Trapped BY the 'Cats

Grrrrrrrrrr. The Sixers had a chance to jump a couple games above .500 before playing Orlando and Boston this week and they blew it, losing 93-84 in Charlotte. Who knows if it was attributed to playing yesterday and traveling last night or what. Actually, I have a better idea....they didn't shoot well. They let the league's lowest scoring team shoot 55% from the field. That is not a recipe for success in any game. The Bobcats were without Jason Richardson but their other guards, DJ Augustin and Raymond Felton, more than picked up the slack, shooting 16-22 and combining for 48 points. Thad Young had a rough night overall and that was definitely a contributing factor. Orlando on Wednesday, back at home.

Once Again, Nice Weekend

The Sixers had a nice weekend for the second time in a row, adding two more wins. They have now won 5 of their last 6 and are 5-1 on weekend games. Very nice game on Friday with Elton Brand hitting the game winning shot against his former team. Yesterday, the Sixers sustained a run by the Warriors in the 4th quarter and pulled away to win it. Nice to see their confidence down the stretch of the game and their ability to close out wins. They are settling into their game style recently in that they are now have the league's second highest fastbreak points per game. Another element that is nice to see is the fact that Reggie Evans is indeed comfortable with his role these days. This is evidenced by his leading the league in rebounds per 48 minutes statistic. This is much more like the Evans we know. He simply was not meant to play the amount of minutes he did last year. Now, he is out there to pull down rebounds and maintain intensity while Brand/Young/Dalembert take a break. Couple of big 3-pointers from a very unlikely source in these games....Andre Miller! I don't think he even left the floor or got any arc on them but they still count for 3 big points in both games. Would be nice to get a win in Charlotte tonight. This is a possible trap game for the Sixers in that they are playing away on the second night of a back to back against a poor team. Just need to bear down and take care of business because the week does not get any easier.

What A Weekend

The Sixers finished last week on a note they needed....a .500 overall mark. After the loss to Utah, I was hoping they'd find a way to win out the rest of the week and indeed they did. The Indiana victory stands as the highlight win of the year due to the fact that they were down 26 points in the 1st quarter. Yes, this is very nice to say the "came back" but it's quite disheartening to know they were actually down 26 points in the 1st quarter. It represented the 2nd largest 1st quarter deficit ever overcome in the history of an NBA game. Frankly, I think it's difficult to get down that many that fast but let's just focus on the fact that they won. Terrific game by Thad with his 25 points and 10 rebounds. He is all over the place and still does not seem to have one play actually called for him. He is very efficient on the floor.

Saturday was probably the most easily expected win of the week. Yes, the Sixers were returning home and on the second night of a back-to-back, but they were playing one of the youngest and worst teams in the league. Not too much to say other than nice job for taking care of business. Hopefully they have gotten over a bit of a hump and will start to lock into a groove with how they are going to execute their gameplan. I would not call the rest of the month a cake walk because there are a few teams left to play that will give him a game. If the Sixers continue to pay attention to defense, get out on their break, and have Brand continue to assert himself as he's started to do, they should have a strong run in their system to round out November.

First Road Win = First Quality Win

Last night the Sixers beat Toronto 106-96 on the road. This was significant for several reasons. Number one was obviously the fact that they need to start winning games with consistency. Number two is that they played the night before and lost to Utah at home. It is extremely difficult to win on the second night of a back-to-back in the NBA especially when that second game is on the road. Last night they had a few things click for them which were important. Foremost was the fact that Elton Brand was asserting himself more on the offensive end. Right now, Elton needs to play like the player we signed, not try to find the way he fits into the lineup as it existed at the end of last season. Our glaring weakness at the end of last season was the lack of a low-post player who excelled in the halfcourt set. Elton was the exact type of player to fit in that hole. It's best right now if he plays his game and other guys like Miller and Iguodala work off him. Last night, he chose his shots better and was hitting his jumper. Also a very nice game for Iguodala who usually plays well in Toronto and torments the fans there since the Raptors opted to draft Rafael Araujo right before him. Look up Araujo's career stats and you will understand the frustration. Bonus points if you can tell where he is playing now (answer at the end).

The importance of the win last night was that the Sixers started to form an identity for themselves. They will not be able to really get rolling until they clearly know where their strengths and weaknesses are and address those as such. They are also turning over the ball WAY too much which is a little out of character for these players and also not consistent with a Maurice Cheeks coached team. With the offense getting in sync and also fending off the runs made by Toronto (as well as defending the 3-ball), they were able to get a real confidence win. Let's hope this breeds further immediate success and they are back at .500 after tomorrow and Saturday's game.

Rafael Araujo signed a one-year contract worth $500,000 to play for Spartek St. Petersburg in Russia this offseason. Meanwhile, Andre Iguodala signed a 6-year, $80 million contract this same offseason.

BBBAAACCCKKK!!!

I will first start off by apologizing to the millions of readers who missed my coverage of the first couple games. I was all in Phillies mode the past couple weeks and it turned out to be quite the ride. Oh wait, a million people out there weren't dying to hear about the Sixers? Well guess what, I'm still going to cover them!

Last night I attended my first game this season and it felt as if I made up about 30% of the crowd myself. Sad but can't say it is surprising. Philly fans will come around when the team starts separating themselves in the East and has the look of a real winner. People are content for now to keep celebrating the Phillies and I can't blame them.

Anyway, last night the Sixers did the most obvious thing ever and crushed the Kings at home. The Kings are an awful team that has had to start the season with a road trip and have been getting continuously crushed. So I won't put much stock in this victory but I will note some standouts from it. Number one, pay attention to the picture on the right because you're going to be seeing a lot of him on this blog. Thad Young is going to play a vital role in the Sixers' success this season and he seems more than ready for the task. He is just progressing extremely fast and doing many things to contribute already. Last night, the 3-pt shooting opened up and our big shooting signees, Kareem Rush and Donyell Marshall, lit it up. Nice to see we can pull some shooters off the bench to stretch the defense and inject some quick offense. I'm liking the low presence of Elton Brand (that SUCH a surprise right?;) and I'm liking the role of Lou Williams as well. Iguodala isn't doing anything noteworthy yet but he seems to be playing in the system. That's fine until we need him to shine in game such as the loss against the Hawks. Regardless, the team is 2-2 and seeming to sort out some things in regards to chemistry right now. Hopefully that's taken care of quickly and we can get rolling. I'm excited about the prospects.