11/3 Boston @ Sixers

[rickortreat]

To me the Celtics/Sixers rivalry is one of the greatest in sports and it has a long and distinguished history.  It may be coincidence but everytime the Sixers build a good team, Boston always seems to be a bit ahead of them. When Wilt and Hal Greer and Billy C. were Sixers, they faced Russell, Havlicek and all those other Celtic greats. They had to go through Boston and needed an extra season to get through them. When Dr. J was a Sixer it took several seasons and different Centers until they finally got Moses, and they needed everything they had to beat Boston, with Parrish, McHale and Bird. For Phila. basketball fans the Celtics are their arch enemy, and when they are on top, Phila. feels very confident that if they take out the Celtics whoever they face in the finals won't be as good.

Well here it is 2009, and the Celtics are one season removed from their championship run. They look very good at the begining of the season, and with Garnett healthy a strong candidate to reach the finals.  No one outside of Phila. thinks much of the Sixers, but that never bothers me.  This year the Sixers have a chance to take that next step and become an elite team themselves.

It's too soon in the season for this matchup, as was the Orlando game. This is more because of all the changes the Sixers have made and their lack of a set rotation tells me, that Eddie is still experimenting and figuring things out.  I would have rather he had things decided before a challenge like this, but such is the NBA.

I do think the Sixers are still upset with what happened in the Orlando game, so I expect them to work harder tonight, and they will need to as the Celtics are one of the best defensive teams in the league. Looking forward to this one, and a strong effort from Phila. If they can win this one, it will wake everyone up.

[jemagee]

Lose by less than 20 - break 90 - i'll consider it a 'win'

[rickortreat]

Nope. That won't do it for me. I want to see the Sixers keep it close at the very least. Give us the impression that they're almost there, even if they aren't yet.  I want to see Dalembert not giving any ground, and being aggressive on the boards. I want to see Lou, Thad and Andre running the lanes whenever possible early and often.  I want the Sixers working hard on defense trying to force turnovers and contentesting shots.  I want to see Thad shut down Paul Pierce and Andre Iguoudala make Ray Lewis feel OLD!

Most importantly, I want to see Speights run the floor and talk some trash. I want Phila. to fall in love with him as someone with a real heart. I also want to see Elton Brand make a real statement tonight, to the effect of, I'm back and I'm bad. (in the good way!)

I actually think the Sixers match up well with Boston, particularly if they give Speights and Smith the opportunity to match the Celtics size. I'll concede that Garnet is better, but I don't think that about Perkins, Big Baby, when he plays or even Rasheed is better than all of our bigs.  I think Speights can score with anyone in the NBA, and offset Garnet's scoring. If Dalembert can match Perkins, I think the Sixers can do some really good things here.

Lou played with Rondo over the Summer, and I'd also like to see Lou win his matchup. It wasn't unreasonable to question Lou as a point guard, but his performance through the first three games has been all-star level. and I'd like to see him show up his friend with the new contract.

It's been a long time since the rivalry had anything going for it, both teams have had some long lean years, and when one was good the other one wasn't. It would be good for the fans to see a little renewed competitiveness, and a real rivalry.

[tk76-]

Won't be a rivalry again until the sixers show they deserve to be on the same floor as a good team.

[jemagee]

Guess Doc talked to the Celtics at halftime about how a team like the sixers shouldn't be that close huh?

[Skates]

The one thing I like about the Sixers is their consistency.  Year after year, no matter who is coaching or playing they simply can't defend a pick and roll.  Ever.  Now that is real consistency.

[jemagee]

The one thing I like about the Sixers is their consistency.  Year after year, no matter who is coaching or playing they simply can't defend a pick and roll.  Ever.  Now that is real consistency.

Thing is (and I noted this on another blog) there was a quote during training camp about how the sixers were actually FOCUSING on defending the P&R so it finally became apparent to someone that they did indeed suck at it

[jemagee]

Won't be a rivalry again until the sixers show they deserve to be on the same floor as a good team.

By that time allen pierce and the bitch will have all retired...i mean - these guys aren't going to last much longer and aside from rondo - what's on the celtics roster to think they can be replaced?

[Derek Bodner]

The one thing I like about the Sixers is their consistency.  Year after year, no matter who is coaching or playing they simply can't defend a pick and roll.  Ever.  Now that is real consistency.

Or set one.

[jemagee]

Hey Derek - I was wondering - would you at all be interested in the XML sports data for the season for all teams (640) if maybe you only had to pay for 1/3 or 1/4 of it?

Let me know

[jemagee]

Oh yeah - here's the thing i read - Kate Fagans training camp blog - day 3

Towards the end of the practice, assistant coach Randy Ayers took over and worked specifically on pick-and-roll defense. Not a bad thing for the Sixers to be working on considering it has been a problem area with them for years. Ayers has the screener's defender showing hard against the ball handler, letting the on-ball defender slip on top of the screen (but below the show defender), and recovering to his man. Of course, this leaves the show defender behind, since their man has rolled to the basket. Ayers was going over all these rotations and it's the first time we've actually been watching as they went over these defensive principles. It's early, but they looked improved in this area. Jordan also began teaching a full-court press they'll be using ... which I think he called 43.
 

[Derek Bodner]

Hey Derek - I was wondering - would you at all be interested in the XML sports data for the season for all teams (640) if maybe you only had to pay for 1/3 or 1/4 of it?

Let me know

Perhaps, but I'm not sure how much of it I'd be able to use this year.  I'd want to have my site and database full developed and modified to use the data.  But 1/4 might be low enough of a cost that I might be willing to do it even without it being ready developmentally.

BTW, XML sports charges you each time you request the document, not just once per document, so we'd have to script it to save it to a server somewhere else, then the rest of the people could get it from there.

[jemagee]

Well my plan right now is to be the database 'bitch' for lack of a better team for the sites, i'd build it in mysql (sorry it's what i use) and be able to provide data to people and get moer technical going forward - website availability integrating it into various blogs...right now i'm just starting with sixers bloggers, but see what it becomes and figure out what is and isn't allowed...i just wanna get going with 'data' and i don't htink i'm going to win that combos contenst.

This evolved out of brians 'advanced metrics' work sheet - which he does in excelt after each game and i offered to make it more flexible for him...

I contacted jordan at liberty ballers - but you and brian know the other sixer bloggers out there who might be interested in such a project...the base cost i'm lookin for help with is the 640 - any other costs of hosting or whatever, i'd bear on my own, i just can't swing the 640 for the data - i think the max i can swing is 160 - (1/4 of it)

[Derek Bodner]

well, I'm looking to maintain my own database.  I'd be willing in splitting cost of the xml files, nothing more.

btw, I've coded Brian's advanced stats game log in 15 minutes:
http://nba.phillyarena.com/gamelog.php



(although my pace calculation is a little off.  I'll look at that tonight).

[jemagee]

But with the data you parsed in his php - can you tell me how the sixers do at home versus on the road, or how they perform against a given conference or divisioni (if you wanted such a thing)

Like I said - there'd be no additional costs in my mind aside from the files - i just like the idea of sharig the files