For the Sixers to realistically hav a shot at advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, they really needed to win game 5 on Boston's home floor. Having to win back-to-back games, with one of them being a game 7 in Boston, is just too much to ask of a young, offensively challenged team like Philadelphia.
Last night, the Sixers had a tremendous opportunity to take game 5. They came out and played arguably their most impressive offensive first half of the playoffs, posting 50 points after 2 quarters and taking a three-point lead into the half. Ironically, it was Elton Brand, the same guy I buried yesterday, leading the way.
Again behind Brand, the Sixers came out in the third and extended their lead. Minutes later, Andre Iguodala swiped the ball and broke the other way. Paul Pierce reached out and grabbed Iggy to prevent a momentum-building breakaway dunk and was called for a clear-path foul. Up stepped Iguodala to the line with the chance to give the Sixers a 6-point lead and the ball. It was an opportunity for the Sixers to go ahead by 8 or 9 ponts and take further control of the game. It was the type of moment that can really swing the game one direction or the other, a big moment for the Sixers to exert themselves.
Instead of doing that, Iggy missed both freebies. Then Spencer Hawes turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, and the wheels came completely off. Moments later, the Celtics took the lead and never looked back, ultimately blowing out the Sixers for an emphatic 101-85 victory to take a 3-2 series lead.
Following that huge missed opportunity, the Sixers' offense reverted back to its painful form, settling for contested jump shots and becoming a mess with turnovers. The Celtics suffocated Philadelphia on the defensive end, then went to work offensively. Rondo was magnificent, Garnett dominant once again and Brandon Bass of all people was carrying the scoring load. Boston saw a young, inexperienced team in a moment of weakness and made sure to strike while the iron was hot. And it all started with those missed free throws by Andre Iguodala.
Look at the play-by-play, and it tells the same story. Following that dreadful sequence, the Celtics went on a 10-run to take a 6-point lead, a lead that would only grow as the game went on. Doug Collins even brought it up during a timeout, as TNT showed us him telling his team they had the ball with a lead and chance to extend that lead with the clear path foul and let it slip away. That was the pivotal sequence of the game, the moment that truly determined which way this one was going. Andre Iguodala and his Sixers failed. The Celtics, with their Hall of Fame roster and mountain of experience, took the reins and then stomped out Philadelphia.
Now, I'm not going to go out and kill Andre Iguodala for this. Truthfully, the man has hit more clutch shots this postseason than he ever has, and he's only increased his trade value. I will admit that I cannot understand how in the hell the guy has progressively gotten worse at the free throw line, going from a career-best 82 percent free-throw shooting in his third season (after shooting 74.3 percent and 75.4 percent in his first two seasons) to 72.1 percent, 72.4 precent, 73.3 percent, 69.3 percent and finally a career-low 61.7 percent this season. It seems counterintuive that a player would get worse in that area, yet here we are.
Still, while the sequence that included the missed clear-path free throws and ensuing turnover was the turning point, it's an indictment on the whole team how this game spiraled out of control. The best players for the Sixers last night were arguably Elton Brand and Lavoy Allen, and let's face it, if those two guys are your best players on any given night, your team is in trouble.
No matter how many times this team surprises me with a huge comeback or a resilient effort, no matter how far this Sixers team goes in the playoffs, I can't help but see a completely flawed roster. Spencer Hawes is too soft to be worth the trouble on a team in flux. Iguodala needs to be traded so his talents can be utilized appropriately on a team that needs a great defender and very nice all-around player, not a star. Elton Brand is on his last legs and should be amnestied so he can ride out his twilight somewhere else. Lou Williams is a great spark plug, but he's not what this team needs.
It needs a superstar. It needs to find out if Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner will ever be able to take the next step and be cornerstones of the franchise. It needs to get Thaddeus Young on the court more. Did I mention it needs a superstar? The Sixers won't get any of those things if they continue to be a mediocre team with a flawed roster devoid of a go-to guy, a game-changer. They just won't.
The Sixers aren't a team ready to take on those pivotal moments and own them. They had the opportunity last night, a huge opportunity to get within one victory of the Eastern Conference Finals. But they couldn't do it because this team just isn't quite good enough to do it. After all, they are an 8 seed that got extremely fortunate with the injuries to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, an 8 seed that backed its way into the playoffs. Let us, and more importantly let the Sixers ownership not forget that, while enjoying this surprising ride for what it is.
I'm not even going to attempt to break down the Sixers' mind-bending 92-83 victory Friday night to even up the series with the Celtics at two games apiece. The Sixers were down 14-0 to start the game, down 15 half and felt like they were down even more, yet somehow managed to win. I watched the entire game, and I'm still not entirely sure how it happened.
Nothing about that game made sense. I mean, Andre Iguodala even became supremely clutch, scoring five straight points and essentially putting the game out of reach. It was stunning, crazy and inexplicable, so there's no reason to do anything but marvel at this oddity of a game and enjoy.
However, there is something worth discussing here that everyone can make sense of - Doug Collins' blind loyalty twoard starting Elton Brand.
It was brought up during the broadcast by Doris Burke. Burke was discussing how well Lavoy Allen has been playing in the series, particularly noting how Kevin Garnett, who absolutely killed the Sixers in the first three games, struggled most when Allen was on the floor guarding him.
With that in mind, Burke said Doug Collins was going to try to manage Allen's minutes to mathc up with KG to have Allen out there whenever Garnett was on the floor. This makes a ton of sense, for obvious reasons.
Here's the thing ... Garnett starts the game. He is a starter for the Celtics. Lavoy is not a regular starter for the Sixers, and he was not out there to start game 4. This despite Collins' admission that he wants Allen out there whenever Garnett is out there to neutralize him as much as he can.
So why wasn't Allen out there to start? Because Doug Collins won't even consider starting the game with Elton Brand on the bench because he just couldn't do that to the guy. Burke said she asked Doug point blank if he has considered sitting the struggling Brand down and starting Allen, and he said not for a second.
Not for a second? Really? How does this make any sense to anyone? Listen, I respect the professionalism and hard work of Elton Brand as much as anyone. I wasn't a fan of the signing and didn't like him prior to becoming a Sixer thanks in large part to being a former Blue Devil. But since he's been here, he's been the utmost professional, never complains and goes about his business. Last year, he was quietly the team's best player. But let's face it, it's the end of the line for Elton Brand. He has absolutely no lift anymore. He can't consistently hit his jumper like he used to. His neck and other injuries have rendered him damn near useless on the court.
Meanwhile, Allen has been battling and giving Garnett fits when they're matched up. Collins even admits this. Yet he won't start Allen over Brand out of some misplaced loyalty. Burke found this admirable. I found it offensive.
A coach's job isn't to be the most loyal guy in the world. It's to put his team in the best position to win. Elton Brand was on the floor over Lavoy Allen as the Celtics were jumping out to a 14-0 lead. Lavoy came in and helped reverse that and cut into the lead for a short while. He's the guy who should be out there to start at power forward, not the broken-down Brand.
Everyone who has watched the Sixers this postseason and especially this series knows this. Hell, Doug Collins even knows this. But he won't pull the trigger on making the move that is so obvious it hurts to see it ignored.
Again, I respect Elton Brand to no end. He won me over, even though his contract has been an albatross and I think the Sixers should use the amnesty clause on him this offseason. And I love the passion Collins brings, the way he keeps his team fighting to the very end, the way he loves Philadelphia and the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall, the way he's brought some excitement back to professional basketball in this city. But this is an area where Collins' loyalty to start Brand is putting the Sixers in a bad spot.
I know the minutes played and who is on the court come crucnh time are more meaningful than who starts and who comes off the bench, and Allen has rightfully been seeing the floor more than Brand. But maybe the Sixers wouldn't get themselves in these big holes if Collins made the switch from Brand to Allen in the starting lineup.
Then again, maybe not. Who am I to really say? After all, the Sixers are already farther along in the playoffs than anyone thought they'd be, and somehow they are just two victories away from the Eastern Conference Finals, somehow, some way.
Ever since Spencer Hawes returned to the lineup on a regular basis last month, Doug Collins has completely forgotten that rookies Nik Vucevic and Lavoy Allen exist, even as Hawes struggles with consistency and the Sixers continue to get pounded inside. Just take a look at the rebounding numbers since Hawes' return.
