast passing offense. 

McNabb's days as an Eagle are numbered- but he might find success on a more balanced team.  The question I wonder is if Reid will survive the transition.  I doubt it.

[Skates]

Getting back to the focus of the thread, here is tk's girl Kate Fagan being anything but an apologist for the team.  I may be warming up to her:

In a game that could -- no, should -- have put the Sixers (5-6) above .500 for the first time this season, the Sixers defense looked weaker than the Eagles running game.

Last night, the Sixers lost 102-96 to one of the NBA's worst teams: The Minnesota Timberwolves (2-8). If you watched the game, or took a gander at the numbers, it's clear this game was lost on three fronts: The defensive end of the floor, free throw shooting, and outside shooting. The Sixers shot 47.1 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Timberwolves 40-33, and commited only 15 turnovers (we say 'only' because the Sixers recorded 27 turnovers in a loss at the Miami Heat two weeks ago). Decent numbers. Numbers that should have been good enough to beat a Minnesota team that earlier this season lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you attended the Sixers most recent home game (against said Thunder), you'd realize what an accomplishment that is.

*But let's look at what the Timberwolves did. Or, rather, what the Sixers allowed them to do: 51.4 percent from the floor, and 25 killer points from forward Al Jefferson.

*And the outside shooting thing. This is tough because during some games this season, the Sixers have shot the ball very well from the 3-point line. But then they produce nights like last night (and like the opening-night 5 for 20 vs. the Toronto Raptors) that leave you shaking your head and wondering if the Sixers have the shooters to keep defenses honest on a nightly basis. Last night the Sixers were 1 for 11 from beyond the arc. Andre Iguodala was 1 for 6, with two of those misses coming in the final minutes of the game.

The Timberwolves made the Sixers' glaring absence of a consistent outside shooter apparant in the game's final minute when they pushed a one-point lead (95-94) to a four-point lead (98-94) by finding their shooter -- Mike Miller -- for a 3-pointer.

The Sixers went with their starting lineup -- Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand, Samuel Dalembert -- for much of the fourth quarter. And to be fair, this is the unit that brought the Sixers from a 10-point deficit, to down only one. But in the final possessions, the Sixers needed an outside shooter, and Iguodala tried to fill this role. After the game, I asked Cheeks if he considered getting a shooter on the floor -- i.e. Kareem Rush or Donyell Marshall -- at the end of the game. Cheeks response was that he went small for a few of the last possessions: subbing in Willie Green for Dalembert.

* The free throw thing. The Sixers were 15 for 23 (let me do the math for you ... or rather let me look at the stat sheet and copy the math already done: 65.2 percent) from the line. Andre Iguodala was a glaring 4 for 9, including a key miss late in the game that would have pulled the Sixers within one (instead it remained 94-92) with 1:30 left. Again, to be fair, Iguodala did a lot down the stretch. He tried to carry the team by slashing to the hoop, drawing fouls, and finishing a couple of tough drives.

Back to the defense, which was the Sixers main deficiency.

Once again, the Sixers struggled to stop the pick-and-roll. There were one or two possessions in the fourth quarter, when Cheeks had a lineup of Lou Williams, Willie Green, Kareem Rush, Reggie Evans, and Marreese Speights on the floor where they executed the defense of the pick and roll. Evans jumped out hard on the ball handler, forcing him to retreat. Williams and Evans then put an effective double team on the ball handler, giving him only one option: a harmless pass to the left -- nothing gained.

(When Cheeks subbed Elton Brand for Evans with 9 minutes, 42 seconds left in the game, Evans seemed to think that unit had a good thing going. He made a traveling motion with his hands as if telling Cheeks he should have let that unit get in a flow.)

But aside from those one or two possessions in the fourth quarter, with that second unit, the Sixers could not handle the pick-and-roll. And the Timberwolves are hardly Stockton and Malone.

The guard's defender continually struggled to get over the screen, and the post defender jumped out half-heartedly on the ball handler, barely forcing him to slow down. This left the Sixers trailing a penetrating guard. On most occasions, the ball handler got into the paint before being forced to make a decision.

Here's what came out of the Sixers (tiny) visitor's locker room after the game.

"It's unfortunate we lost that game," said Cheeks. "I thought their bench did a great job tonight."

(Yes, Craig Smith -- who? -- came off the bench to score 21 points on 7 of 9 shooting.)

Elton Brand on Jefferson: "They find him in spots, and he scores." <-- a classic assessment if there ever was one.

"We have our ups and downs," Brand said of the Sixers. "We're learning a lot. We have a lead, but we have to step on the gas. We can't step off the gas."

(Brand was referring to the 11-point lead -- 21-10 -- the Sixers held for about three minutes in the first quarter. By the end of the quarter, the game was back to a one-point/three-point game.)

On the relatively easier stretch the Sixers are facing (Clippers, Warriors, Bobcats), and what this game could have meant to a productive stretch: "Yeah, it could have been. We wanted this game. We wanted to get this going."

Willie Green on the same topic: "Definitely, I think this was a key game. It would have put us over .500 and we had won three-straight. It's tough to let a game like this slip away."

Thad Young on the same topic: "At the beginning of the fourth quarter we were saying, 'Come on, let's go, we need this game.' We wanted to get above .500."

Instead the Sixers return to Philly 5-6, and leave everyone wondering which team the Sixers are: The one that won three games last week, or the one that couldn't beat a struggling Minnesota team.

--Kate

p.s. Yes, Dala, you were right about Jefferson.

[anklebreaker]

she's brutally honest

[jemagee]

The Sixers went with their starting lineup -- Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand, Samuel Dalembert -- for much of the fourth quarter. And to be fair, this is the unit that brought the Sixers from a 10-point deficit, to down only one. But in the final possessions, the Sixers needed an outside shooter, and Iguodala tried to fill this role. After the game, I asked Cheeks if he considered getting a shooter on the floor -- i.e. Kareem Rush or Donyell Marshall -- at the end of the game. Cheeks response was that he went small for a few of the last possessions: subbing in Willie Green for Dalembert.

Or, you know, using the guy on the floor already who has been a better shooter so far than Iguodala?