Sixers @ Milwaukee - 1/7 - 8pm

[anklebreaker]

Second of a back to back coming off one of their better W's of the season.  Hopefully we can get out and run on these guys.  Would be nice to see Speights match-up against Villanueva off the bench since Charlie V usually owns Evans.  Despite Sessions being on my fantasy team, hopefully Skiles continues to defer to Ridnour for this one considering he can't guard Miller at all.  Should be a good one. 

[tk76-]

Prerequisite "Speights should start" remark.

Also good to see some more posters returning here.  A ton of people registered here back at the draft- I hope this place can build up to a more sane alternative for Sixers talk.

[rickortreat]

I don't think it matters if Speights starts, and it can be good for the team to let Dalembert start and try to get off to a good game first.  If he does well, then leave him in until he needs a rest, then put in Mareese.

It's more important that Speights plays the bulk of the minutes in the third and fourth quarter to put more pressure on the other team.  If Sam and Reggie can beat up on the other teams bigs it will make it easier later on.

How good is Theo going to be in a back to back game? He has been great for us lately. A very significant move, actually, replacing Sam with Theo. The running game works so much more smoothly and so does the defense. Theo still plays like he did when he was here years ago, but I think this group is much more athletic.

If we get a good game out of Theo, Mareese and Sam, we should win. The Bucks have been hotter than the Sixers, winning 6 of 10 whole the Sixers have won 4 in 10. And they have a winning streak on their home court.  The Sixers have beaten them 3 straight times however. I'd like to think that the improvement we've seen recently in shooting percentage and defense continues, and that we start to win some games.  We better beat Milwaukee if we expect to be a playoff team, especially without Bogut.

[rickortreat]

So far so good, Sixers end the 1st with a 30-25 lead.  They were ahead by a bit more earlier, but the Bucks came back. No Speights so far, and I'm fine with it. Dalembert came out Ratliff came in and the team continued to play fine. Evans came in late in the quarter with some good energy too. Sixers offense is looking crisper and more logical the driver looks to draw defenders and make the pass for easy basket, or if it's open goes for the score. Also pressing continuously on defense.  Good job Tony!

[anklebreaker]

Nice 4th quarter tonight.  They did a good job of denying Villanueva looks in the 2nd half. 

[rickortreat]

Another game where Speights was integral to the win and momentum shift.  When he was put in in the 4th, he scores a bucket on a put-back, then gets the ball and drives to the basket drawing the foul, making the shot and the free throw. Five point swing in the Sixers favor right at crunch time. Also had a nice block on the defensive end. Got ripped off on a no-call when he went up, got clobbered by Jefferson, did not get the shot up, jumped again and charged with a turnover.

Very impressive win by the Sixers, outscoring the Bucks by 11 in the fourth quarter. Again they shoot over 50% for the game, and also converted 82% of their free throws, which was critical since the Bucks hit any free path shooter. 39 Free-throws, wow!

Fastbreak was good when they could get it, but it wasn't often, they had to out-execute the Bucks down the stretch, getting stops and scoring and they did it. The Schedule gets easier for a bit, and it gives the Sixers a chance to develop some confidence before their next meeting with Boston.

[Skates]

Best win I have seen in a while.  The team showed the effects of the long road trip and back to back home/away games in that second quarter.  The young guys looked very blah early on and the vets were carrying them.  The young guys played well down the stretch, with some nice contributions from Ivey as well.  Team played smart, tight basketball, took everything the Bucks could throw their way and answered every challenge down the stretch.  A gutsy win.

Sam = basically useless.  Put Brand at C when he comes back and let Sam come off the bench if you can't move him for a bag of balls and a soft pretzel.

[rickortreat]

Sam had 8 points, three boards and three blocks in 15 min. with only one turnover.  That's a pretty valuable contribution to just throw away.  And Brand is too short to play Center.

I think things will continue the way they did tonight at Center. With Dalembert starting, Theo coming in and Speights in the fourth quarter. Brand will give them a lot more flexibility in their lineup, meaning more viable combinations of players, but almost always Sam, Theo or Mareese should be in there.

[Skates]

The reasons he played only 15 minutes are obvious and his contributions nearly all occurred in a two or three minute stretch.  He simply lacks the brain to play basketball at a high level.  He might be a nuclear physicist in the rest of his life, but his basketball IQ is near nil.  In those fifteen minutes he committed dumb fouls, was continually drifting away from the basket and getting beat by guys like Dan Gadzuric and he missed several gimme's early in the game.  And that was with the team trying to spoon feed him in both halves.  I have defended Sammy in the past, but right now, other than a game here or there, he is almost a non-entity.  It is not like he had to guard Bogut tonight, yet he still got into quick foul trouble.

Could he be a decent bench guy, sure, but his personality should lead him to start bitching about his minutes any day now.  Maybe Team Canada knew what they were doing when they sent his butt home.

[anklebreaker]

vintage salmi  "He is the best shot focking player in the league," of course referring to Andre Miller.  

The Andres put together a nice showing tonight.  I love how Miller silenced the crowed with that face 3 in Redd's face.  Ivey's 3's came at pretty crucial times.  This was easily his best performance thus far as a sixer.  Speights came through offensively in a huge way down the stretch.  

With the exception of a few plays, Thad has looked pretty bad in the last two games... especially on the offensive end.  Hopefully he snaps out of it soon.  I'm sure he's looking forward to Brand returning.  

Also, on a side note.  They interviewed Lou courtside during DNL tonight and I'm pretty sure I saw Jason Smith jogging in the back round... nice to see.

[Derek Bodner]

My two favorite sam plays:
- Defending Gadzuric 20 feet from the basket (where Gadz has no ability to make a shot), opening up the lane for an easy drive by Jefferson.
- Literally knocking over Villanueva when he was closing out on a jumpshot, then acting like he did nothing wrong.  The look of bewilderment on his face was just priceless.

[anklebreaker]

I loved that broken play at the end where Speights grabbed a loose ball after it got knocked out of Iguodala's hands and just extends his arm without hesitation and goes strong to the basket for the dunk in traffic.  He's got tremendous instincts for a rookie.  Not that its saying much, but I'm pretty sure its safe to say he's got better instincts than Dalembert. 

[Skates]

I loved that broken play at the end where Speights grabbed a loose ball after it got knocked out of Iguodala's hands and just extends his arm without hesitation and goes strong to the basket for the dunk in traffic.  He's got tremendous instincts for a rookie.  Not that its saying much, but I'm pretty sure its safe to say he's got better instincts than Dalembert. 

Speights has great offensive instincts, but the best part of his game is his hands.  He caught a really tough pass from Miller late in the game and gracefully layed it in.  Most bigs could not have caught that pass at all, much less make it look routine.  He almost has Chris Webber-level good hands and the young Chris Webber had the best hands I have ever sen on a big man.