99-78 loss to Toronto: Raptors 46 rebounds, Sixers 29 rebounds — Allen and Vucevic, 3:05 of garbage time each
99-93 loss to Miami: Heat 43, Sixers 38 — Allen and Vucevic, DNP each
95-90 win over Atlanta: Hawks 35, Sixers 41 — Allen and Vuc, DNP each
97-76 loss to Washington: Wizards 52, Sixers 38 — Vuc 9:28, Allen 3:46 of garbage time
103-85 win over Cleveland: Cavs 44, Sixers 43 — Allen 2:23, Vuc 1:27
93-76 loss to San Antonio: Spurs 46, Sixers 47 — Allen DNP, Vuc 12:44
99-86 win over Boston: Celtics 35, Sixers 46 — Allen and Vuc, DNP each
82-79 loss to New York: Knicks 47, Sixers 39 — Allen and Vuc, DNP each
105-80 win over Charlotte: Bobcats 31, Sixers 51 — Allen 1:55, Vuc 11:04
89-80 loss to Chicago: Bulls 53, Sixers 39 — Allen DNP, Vuc 14:59
In the past 10 games, as Hawes has returned and Allen and Vucevic have seen their time steadily and then infinitely diminish, the Sixers are 4-6. During that stretch, they have been abused in the paint by damn near every opponent and have been out rebounded 432-411. In the six losses, that discrepancy is even greater, being outworked on the boards 287-230. And time and time again, the opposition has had little trouble owning the paint. Yet Doug Collins never even gives his rookie bigs a look, in fact diminishing their time as a reward for all their hard work in keeping the Sixers afloat during Hawes' absence. It makes no sense at all, and honestly, the only logical conclusion is that Doug Collins is doing a terrible job right now.
What? No, I'm not putting you in!
I mean, in a crucial game agains the Knicks, New York took over in the paint in the second half. Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler owned Elton Brand and Hawes inside. Naturally, with those two rendered ineffective, Doug would turn to Vucevic and/or Allen, right? Wrong. Neither one saw the floor for a single second.
In an embarrassing, inexcusable blowout loss to the Wizards last week — by the way, that's the most disturbing trend for the Sixers, losing badly to bad teams, something they never did early in the season — the Sixers were destroyed on the glass 52-38, as Hawes and Brand got eaten alive inside by Nene and Jan Vesely. Yet Nik saw only 9 minutes and Lavoy less than 4.
Two night ago against the Heat, Udonis Haslem simply outworked Hawes and Brand on the boards, and that duo was horrendous guarding the pick and roll. Allen and Vucevic both never saw the floor.
And last night, as the Sixers got undressed and dismantled by a terrible Toronto team, Lavoy and Nik got nothing but garbage time even as Ed Davis was collecting 14 boards and the Raptors were owning the glass. Even though Spencer had a near double-double and Brand was excellent offensively, the Raptors owned the interior, out rebounding the Sixers by 17 and easily cursing to victory.
Now listen, I'm not delusional enough to think that Vucevic and Allen are some cure-all or big man saviors for this team. Hawes and Brand are better than both of them, and they should see the floor more than the green, raw rookies — but Hawes and Brand aren't good enough to be playing the entire game without hurting the team inside anymore. They just aren't. Vucevic and Allen are young guys who showed a lot when they were given the opportunity, and now, even as the Sixers are struggling as a team and really struggling on the inside, Doug isn't giving them a chance at all. It's as if he's completely forgotten they exist, and at the same time, the Sixers seem to have completely forgotten how to win consistently.
I like Doug Collins. A lot. He's a done masterful job with the Sixers here, taking them from floundering in mediocrity with seemingly no end in sight to a team that is exciting, young and on the right path. Yes, they are still pretty mediocre due to their lack of any sort of superstar, but they play a fun brand of basketball, work hard and seem to like each other. That's all a credit to Doug Collins, no question about it.
Here's the thing, though. Right now, as the Sixers continue to fall back down to earth and are now in a three-team dog fight for the Atlantic division, we're beginning to see some of the reasons why a coach with as good of an overall record as Doug Collins (.533 winning percentage) has never lasted more than three seasons in one city. He toys with players' minutes (Evan Turner), stays loyal to guys who have no business getting that loyalty and throws out the playbook in the fourth quarter. Last night was just another example, as Doug Collins' bizarre (see stupid) coaching moves cost the Sixers a huge game against the Knicks as much as the team's horrid shooting did.
One of the glaring things about last night's 82-79 loss was that both Nik Vucevic and Lavoy Allen did not see a single second of action. This despite the fact that starting center Spencer Hawes, who just recently returned from an achilles injury and is still working his way into shape, was absolutely awful and played less than 20 minutes, and despite the fact that the Knicks absolutely abused the Sixers inside in the second half, turning a rebounding deficit of around five into outrebounding the Sixers by eight before it was all said and done.
This, quite frankly, makes no sense whatsoever. Granted, Elton Brand had a very good game, notching a double-double and doing some work on the defensive end with two steals and five blocks, but with Hawes struggling and the Knicks taking command of the paint, the two rookie bigs were nowhere to be found. Instead, Collins opted to go small most of the night, to dire consequences. It's almost as if now that Hawes is back, Collins has forgotten all the good work both Vucevic and Allen did while Spencer was hurt.
Admittedly, Allen's time was already decreasing before Hawes got back. That was due to a combination of his struggles offensively and Brand starting to find his game again. Still, the kid has played really hard and really smart when he's had the opportunity, and he still is a decent post defender and rebounder — something the Sixers really could have used last night. As for Vucevic, he showed a lot during the absence of Hawes, proving he has a lot of versatility offensively and moves well for a big man. Yes, he's had his ups and downs, which is to be expected for a rookie center. But he's given the team quality minutes really all season long. And yet, there those two were, wasting away on the bench as Hawes played as horrible of a game as he's ever played in a Sixers uniform and the Knicks took advantage of their size. It was beyond a baffling decision.
Hell, in that dreadful first quarter where the Sixers missed their first 14 shots with Hawes quite literally at the center of the struggles, I was calling for Nik or Lavoy to get in the game. I mean, Hawes couldn't even come close to hitting a shot, Tyson Chandler made a fool of him on consecutive blocks and you could just tell it wasn't Spence's night. Yet Vucevic and Allen never had their numbers called. I don't get it.
Then there's the use of the bench. In the first half, it was Thaddeus Young who helped kickstart the dormant Philadelphia offense. He wasn't shooting the ball well, but he was one of the rare Sixers attacking the New York defense and being active. So naturally, as crunch time came, there was Thad sitting on the bench as Jodie Meeks was out there in his place. I get it, Jodie had as good of a game as Jodie Meeks can possibly have. He hit a couple threes, even took it to the rim a few times, and clearly had his confidence going. But unless you absolutely need a three in the closing minutes, there's no reason that Jodie Meeks should be on the court in crunch time, especially over an active, versatile and far superior player like Thaddeus Young. Only for some reason, Doug Collins disagreed with that last night, as Young was glued to the bench for almost the entire fourth quarter. What the hell? No one wants to see Jodie out there over Thad. No one.
Oh, and there's also the whole fiasco that is the Sixers' fourth-quarter offense. Everyone who has watched the Sixers for more than a game or two knows that this team is at its best offensively when everyone is sharing and moving the ball. It's at its absolute worst when it tries to set up isolation plays with everyone else standing around. And yet more and more as this season wears on, Doug Collins increasingly puts the ball in Lou Williams' hands in isolation situations during the final quarter. More times than not, Lou is chucking up a shot, because that's what Lou does, and at least 50 percent of those are horrible shots to take. It's incredibly putrid basketball, made even worse by the fact that Collins keeps taking the ball out of his young, talented point guard's hands — even when Jrue Holiday is playing really well.
Last night was one of those nights. Holiday was arguably (definitely) the best player for the Sixers against the Knicks. He scored a team-high 16 points, dished out 6 assists to just 1 turnover, was one of the few guys actually going at the Knicks' defense and attacking the rim, and he played lock-down defense on Jeremy Lin. Basically, he was doing everything you could ask of him. So his reward in the fourth quarter was exactly what it's been nearly all year long — watching Lou Williams get the ball-handling duties as the offense stalls.
I don't understand it. I really don't. Jrue does a great job all game running the point, a great job taking care of the ball and being aggressive, a great job of getting the Sixers in the share-the-ball mode that brings out their best, and then once the fourth quarter rolls around, Collins turns Jrue into a shooting guard running off the ball and has Lou Williams dribble around for 15 seconds before looking for his own shot first, his own shot second and everything else third. Jrue needs the ball in his hands in that situation. Jrue deserves the ball in his hands in that situation. The team is at its best when Holiday is allowed to be the point guard, and he is the guy whom the Sixers are hoping to build their future around. The Sixers need to find out if he is that guy, need to find out if he can execute the offense when it matters most. But Doug takes the ball away from him every fourth quarter, and the Sixers look lost when they need buckets. That's just bad, short-sighted coaching, and it reared its ugly head again last night.
