I thought that it was better for Evans to try to deal with Shaq than Mareese, although he should have had one or two chances to try to defend him and to try and score on him.
Biggest problem for the Sixers is that they weren't getting to the free-throw line with any regularity, and they couldn't stop anybody all night. I think both of these were attributable to fatigue. It's a shame, since Thad and Lou had good games and so did Andre Miller. All over 20 pts. Normally that means a win for the Sixers, but Iguodala only had 11. It's not that he had a bad game, he only shot 10 times.
This is where they needed Speights last night. They were with the Suns right until the end of the game when they stopped scoring. Speights is normally good for 8 pts. in 15 min. The Sixers could have used those extra pts.! The problem is that the team doesn't always use him the right way. It's fine for him to get hustle points like put-backs and rebound, but the team should focus on getting him the ball in the post to initiate the offense. It is late in the season to be doing things like this, but it's better that they do it now than in the playoffs. It's not like throwing the ball to Dalembert or Evans where the ball might end up out of bounds. He can play out of the post or pass to cutters, and try to get the opposing Center/PF in foul trouble.
I don't know what they're waiting for. They can win a lot of games during the regular season by running and playing defense, but they still don't have half court offense they can rely on, and it's because they don't have all the right pieces. They need an inside scorer and Speights is it, and will be even when Brand gets back. He's the only one with the height and the touch on the team to fill that role properly, and it makes no sense to not develop him in that position now, since they have no-one else.
I can't understand why they prefer Willie Green in the line-up, or why they like Thad to play against bigger, stronger players. I defy the coaching staff to justify their line-up choices.
