Sixers beat Blazers in OH TEE, finish road trip 3-2

[DuckyNinja]

Not gonna complain about the losses, that was a great road trip.  Thaddeus Young has averaged like 20.5 over the past 13, and may just be developing into a leading scorer a la Antawn Jamison.  We can make noise in the playoffs, especially if we get to the 5 seed.

[anklebreaker]

Young was huge last night.  He was our one reliable option in the 3rd quarter when Portland was making their push, and he managed some huge buckets from everywhere on the court.  I especially loved that play at the end where he tipped back Miller's missed layup.  I think that ultimately sealed it.  Also, the team did a phenomenal job on making Roy a non-factor. 

I thought this would be a make or break western swing, so it feels good to be coming home still having the 5 seed in reach, no to mention, I'd like to think our confidence is up as we finish up the final 13 games.  9 of our last 13 now are against sub .500 teams (although 2 are against Detroit), and 7 of our last 13 are at home. 

[Skates]

I caught the last 5 minutes of regulation and all of OT.  A very nice win, definitely a team effort down the stretch.  Great D by Ivey on Roy at the end of regulation.  Oden has some talent, but he should not be getting the breaks he gets from the officials already.  He kept pushing Sammy off and committed at least three offensive or loose ball fouls that the refs ignored in the short time I was watching the game.

Biggest thing, hitting their FT's down the stretch.  It was sweet.

[anklebreaker]

Biggest thing, hitting their FT's down the stretch.  It was sweet.

We knocked them down all game long - 35-39 - 90%

One thing that has been overlooked is Iggy going 4-4 from the free throw line at the end of regulation to tie it up. 

[rickortreat]

Very impressive win for the Sixers, particularly on the tail end of a back to back and in overtime no less, they were the more energetic team.  Portland was getting nearly all the calls from the refs so the Sixers had to overcome that as well.

The two Andres have been at it almost all year, but now Thad Young is also putting up 20 ppg.  To me this means the Sixers have crossed a line.  When a team rely's on 2 good players they can win more often than not, but every once in a while will loose, when one of them has an off-game.  Teams with 3 solid scorers, like Boston are much harder to beat, they only become vulnerable when one of their big three is out with an injury.

This should start to show up in their record soon, they are better than a .500 team now. They are over .500 for the trip, and I think could have won 1 or 2 more had the schedule been a bit more favorable.  If they had a days rest after LA before playing Phoenix they could have won that one.  Golden State gives the Sixers lots of problems because they play inside-out driving and then kicking the ball back out for an open shot.  Orlando plays the same way and it is very hard for a conventional defense to beat them.

The rest of the schedule provides the Sixers with the opportunity to get to the fifth spot even though they have no more with Miami.  They see Detroit twice, and that will determine who gets the 5th and 6th seeds.  IMO, the Sixers are better this time around.  We also have the Celtics once and the Cavaliers twice.  I'm anxious to see how the "new look Sixers" go against the East's elite.  And also the Atlanta Hawks, who we should see in the first round.

There are lots of weak EC teams in the last few weeks so the Sixers should be able to maintain a winning record no matter what.  Miami looks suspect and had a tougher schedule, I think.  Atlanta, though has been playing better than the Sixers and it doesn't look like we can catch them.

[RickyPryor]

Very impressive win for the Sixers, particularly on the tail end of a back to back and in overtime no less, they were the more energetic team.  Portland was getting nearly all the calls from the refs so the Sixers had to overcome that as well.

The two Andres have been at it almost all year, but now Thad Young is also putting up 20 ppg.  To me this means the Sixers have crossed a line.  When a team rely's on 2 good players they can win more often than not, but every once in a while will loose, when one of them has an off-game.  Teams with 3 solid scorers, like Boston are much harder to beat, they only become vulnerable when one of their big three is out with an injury.

This should start to show up in their record soon, they are better than a .500 team now. They are over .500 for the trip, and I think could have won 1 or 2 more had the schedule been a bit more favorable.  If they had a days rest after LA before playing Phoenix they could have won that one.  Golden State gives the Sixers lots of problems because they play inside-out driving and then kicking the ball back out for an open shot.  Orlando plays the same way and it is very hard for a conventional defense to beat them.

The rest of the schedule provides the Sixers with the opportunity to get to the fifth spot even though they have no more with Miami.  They see Detroit twice, and that will determine who gets the 5th and 6th seeds.  IMO, the Sixers are better this time around.  We also have the Celtics once and the Cavaliers twice.  I'm anxious to see how the "new look Sixers" go against the East's elite.  And also the Atlanta Hawks, who we should see in the first round.

There are lots of weak EC teams in the last few weeks so the Sixers should be able to maintain a winning record no matter what.  Miami looks suspect and had a tougher schedule, I think.  Atlanta, though has been playing better than the Sixers and it doesn't look like we can catch them.

Good recap.

Hey, anyone have the combined records of the teams we and Miami still face?

[Skates]

Keep the pressure on the Heat, I need Wade to keep playing for my fantasy team to have any chance of advancing in the playoffs.   

Luckily one of my fantasy team players recently became a consistent 20 ppg threat - Yeah, I am talking Thad Young.  Nice.

[Derek Bodner]

Even scoring 20, Thad's not all that great of a fantasy player.  I've got him in one of my league's as well, and he's been a nice option lately, but the steals and rebounds aren't there to play him too often at PF, and the 3's and assists aren't there that you'd like at SF, and hurts in ftm for either position.  Much better impact on the court than in fantasy leagues.

Doesn't help that I have Dirk and Villanueva (who was en fuego in December and February) playing the same position.

[Skates]

The league I am playing in is very deep, so Thad is actually pretty productive for me, relatively speaking.  He gets a fair number of steals and his rebounds have been getting better of late, not that he is any kind of a monster on the boards.  My big problem is that all of my centers got hurt, Bogut, Oden, etc.  I am running guys like Blatche, Collison and Kristic out there in the middle.  Ouch.

[anklebreaker]

This year my fantasy team started out with McGrady, Redd, Arenas, Z-Randolph (missed a lot of games), and I shipped out D. Howard in a deal that involved J. Crawford right before Nellie put him in his doghouse.  Fantasy gods have denied me access to fantasy heaven. 

[tk76-]

Thanks to Ankle I'm doing well in the RealGM league, but I missed the playoffs pretty badly in the Philafans league.  I don't think I've gotten the hang of how to draft for a H2H league.  Injuries are so devastating.

[tk76-]

BTW, my slingbox just conked out.  I might not be watching as many games over the next few weeks.  A hate hunting for internet feeds (and prefer to watch on a DVR.)  Oh well...

[rickortreat]

You can always go to justin.tv and find the game feed available over the web free.

[tk76-]

I'm working for another 2+ hrs.  I hope there is a justintv feed with an archive.  That's the beauty of a DVR.  Once you are used to hit its hard to go back to letting the TV set your schedule.