This is all without even mentioning Andre Iguodala and his late-game foibles. On three straight attempts for Iggy late in the game, he missed a free throw, blew an easy layup that would have made it a one-point game and threw up an airball. Good lord, why is he so bad in the clutch and increasingly worse at the foul line?
Regardless, last night was an ugly loss that cannot be blamed on any single player, no matter how bad several guys played. It was, however, another example of Doug Collins' increasingly baffling coaching moves of late. Maybe the pressure of that early-season success combined with a tight race and tougher schedule are catching up with Doug as much as they are catching up with the players. Who knows? What I do know is that Doug needs to get back to coaching the way he was during that torrid start, and maintaining his philosophy on both ends of the court for all four quarters, not just the first three. Because right now, as the Sixers are struggling to maintain any sort of consistency, no one is struggling as much as the coach right now.
Two nights ago, the Sixers did something that is damn near impossible to do: They won a game in which they were outrebounded by an astounding 55-30 margin. And they did so with Kobe Bryant putting forth an other-worldly scoring display in the first half, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol each notching double-doubles and tearing the Sixers apart inside, and the Lakers pulling down an absurd 21 offensive rebounds.
Yet when the final buzzer sounded, it read 76ers 95, Lakers 90, improving Philadelphia to 18-7 on the season to remain as a top 3 seed in the East. How did they manage to pull out a victory when they were outrebounded so badly and the three-headed monster of Kobe, Bynum and Gasol managed to put up a combined 64 points? Because their bench completely dominated, outscoring their L.A. counterparts 49-16. Hell, Lou Williams, who out-clutched Kobe in the fourth quarter and propelled the Sixers to victory with his team-high 24 points, had 8 more himself than the entire Lakers' bench.
Of course, this is nothing new for the Sixers. The second-unit, affectionately known as the "Night Shift," has been a driving force behind Philadelphia's remarkable success so far this season. Sixth man Lou Williams leads the Sixers in scoring at 15.5 per game, and he was the man in the fourth quarter Monday night. Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner are players who would be starting on a whole hell of a lot of NBA teams, and they both are integral parts of this team's makeup. And rookie big men Nik Vucevic and Lavoy Allen have surprised everyone with their play, proving they belong and sliding seamlessly into any role coach Doug Collins asked of them, whether it be spot starter, second-unit duty or even some time on the bench.
Combined, this quintet, not to mention the steady professionalism and quality minutes of veteran Tony Battie, has given the Sixers one of, if not the, best benches in the entire NBA. As it stands, only the Mavericks and Nuggets get more points from their backups than the Sixers, and only by the slimmest of margins. And when you factor in the all-around versatility of the Night Shift, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better second unit in the league.
Thanks to the play of guys like Williams, Young, Turner and the rookie bigs, it allows the starters to focus on a true team concept. Having Lou, Thad and Evan come in to carry the offense allowed Andre to completely shut down Kobe in the second half after it looked like Bryant might go for 50 during his 24-point first half. Having Lou and Turner as backup ball handlers allows Jrue Holiday to remain fresh and focus more on his defense. And having Vucevic and Allen playing at a high level lets players like Spencer Hawes and Elton Brand either get longer breathers or get healthy as they mend from injury.
The Night Shift has been fantastic all season long, and these high-quality subs are a major reason that the Sixers are so fun to watch and quickly winning this city over. They displayed just how potent they can be on Monday night, and if you've been paying attention, they've been doing it all season long.
Yesterday, I talked about how Andre Iguodala is the most unappreciated "best player on his team" in the NBA. That was before I headed down to the Wells Fargo Center with my friend and his dad to watch the Sixers dismantle the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls 98-82 behind another all-around dominant performance by Andre.
On a night in which reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose was in the building, it was Andre Iguodala who was the best player on the court. Not Rose. Not former Bull Elton Brand. And certainly not two-time all-star Carlos Boozer. It was Andre Iguodala.
Once again, the man who everyone loves to criticize went out and did everything a basketball player can possibly do on the court, riled up a raucous Philadelphia crowd and led the Sixers to a marquee victory against one of the league's elite teams. It really was a beautiful thing to watch.
The stats are impressive enough: 19 points on 8-13 from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arc, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, a block and a few monster dunks, including this one over familiar face Kyle Korver.
But as has been the case all season long with Iggy, the stats don't tell the whole story. You see, there's just something about Andre this year that's different. It may not come through in his stat line, as he continues to put up all-around impressive numbers though nothing eye-popping, but it's in the way he carries himself and leads this young team. At 28 years old, he's the guy the rest of these youngsters look to for guidance, and you can see that Andre has embraced that role. He isn't going out there trying to prove himself any longer. He's going out there and trying to improve his teammates. And that's exactly what Iguodala is doing.
From the moment the ball was tossed in the air until the final horn sounded, Iggy controlled the game on both ends of the court. He was as a big a reason as any that the Bulls were forced to play at the Sixers' pace. Iguodala led the way, and his teammates followed suit. Because as is always the case with this Sixers team, it was a total team effort.
In the late stages of the fourth quarter, I looked up at the jumbotron from my seats in section 110 and saw this on the Sixers' side:
Five different Sixers with at least 14 points, and all five chipping in with rebounds and assists pretty evenly distributed throughout. Jrue Holiday was brilliant in this one, keeping pace with Rose and taking care of the ball. Thaddeus Young had the quietest 19-8 game I can remember, yet did it so efficiently that it played a huge role. Plus, he, along with Elton Brand and Evan Turner, played remarkable defense. They were key in limiting the Bulls to just 82 points overall and just 11 points in the third quarter. Brand and Thad battled hard underneath against the much bigger Bulls frontcourt, rendering Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson and Omar Asik completely useless, while Turner stuck Kyle Korver and shut him down after Kyle hit some big threes early in the game. Evan also spent some time guarding Rose, making him work for everything he got.
But the second star of the game was without question rookie Lavoy Allen.
Few people really expected much if anything out of Allen in the NBA. He was a second-round pick out of Temple, a guy who had been a tremendous player for the Owls but a guy who also got criticized for what people perceived as a lack of effort. Truthfully, that's just the way Lavoy plays. He has a laid-back style. But if you watched him during his four years on North Broad Street, you know he was a battler who played tremendous post defense, rebounded like a demon — he is Temple's all-time leading rebounder after all — and made intelligent plays. Nothing flashy and sometimes not all that aggressive offensively, but incredibly effective. I envisioned him having a good career as a backup big noted for his defense and rebounding.
Still, I didn't expect much from him this season, yet here we are, with Allen having a breakout game against the best team in the Eastern Conference. His 15 points, 6 rebounds and three assists were huge, especially with his hustle plays in the first half that allowed the Sixers to take a lead into halftime. He's earned his spot on the nightshift, and Nik Vucevic is going to have to play his ass off to reclaim his place. Lavoy has simply come in and given the team a boost when it desperately needs it, with starting center Spencer Hawes still on the shelf, and he's embodying the Sixers' total team concept.
Conversely, the Bulls are still a one-man show on the offensive end. Derrick Rose is a fantastic player, one of the true elites in the league. But against excellent defensive teams like the Sixers and Heat, he needs help. Last night, he got none, as Boozer continued to suck, Noah was invisible and Luol Deng and Richard Hamilton couldn't go. That left guys like Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Watson responsible for getting points, and that spelled doom for the Bulls. Sure, Watson scored a game-high 20 points, but that was all the help Rose got. Take away the 38 scored by Rose and Watson, and the remainder of the Bulls put up a combined 44 points. Ugly.
Now, the naysayers out there will say that you can't really judge the Bulls without Deng and Hamilton, which is fine. Surely the Bulls are a more complete and better offensive team with those guys healthy. But even without them for portions of this season, Chicago has paced the East, so this is still a good basketball team. Plus, the Sixers didn't win solely because of their suffocating defense — though they certainly did play great defensively and now have the top defense in the entire NBA. They also managed to score 98 points against a Bulls defense that's limited opponents to just 87.9 points per game. Deng and Hamilton, for all their offense, aren't considered elite defenders, so putting up 98 points is impressive no matter how you look at it.
Then there is the fact that the Sixers completely and utterly thrashed the Chicago starters in the third quarter, outscoring the Bulls 26-11 and going up by 20 points, that Tom Thibodeau decided it was better to just rest his starters in the fourth quarter with another game on the docket tonight and a grueling road trip underway instead of leaving them out there for the demolition.
You can make all the excuses that you want to try and explain away this fast start and this impressive victory in particular — favorable schedule, facing the tough teams at home, etc. — but the fact remains that the Sixers are 16-6 this season, currently residing in second place in the Eastern Conference, and they just dismantled the only team ahead of them in the conference standings, not to mention that their best player is finally playing like a true all-star.
Last night, the atmosphere was like it was during Allen Iverson's heyday. The building was packed and the crowd was going wild. The Sixers were playing tremendous ball against one the best teams in the league. They took care of the ball and played remarkable defense. It felt 2001 all over again, I had a blast and i don't foresee that feeling going away anytime soon.
It may still be incredibly tough to fathom this team being able to get all that far in the postseason, but last night it became pretty clear: Andre Iguodala and the Philadelphia 76ers are the real deal.
Well god damn, that was one hell of a day yesterday wasn't it? I've already made my feelings known about what the Flyers did yesterday, but now that I've gotten that off my chest, time to move on. I may not agree with what they did, but I sure as shit hope it works out for the Flyers.
Then there is the matter of Roy Oswalt sucking and hurting his back again, then sounding all kryptic about it. Not good.
And last but not least, there was the NBA draft. Is it weird that I'm infinitely more excited that the Sixers drafted Lavoy Allen in the second round (50th overall) than I am about their first-round pick Nikola Vecevic (16th overall)? Because I am. Honestly, I was hoping the Sixers would take Chris Singleton because he instantly could replace Andre Iguodala defensively whenever Iggy gets traded, or Kenneth Faried because he's a man's man on the block. Instead they went for a very skilled, very tall center, definitely a need, but a guy who is apparently more Spencer Hawes than, say, Andrew Bynum.
Whatever, at least Lavoy stays in his hometown. I really hope he makes the team.
Anyway, yesterday was absolutely insane around here, so naturally there's only one song to dance to on this muggy, humid Friday in Philadelphia. Enjoy.
Saturday was the type of day that can really tell you a lot about teams heading into conference tournament play. Going in, we knew already that Villanova was struggling and North Carolina was on a tear, but both teams' fortunes could turn on a dime against big-time opponents. A win for Villanova at Pitt could help put this horrific stretch behind them.
A loss by North Carolina at home to Duke to drop both games in the season series with its hated rival could derail the young Tar Heels' confidence it had built up during this impressive streak.
As you know, neither one of those things happened. With a victory by Notre Dame, Pitt needed to beat Villanova to win the regular-season Big East title and earn the No. 1 seed in Madison Square Garden. That extra motivation proved lethal for Nova, as the Panthers won 60-50.
It was yet another example of how reliant the Wildcats are on Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher offensively. Stokes pulled a hamstring at practice last Thursday and for the second time this season couldn't suit up against Pitt. With Stokes out, Nova desperately needed Corey Fisher to come out of his three-game slump and score in bunches. He did not. At all.
Fisher was absolutely horrible yet again, going just 3-14 from the field for a measly 7 points.
It was an absolutely embarrassing effort from a big-time senior scorer.
During the course of his college career, I was often a pretty vocal critic of Scottie Reynolds. But one thing was certain with Reynolds, he was going to give Villanova a chance to win, even if he wasn't playing his best, against the big boys. I mean, who can ever forget this?
The guy was infuriating at times with his decision-making and shot selection, but he was a leader that would will Nova to hard-fought victories. As much as I like Corey Fisher, he's just not that guy. Yes, the Wildcats go as he and Corey Stokes go, but those guys just don't have that thing you can't quite describe that Scottie had. They don't rise to the big moments, the big challenges. They fade. And the rest of the Wildcats follow suit.
With Fisher struggling, it looked as though the rest of the Wildcats gave up with the exception for Maalik Wayns. Wayns, the next in line to take over as the man, scored 27 points and hit a rash of late threes to give Nova an ever so slight glimmer of hope. But he was alone. Not a single other Wildcat scored in double digits. In fact, Fisher was second on the team in scoring with his 7 points. Sorry, but that's just not showing enough passion and desire at the end of the season, especially during a rough patch and desperately needing a win.
Credit Pitt. They played great defense, holding Nova to 18 points in the first half and 50 for the game. They needed to win to be crowned Big East Champs, and they did. Even with their best effort, winning at Pitt with all that on the line for the Panthers was going to be a tough task. But to just really go down without a true fight, to drop their fourth game in a row and fall to 10th in the conference, it's disheartening to watch.
Villanova does get one more chance to try and get right before the NCAA Tournament, and it starts tonight against South Florida. If they lose this game, you can forget about any visions of a surprising NCAA run, and the way they're going, losing to South Florida isn't out of the realm of possibility.
One thing is for sure: If Nova has any hope of regaining its early-season form in the Garden, it needs Corey Fisher to play infinitely better, and it needs Corey Stokes healthy and effective.
We've all seen a team struggle late in the season and somehow catch fire come tournament time, so it's possible. But there's just something missing about this Nova team that it's had seemingly every year in the past. A lack of toughness, grit, passion, something. Probably a lack of senior leadership. Because it's hard to lead when the two guys you expect it from have been so up and down this late in the season.
Moving in the complete opposite direction is North Carolina. With Duke losing to Virginia Tech the weekend before, Saturday night's prime-time match-up between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils in Chapel Hill was for all the ACC marbles. Winner takes the regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.
Just like in the first meeting, North Carolina jumped out to a double-digit first-half lead behind the steady hand of Kendall Marshall, shooting of Harrison Barnes and interior presence of John Henson and Tyler Zeller. Unlike the first meeting, however, UNC didn't fold in the second half. Even with Nolan Smith putting up 30 and Seth Curry adding 20, Carolina fed off its home crowd and held Duke at bay to win rather easily 81-67.
Marshall once again completely controlled the game at the point for Carolina. The freshman looked anything but a first-year college player. He put his foot on the gas pedal when Duke was on its heels and slowed things down when the Blue Devils seemed to be making a run. When it was all said and done, he finished with 15 points and 11 assists, shot 5-8 from the field, 1-2 from three and 4-5 from the line. And he was the one player that influenced the pace and momentum shifts more than anyone.
Inserting him into the starting lineup was the best thing Roy Williams has done all season, and it's the biggest reason Carolina is the regular-season ACC champs. I honestly can't say enough about him. If you haven't watched him play, do yourself a favor and tune in before the NCAA tournament so you can see what the opposition is in for against the Tar Heels.
Uncoincidentally, fellow freshman Harrison Barnes has really elevated his game to the next level with Marshall at the point. On Saturday, he was huge yet again.
In the first match-up, Barnes and Duke's star senior Kyle Singler guarded each other and essentially canceled each other out. Both players played such hounding defense that neither was effective offensively. So it was interesting to see what would happen Saturday.
Well, the two matched up once again most of the night guarding one another. And once again, both guys worked incredibly hard defensively to try and slow the other down. Only this time, Barnes was able to overcome Singler's defensive efforts to put up 18 points. Singler couldn't solve Barnes on the other end, going just 3-14 to finish with just 8 points. The second go-round, Barnes was able to outplay Singler offensively without letting up on the defensive end. It was quite an impressive performance.
Then you add Henson's double-double (10 and 12) and Zeller scoring 14 points on 7-11 shooting, and you can see why more and more analysts are calling UNC their dark horse for the Final Four.
Admittedly when I first heard those mentions, I thought, "No way." And when Kenny commented that "North Carolina WILL NOT SNIFF the Final Four," the other day, I agreed with him. But after Saturday night, I don't know.
I mean, think about it. This team has an elite front line with Zeller and Henson, a front line that is dominate offensively, defensively and on the boards. They have a freshman backcourt duo that is playing damn near as well as anyone else. Marshall is a maestro with the ball in his hands and the Heels have lost only once with him in the starting lineup. Barnes is a bona fide scorer who can also defend and rebound, and he's proven to be all sorts of clutch.
They're also getting solid play from the role players: Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland in the backcourt, Justin Knox and Justin Watts in the frontcourt.
If they can stay healthy and keep Zeller, Henson, Barnes and Marshall out of foul trouble, this team is as talented as any and can go deep into March and early April. They're built to win in the tournament: Two really good guards, two really strong interior players and an absolutely dominant rebounding team. And they're playing as good as anyone heading into conference tournament play. So yeah, maybe Roy Williams' squad can be a Final Four team. They're certainly built for it if all the pieces fall in line, which lately they have.
The rise of Carolina and fall of Villanova have been well-documented. Flying under the radar nationally (as the entire Atlantic 10 usually does) has been the steady play of Temple. The Owls closed out their regular season by handling La Salle 90-82 to finish 24-6 overall and 14-2 in the A-10, a game behind Xavier to finish second in the conference. They are primed once again to win it all in Atlantic City, and then put a good fight up in the NCAA Tournament.
The biggest factor in Temple quietly running off 11 wins in 12 games since the loss at Xavier has been senior Lavoy Allen. Allen was expected to be a contender for A-10 Player of the Year but got off to a slow start statistically. He never really asserted himself offensively in the first half of the season and was happy to cede the spotlight to Ramone Moore or Scootie Randall or Khalif Wyatt or Juan Fernandez. But as the season wore on and Moore slumped a bit, Fernandez struggled and Randall got hurt, Lavoy has completely taken over.
Since the loss at Xavier, Allen has averaged 14.5 points and 11.9 rebounds a game. He's had double-doubles in nine of those games, including five straight with his 24 points and 11 rebounds Saturday against La Salle. He had 17 and 13 in the loss to Duke, 19 and 16 in a hard-fought win at George Washington, 14 and 18 at UMass. He's been an absolute beast of late, and that's why Temple is comfortably in the NCAA Tournament field and can only help their seeding in Atlantic City.
For his efforts, Lavoy was named First Team All A-10. Temple's all-time leading rebounder certainly earned it with his second-half play.
And there's more good news for the Owls. Khalif Wyatt was named A-10 Sixth Man of the Year, Ramone Moore made Second Team All A-10, and Scootie Randall was honored as well. Plus, Juan Fernandez has started to come alive again, evident by his 15 points and 7 assists against La Salle, including shooting 50 percent from the field and three. The Owls just keep moving right along.
And Talor Battle just keeps moving right along with his impressive play, despite the mediocrity of his team. It's going to take a minor miracle for Penn State to make the NCAA Tournament, something Battle's never been privileged to play in. He probably won't get that chance this year either (unless Penn State makes it to the Big Ten Championship game, I don't think they should make it), but that doesn't diminish his career.
Battle was named First Team All-Big Ten and rightfully so. He finished second behind Purdue's JaJuan Johnson in scoring, finishing just a tenth of a point behind with his 20.4 points per game. And more importantly, he made Penn State semi-relevant this year and has them firmly on the bubble.
It's nothing new for Battle. While the talent around him has been less than great, and the coaching of Ed DeChellis is laughable, Battle has been brilliant during his Penn State career. BSD said it best:
It sounds so cliche to say Talor Battle is one of those players that only comes around once in a lifetime, but it's true. He's one of only three players in NCAA history to score 2000 points, pull down 600 rebounds, and dish out 500 assists. He is one of those players that wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line, and he's one of the few players that can deliver more often than not in that situation. He's a small guy that isn't afraid to get in the paint and mix it up with guys that have seven or eight inches on him. He bangs around and gets banged around, and yet he still plays more minutes than anyone in the country.
He has made watching Penn State basketball, never my favorite team to watch, fun. He's that good. Soon, he'll be Penn State's all-time leading scorer. As it stands, he has 2,119 points (16th all-time in the Big Ten), which is just 20 shy of surpassing Jesse Arnelle's school record of 2,138. With at least one Big Ten Tournament game and one NIT game, it's inevitable that he breaks the school record. He'll more than likely get there Thursday night against Indiana.
Over the years, Penn State basketball has meant so little to me. Even as an alum who absolutely loves college basketball, I could never bring myself to care more about Penn State basketball than Temple, UNC, Villanova and even St. Joe's. But Talor Battle drew me in more than anyone else before him ever did. It's been fun watching him make Penn State basketball enjoyable again. Sadly, his time is almost up, and he'll more than likely have gone these past four spectacular years without even so much as stepping foot on the court in an NCAA Tournament game.
Regardless, it's been a great career, one that certainly goes down in the record books. It's nice to see him rewarded for that.
Friday afternoon, I took a little break from work and went for a walk to hit up the ATM and buy some lottery tickets. When I returned, there was an email from Adam EatShit inviting me to go to the Sixers game along with his girlfriend, uncle jellyfish and a few other friends. I gladly accepted, and believe it or not, I was looking forward to seeing the remains of Tracy McGrady, who has been playing pretty good basketball lately, in person.
I decide to duck out of work about 20 minutes early, throw on some more comfortable clothes and down a few drinks before the game. So I get to my house and turn on ESPN as I get ready, and what do I see? That Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Ben Wallace and a slew of other Pistons didn't show up to the shootaround (or showed up insanely late), apparently as a protest aimed at coach John Kuester. Awesome.
Then I heard Kuester had said he'll go with the guys who showed up for the game. Great. Not only was I going to see the Sixers play a terrible team, but I was probably going to have to see them play a terrible team without most of its best players and a short roster. Fantastic.
Even though the Sixers could pull to .500 on the year — honestly an impressive feat when you consider where this team was a month into the season — I wasn't overly excited to watch them play a disinterested, overmatched, shorthanded squad. So I got loaded as I waited to meet up with uncle jellyfish, hopped on SEPTA and got to the game.
It was exactly as expected. There were McGrady, Rip, Prince, Stuckey, Wallace along with Austin Daye and Chris Wilcox, glued to the bench with their warm-ups on, never once moving from their seats. The Pistons played just six players on the night. Six. The Sixers played 9.
Unsurprisingly, the game wasn't even close, and honestly, it wasn't all that interesting either. Yes, the Sixers took care of business against an inferior, depleted opponent to pull to .500 on the season, winning easily 110-94, and the Sixers got great performances from their four best players this season: Jrue Holiday (12 and 10), Andre Iguodala (21, 11 and 7) and Elton Brand (20 and 17) all had double-doubles, and Thaddeus Young led the Sixers with 24 points off the bench, making 12 of his 15 shots. But beyond a few exciting defensive plays and dunks, I was more excited that it was Friday than I was at this game. The Detroit veterans in revolt sort of spoiled my mood.
However, I do have to give the Sixers their due. They followed up the win on Friday by holding off the Cavaliers yesterday — though they did blow another big third-quarter lead to make it closer than it should have been. Regardless, Holiday nearly had another double-double, leading the way for Philadelphia with 13 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds, and six Sixers in all scored in double figures. Under the first-year tutelage of Doug Collins, your Philadelphia 76ers are now officially a winning basketball team, at least for the time being (they take on the Mavericks tomorrow night).
The most impressive and potentially important thing about the Sixers of late is that they are taking care of business and beating the teams they should beat. In February, the Sixers went 9-3. Those three losses came at the hands of the Knicks, Magic and Grizzlies, three teams with winning records and in position to make the playoffs if the season ended today. In that time frame, they've disposed of all the bad teams they played: New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington, Detroit and Cleveland. You can throw Houston in there too if you'd like — the Rockets are a game under .500 right now.
The fact that the Sixers have handled every bad team they've played of late is a really good sign. Then you factor in wins against the Knicks, Hawks and Spurs this month, and you can see why the Sixers stood pat at the trade deadline. You don't have to agree with it — personally, I don't, but I do understand why they did — but you can't deny that this team is looking much better than anyone could have hoped coming off a horrific 2009-10 season.
I'm not about to fool myself into thinking this team can win a playoff series, but I'm starting to suspect the Sixers will give Miami, Chicago, Orlando or whoever they end up playing more than a handful. The same way they did a few seasons ago against the Pistons.
As for this current incarnation of the Pistons, I have to admit, I understand the frustration of an incompetent coach. Kind of makes me wonder why no Sixers revolted against Eddie Jordan last year.
And I'm about to lead a revolt against Tim Curley and the Penn State athletic department. Why, you ask? Because after I watched every second of St. John's knock off fledgeling Villanova Saturday, I go and read that Steve Lavin wanted the Penn State job back when he was fired by UCLA. But Penn State didn't even contact him back, mainly because they didn't want to shell out the kind of money Lavin would command.
Are you kidding me? The same school that doesn't shy away from hiring the best of the best in virtually every other sport on campus — like shelling out huge bucks to get Cael Sanderson for wrestling — wouldn't even talk to a proven coach from a big-time program that is renowned as an excellent recruiter. Instead, they opt for the incompetent Ed DeChellis, a guy I wouldn't feel comfortable having as the coach of my high school alma mater's basketball team.
Now all Lavin has done is transform St. John's into one of the best teams in the Big East in his first year that is surely headed to the NCAA tournament, and has one of the nation's best recruiting classes coming in. Penn State meanwhile has not made a single NCAA tournament under DeChellis, has been a bottom dweller for most of his tenure, and even with this season's strong showing, Penn State is an NIT team that loses its best player to graduation and will most assuredly drop back down to the basement of the Big Ten in 2011-12.
I'm sorry, but that's just unacceptable, and the athletic department is to blame. We've been hearing forever that all Penn State needs is that one big recruit or one big coach to make something of the program. Seven years ago, a big-time coach who brings in big-time recruits went out of his way to show interest in the job, and Penn State gave him the cold shoulder. No wonder so many students there return the favor. That sort of indifference and stupidity in regard to the basketball program is why people like me, who have roots outside of Penn State, spend infinitely more time consumed with Temple and Villanova and other higher profile programs. Because those schools care about putting a good product and reputable basketball program together. Penn State doesn't.
As for Lavin, I'd say things have turned out pretty good for him. St. John's continued its surprise season by beating Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday, and they did it leading pretty much from start to finish.
I know a lot has been said about Dwight Hardy lately, especially when discussing Big East Player of the Year candidates, and Saturday was exactly why. Hardy was unbelievable. He scored a game-high 34 points. He was 9-16 from the field, 5-9 from three and 11-13 at the line. And he made some truly remarkable shots, a couple in big moments to stave off a Nova run. It was an impressive performance to say the least, and proof that he definitely belongs in the POY discussion.
For Nova, the slide continued. It was their third straight loss to a ranked opponent, all at home, and now a team that was expected to contend for the Big East title is 9-7 in conference play, with two very difficult games — at No. 9 Notre Dame and at No. 4 Pittsburgh — to wrap up regular-season play. The way the Wildcats are playing, they could very easily be staring at a .500 conference record when it's all said and done.
Lately, the reason has been simple: Nova hasn't had its two best scorers, its two senior guards, play well at the same time in forever. When the slide began, Corey Stokes couldn't throw a beach ball into the ocean. Then he got hurt. Corey Fisher did all he could, carrying the offensive load, but it wasn't enough.
On Saturday, Stokes finally showed up again. He scored a team-high 20 points, going 7-11 from the field and 6-10 from three. It was just what Nova needed … except that as Stokes re-emerged, Fisher fell off a cliff. Nova's leading scorer finished with just 2 points. He went 1-10 from the field. And no matter what kind of performance the team gets from Stokes and Maalik Wayns (10 points) and anyone else, Nova will not win with Corey Fisher netting just 2 points. If he's not in double digits, the chances are Villanova will lose.
It was the second straight game Fisher failed to reach double digits. Stokes finally got out of his funk against the Orange last week, scoring 24 points, but Nova lost largely because Fisher shot 3-16 and finished with just 8 points. Same thing happened Saturday. In his last two games, Fish is 4-26 from the field and has scored a combined 10 points. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Villanova needs Fisher AND Stokes to play well in order to win. And that's been the root cause of this skid. The fact that the two senior guards have not been able to play well at the same time has crippled the guard-oriented offense of Jay Wright, and Nova has struggled because of it.
Just take a look at the numbers. Since January 17, when Nova lost at UConn, the Wildcats are 5-7. In those seven losses, Fisher and Stokes failed to both score in double digits five times (one of those games, against Pitt, Stokes did not play). Only the losses at Providence (Fisher, 15; Stokes, 13) and Rutgers (Fisher, 23; Stokes, 10) saw Nova lose when both scored in double figures, and the Rutgers game had the combination of that absurd ending and Stokes barely reaching double digits.
On the flip side, Nova has only won two games in which either Stokes or Fisher failed to reach double digits. One was the victory against West Virginia, in which Antonio Pena, Mouphtaou Yarou and Maalik Wayns each picked up Stokes' slack by scoring in double figures. Then came the win at Depaul with Stokes inactive, but Nova needed 34 points from Fisher and overtime to beat a really, really bad Depaul team.
The formula for Nova is simple: If Fisher and Stokes score, Nova wins. If one of them fails to show up, they lose. The solution is not so simple. Because lately, every time Stokes has a good game, Fisher struggles, and vice versa. All I know is these seniors better figure it out if they expect to make any sort of run in the Big East and NCAA tournaments.
Lavoy Allen, meanwhile, is a senior who is most definitely figuring things out when his team needs it the most.
The Owls came out insanely flat against a game George Washington team Saturday and found themselves getting blown out in the first couple minutes. Then Temple put the vice grip on GW defensively, and worked all the way back to get within three by half. From there, it was the Lavoy Allen show.
Temple's all-time leading rebounder was everywhere, altering a shot and hauling in a board on one end, then finishing around the rim — and even once from deep — on the other. He put forth a 6-minute spurt where he made every damn play. A block here, rebound there, pass here, bucket there. He looked like the player many expected heading into the season, when he was a preseason favorite for A-10 Player of the Year.
His performance turned what at one time had been a huge lead for George Washington into a 16-point blowout win for Temple. Allen was dominant with 19 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. He didn't have a single turnover, only committed 2 fouls and shot 8-12 from the field. It was the type of performance you expect from a senior leader when his team truly needed it. And Lavoy answered the call.
The other good news for Temple is that Juan Fernandez seemed to get rejuvenated in the second half. His numbers overall weren't good — 2-8 from the field for just 6 points and 2 assists — but he hit two big three-pointers and looked confident taking them. And if there was any question about those shots jolting him back into feeling good about himself, he fired a one-handed, behind-the-back pass for a bucket, the type of pass we saw him make from time to time the past two seasons but has been conspicuously absent this year.
Hopefully it's the game that gives Juan his confidence back and lets him find his game again. Because if Temple can get Fernandez playing good ball, the Owls can be a legitimate Sweet 16 team. If not, it would take a Herculean effort by Allen, the kind he put forth Saturday.
Finally, I wanted to give Tyler Zeller and John Henson more praise for their performances last night in the 87-76 win over Maryland.
Zeller was outstanding. He scored 25 points on 10-16 shooting, and the best part about it was Kendall Marshall kept feeding him the ball. The biggest frustration last year was watching the UNC guards ignore Zeller time and time again, despite the fact he is this team's best player. Not last night. Marshall saw Zeller was scoring at will, and he kept feeding him. Marshall, by the way, had 10 assists, 6 boards and 3 steals. Something tells me this team doesn't miss Larry Drew.
For his part, Henson had a near triple-double: 10 points, 15 rebounds and 7 blocks. The way he and Zeller control the paint has me thinking the Tar Heels may do more damage than anyone expects come tourney time. Of Henson's 7 blocks, 5 of them were spectacular. He just seems to be able to reach heights most shot-blockers can't because of his freakish length.
When you add the interior dominance of Zeller and Henson to the increasingly stellar guard play from freshmen Harrison Barnes (21 points and 6 boards last night) and Marshall, not mention better play from Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald, you have a legit threat in the tournament. The Tar Heels can score and rebound, always a dangerous combination. And you know they'll be well-coached.
Going into a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, you expect a little favoritism for the Blue Devils. It's something everyone knows and expects will happen. Over the years, especially since the turn of the millennium, you just expect Duke to get the benefit of the doubt on the calls.
When your favorite team is playing at Duke, you know that going in. But it sure as shit doesn't make it any easier to watch.
Let me get this disclaimer out of the way: Temple didn't have much of a shot at beating the No. 1 Blue Devils last night. With two starters on the shelf — Michael Eric done for the year and Scootie Randall out indefinitely — the Owls were undermanned and outclassed. It would take a perfect game even with Eric and Randall in tow to win at Duke. Even with an impressive first half defensively, you just knew it was only a matter of time before Duke would turn it on. They're the number 1 team in the country for a reason, and with or without the benefit of the doubt from the referees, they were going to beat Temple, most likely pulling away in doing so. That's exactly what they did, blowing out the Owls in the second half to win 78-61.
Now that that's out of the way, let me explain to you why everyone else on the planet hates Duke, and no, it's not simply because they're jealous of Coach K's success. I admit, that's part of it, but it's far from the whole story. After all, traditional power such as Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina and Kentucky are far less universally disliked. The main reason? No matter against who, what, where or when — but especially at Cameron Indoor — Duke gets the benefit of the doubt on calls. All the damn time. And what makes that so fucking frustrating is that Duke doesn't need that help. The Blue Devils are so damn good already, the last thing they need is help from the refs. But that doesn't stop the referees from playing favorites, whether they do it consciously or not.
The first half of last night's game was agonizing to watch. Even though Temple played Duke incredibly close in the first 20 minutes, it was almost more frustrating to watch than the second half.
There were at least 5 or 6 fouls called on Temple in the first half alone that were nowhere near fouls. On one, Rahlir Jefferson was called for a reach or block or something on Kyle Singler when he didn't even touch him for a second. If anything, maybe a foul could have been called on a reach in by Aaron Brown, but the replay showed Brown didn't touch Singler either. Didn't matter. Two shots.
That type of shit was happening the entire first half. Ramone Moore picked up two quick fouls. Ditto Juan Fernandez, who ended the first half with three fouls. And that put an already undermanned and less talented Temple team even further behind.
On the other end, things weren't much better. Several times, T.J. DiLeo — who I admit is mostly worthless — got bulled over, clear charges. Had a Dukie flopped the way DiLeo did, it's an automatic charge on the opposition. DiLeo didn't draw a call once.
And most frustrating of all, there were at least 5 times where a Duke player just camped out in the lane, yet the Blue Devils weren't called for a single three-second violation. On one, I swear to god — as did Arkansas Fred — that Singler was in the lane for 8 seconds. I was screaming at the television for a damn three-second violation. Nothing.
And that's why people hate Duke so much. Beyond the smugness of their fans and the hateable faces of their players and coach …
… they just always seem to get the calls. And they don't need them. They're good enough on their own. That's what makes me and everyone else hate them so damn much.
But like I said, that had minimal impact on the outcome. It's just incredibly annoying. Duke is simply a far better team than the Owls, who are certainly no pushovers. Kyle Singler was outstanding, scoring a game-high 28 points, and he got enough help from his teammates to keep Temple honest.
The Owls really only had two guys show up to play. Rahlir Jefferson carried Temple in the first half, scoring 10 points and making great decisions with the basketball. But he was silent in the second half, scoring only one more point the entire way. Still, he was around the ball and finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.
Unfortunately, his only other help came in the form of Lavoy Allen, who quietly was the best player on the court not named Singler. Lavoy, who has had a fairly underwhelming season overall, was outstanding last night. He scored a team-high 17 points — second only to Singler's 28 — and added 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Hell, he even made 3 three-points in 4 attempts after having only two made threes all season going in.
Sadly, those were the only two Owls to show up. Their leading scorer, Ramone Moore, got in foul trouble early and never got into the flow. He had just 8 points and shot just 3-7 from the field. Khalif Wyatt couldn't provide the offensive spark he's grown accustomed to, going just 2-9 from the floor and netting only 6 points. And Juan Fernandez continued to be missing in action, as he has all season long.
The fuck you forget how to play basketball?
Coming off a breakout sophomore season last year when he averaged 12.6 points while shooting 43 percent from the field, 45 percent from three and 85 percent from the line and won the A-10 tournament Most Outstanding Player, Fernandez was expected to take the next step and be this team's leader in the backcourt. Instead, Juan has regressed to an alarming degree. This season, he's scoring just 10 points a game. He's shooting a career-worst 35 percent from the field and career-worst 30 percent form three, and his free throw percentage has dipped to 76 percent. Last night, he was an abysmal 2-10. Somewhere along the way, his confidence disappeared. He no longer makes the brilliant passes we saw the past two seasons, no longer shoots with confidence, no longer trusts his game.
If he doesn't step his game up, especially with Scootie Randall on the shelf, Temple won't have much of a chance defending their A-10 title in the tournament. The Owls need him to be the tough foe everyone's come to expect in both the A-10 and NCAA tournaments. Let's hope he can find his game and get back to the player he was last season.
In other NCAA basketball news, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on Villanova, Penn State and North Carolina as well.
As we all know, Nova is struggling quite a bit right now. They've lost three of their last five games — one at Rutgers and two at home — and are just 5-5 in their last 10. Oh, and things aren't getting any easier for them to wrap up the regular season. Their last three games are against No. 23 St. John's, at No. 9 Notre Dame and at No. 4 Pitt. Basically, the Wildcats are in a little bit of trouble.
Not "going to miss the tournament" trouble, obviously — Villanova is 21-7 after all and ranked 15th in the nation — but trouble in terms of the Big East Tournament for sure. Right now, Nova is 9-6 in the conference, tied with Cincinnati for 7th. They're already on a skid, and they could very easily lose their last three games to finish at .500 in the Big East and miss out on a bye altogether. And unless they can find a way to make a deep run in the conference tournament, they won't be heading into the NCAA tourney with much confidence or a very favorable seed. So these final three games — all of them incredibly tough — are vital.
To be honest, I think one of the reasons Nova has struggled so much recently traces back to coach Jay Wright. Wright is unquestionably an outstanding coach and recruiter. He took a Villanova program that was on life support and has turned it into a national power. Just two seasons ago, he led the Wildcats to the Final Four, and he's churning out NBA players left and right. But this season, I think Wright has made some crucial coaching errors, magnified during this rough stretch.
For one thing, Wright has been tinkering with his lineup all season long and took much, much longer than usual to get his starting lineup set. That hasn't been his M.O. over his career at Nova. Typically, he finds his starting five early in the season and sticks with it. But this year — in part due to injury (and the year-long absence of top recruit JayVaughn Pinskton certainly hasn't helped) — we've seen so many different starting lineups that's it's hard to discern who is a starter and who is not at times. Of late, he's been going with a big lineup: Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes (when he's been healthy), Mouphtaou Yarou, Isaiah Armwood and Antonio Pena. That's far from the Nova way, when we've grown accustomed to three- and even four-guard lineups: Mike Nardi, Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye, Allen Ray, Scottie Reynolds, Dwayne Anderson, Fisher, et al. For a while, that was the case, with Maalik Wayns starting in place of Armwood, giving Nova the three guards it's grown accustomed to. And while Wayns has certainly struggled with turnovers and ill-advised shots at times, the Wildcats were playing much better basketball with him in the starting lineup than with him coming off the bench.
Then you look at some of Wright's in-game strategy of late and it has you scratching your head. In the epic collapse at Rutgers, his end-of-game coaching was laughable, something I never thought I'd say about Jay Wright. The Scarlet Knights started to catch fire from three late in that game, to the point where the last thing you wanted was for Rutgers to be in position to tie or win the game with a three. So after Corey Fisher missed a critical free throw late that would have made it a four-point game and practically iced it, the only smart thing to do was to foul Rutgers and make it a free-throw shooting contest the rest of the game. That way, Rutgers couldn't tie the game with a three, and chances are Nova would come out on top as the superior foul-shooting team.
I know there's a debate about playing defense and fouling with a three-point lead at end-of-game situations, but the reason I say fouling was the only smart thing to do is simple: Villanova is the best free-throw shooting team in the Big East, shooting 76.2 percent as a team. To prove it was the way to go even more, Rutgers is a really bad foul-shooting team, shooting just 66.7 percent on the season, and they were lighting it up from three. You make it a foul-shooting contest, and more than likely Villanova escapes a scare against a horrible team and gets a W. Instead, Wright didn't play the percentages, and disaster struck:
Yes, it was Corey Fisher who missed a critical free throw and then "fouled" (seriously, I still don't think he touched him) a three-point shooter to suffer the four-point play loss, but Wright also failed to put his players in the best position to win following that miss by Fisher. It wasn't one of his better moments, and that inexplicable loss really started this slide over the past 5 games.
After that, they lost to a really good Pitt team at the Pavilion by just three. That was followed by Nova struggling to outlast a bad Seton Hall team, winning by just three themselves, and they barely escaped DePaul with a two-point win, needing overtime to defeat the last-place team in the Big East.
Then there was Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. In an important game against Syracuse, a game that was critical in determining seeding for the Big East Tournament, specifically the coveted four spot for a double bye, Jay Wright thought it would be a good idea to throw a freshman that missed the majority of the first half of the season in for the final four minutes with his team trailing in a tight contest. Yeah, instead of going with Maalik Wayns or Dominic Cheek, two more proven, seasoned players and one in particular in Wayns who has come up big late in games for Nova, Wright rode with James Bell, a guy who had played a total of 19 games and had only played 2 minutes to that point on the night.
I was screaming at my television, asking why Bell was in at such a critical juncture, and even more livid when he played the entire rest of the way. In that time, Bell missed two free throws, turned the ball over and missed a meaningless three with time winding down. He didn't help Nova at all. Yet he was in the game, and I was baffled.
It turns out that Wayns was suffering back spasms, that's why he wasn't in. But still, why not go with a guy like Cheek, someone who has been in some wars, even though he admittedly was struggling with his shot too? I'd still feel more comfortable with a sophomore who has played in a lot of big games at Nova than a freshman that has played very little.
So here we are with Villanova faltering as the season winds down. It would be tough to expect Nova to be as good as last year after losing a first-team All American in Scottie Reynolds and important contributors like Reggie Redding and even Taylor King, not to mention the unexpected season-long suspension of Pinkston. But it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to expect Villanova to be playing its best and vying for Big East supremacy by this time of the year. That hasn't happened, and things are only going to be tougher from here on out.
Then there is my alma mater, Penn State. As recently as Saturday, I heard Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas all proclaim that Penn State is an NCAA Tournament team. Those guys seem to be under the impression that with three more teams added this year, every major conference will get pretty much every decent team in. This makes absolutely no sense, because there are only three teams being added, not a dozen. The pundits don't seem to grasp that. Any smart person who understands simple math does. And any smart person, despite some people proclaiming there are still crucial road tests for the Nittany Lions, knows Penn State is nowhere near a tournament team.
Does that mean Penn State is the embarrassment that it has been for more than a decade and mostly has been under the incompetent Ed DeChellis? No. Much like the Penn State team that won the NIT in 2009, the 2010-11 Lions are tough and far from a pushover. They've beaten Michigan St., Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota at home, lost by just three at Ohio St. and just one at Purdue, and defeated a Duquesne squad that is fourth in the A-10. But that doesn't make them a tournament-worthy team, especially when you look at the full body of work.
For starters, Penn State is just 14-12 overall. They are a game under .500 in the conference, sitting at 7-8, and they have only one road victory all season long. Read that again: Penn State has just one road victory the entire season, and that came at Indiana, a team that is 12-16 on the season and tied for last in the Big Ten with Iowa at 3-12. And in their road games, they've lost seven by double digits. I'm sorry, but if you can't win any games of consequence on the road whatsoever, you don't deserve to be dancing even a little bit.
Then you factor in some of the losses. This team lost at home to Maine. Maine, for christ's sake, an American East team. And they lost that game by 10 points. They lost by 13 at Mississippi, got blown out by 23 at home against Maryland, lost by 10 at Virginia Tech, got rolled at home by 15 against Purdue. They lost twice to Michigan. And they offset their wins at home against Illinois, Michigan St. and Wisconsin by getting destroyed on the road against those teams in the rematches. This month, Penn State lost by 17 at Illinios, 19 at Michigan State and 10 at Wisconsin. How, exactly, is this a tournament team?
Talor Battle is a really, really good player. And some of the younger guys are showing promise and playing hard. This team is far from a laughingstock. But they're not a tournament team either. They just aren't.
However, the Tar Heels are. After a dismal 2009-10 season and a shaky start this year, North Carolina has quietly had a very nice season. UNC is 21-6 overall and just a game behind Duke in the ACC, sitting at 11-2 in conference play. They've won 9 of their last 10 games, with the only loss coming at Duke — and that was a close game the entire way, losing by six when it was all said and done.
The way things are going, the regular-season finale in Chapel Hill against Duke could determine the ACC title. Fresh off a 12-point win at NC State, UNC has just Maryland and Florida State (who they beat by 20) before the clash with Duke. And unlike Villanova, Carolina is playing its best basketball of the season right now.
Harrison Barnes has played the second half of the season like he was expected to play the entire season. Kendall Marshall has been outstanding since being inserted to the starting lineup. And Tyler Zeller and John Henson give the Tar Heels two of the better interior players in the nation. This team rebounds, plays smart and gets contributions from just about everyone. They aren't as loaded as the title teams Roy Williams has coached, but they're getting there.
While I still think they're a year away from being elite, they're getting better every game and could make a deep run in the tournament. It's rare that North Carolina flies under the radar, but with the dominance of Duke in the ACC combined with a bit of a down year for the conference — not to mention everyone's love affair with the Big East — that's exactly what's been happening for Carolina this year. The Tar Heels are quietly having a very impressive season, and the nation will begin to take notice in March.
Hopefully, it begins with a statement victory against Duke to wrap up the regular season. Thank god that game won't be in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
I want to say congrats to Rod Brind'Amour on his number being retired. Congrats to Lavoy Allen for becoming Temple's all-time leading rebounder. And congrats to Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones and Rick Brunson on their induction to the Temple Hall of Fame.
I don't mean Comcast Sportsnet. We know why that exists: It plays Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games. No, I'm talking about the Comcast Network, aka the channel formerly known as CN8. Why the hell does this channel exist?
Last night, Temple took on La Salle in a Big 5, A-10 battle. The Owls won 71-67 in what I can only assume was a very good game, but I can't know for sure. Why? Because for some reason, a game between two teams from Philadelphia that just so happen to be conference rivals, played in Philadelphia, wasn't on TV in Philadelphia, so I didn't get to see a single second of it.
It wasn't on any of the ESPN channels. It wasn't on any DirecTV channels. But most importantly, it wasn't even on the Comcast Network. No, instead, the Comcast Network was airing the juicy match-up between James Madison and William & Mary. What? Why? Isn't this exactly what the Comcast Network is in existence for, to air games like Temple-La Salle?
Evidently not, because this isn't the first time this has happened. Last year, Temple and Xavier were both undefeated in Atlantic 10 play in January and clashed in a huge game. Yet it wasn't on television, not even the Comcast Network. Nope, just like last night, instead of airing a Philadelphia team that is one of the best in its conference (and last night two Philly teams), the Comcast Network was broadcasting, you guessed it, another James Madison game.
Please, for the love of god, someone explain this ridiculous fucking nonsense to me. Why on earth would the Comcast Network, a Philadelphia station, play games for a school in Virginia over games from schools in Philadelphia? It just makes no goddamn sense. None whatsoever. And it's infuriating. For starters, every Big 5 game should be televised in Philadelphia, period. That only makes sense. And the Comcast Network is the perfect outlet for that when Big 5 games or any other big games for Philadelphia schools aren't on national television. Yet the Comcast Network hasn't figured that out. It's a completely worthless channel unless the Sixers and Flyers, or Phillies and one of those teams, are playing at the same time, which isn't often. I hate the Comcast Network. It's awful. Just awful. I live in Philadelphia and couldn't even watch a game between Temple and La Salle taking place in my own city. No one gives a shit about James Madison. No one. Someone needs to answer for this. I'm so incredibly pissed about it.
The Comcast Network sucks so hard.
As incredibly angry as I was at the fact that the Temple-La Salle game wasn't on, there still was plenty of basketball to watch. Villanova hosted Marquette on ESPNU, the Sixers were taking on the Nets in what clearly had to be the most anticipated game in the NBA last night, and UConn-Syracuse occupied ESPN.
I began by having Nova-Marquette on the bigger TV with the sound on and UConn-Cuse on the smaller TV muted until the Sixers tipped off. Right away, I knew something was strange with the ESPNU announcing team. When the voice first came on, it sounded odd to me, someone I've never heard. Then I saw it was Charlie Neal, who looked about 8,000 years old.
Let me tell you, it didn't take long to recognize that he is senile. For starters, it sounded like he didn't know who any of the players were at all. He was slow on calling the action, on pretty much everything, and straining to figure out who was who. He also kept pronouncing Antonio Pena as Antonio Peeenya, which as incredibly annoying. Then he mixed up a Marquette player and a Nova player. He also said that Maalik Wayns was at the line and made the first free throw when Corey Fisher very clearly was the one who was bumped, fouled and at the stripe. And he horribly mispronounced the names of the Flyers in attendance, calling Dan Carcillo Dan Car-Cee-Lo, (yeah, like the Fuck You guy) and butchering JVR's name by combining it with Giroux — James van (pause) Giroux dyk. Wow.
He also called the Eastern Conference the Eastern Division. However, he did get Larry Brown's name correct, with Brown in attendance as well. Good job.
It got so bad that I actually decided it was a better idea to listen to Marc Zumoff and Eric Snow. Yeah, that bad.
For Nova, the 75-70 win was a nice bounceback victory against a tough Marquette team, though it wasn't easy. Mouphtaou Yarou was an absolute beast early and sustained it throughout, putting up a game-high 18 points, but Corey Stokes continued to struggle mightily in the first half. He was so awful again in the first 20 minutes that I texted silver fox that he stinks now. Still, Nova had a 9-point halftime lead thanks to incredible defense and the strong play of Yarou. The development of Mouph has been fun to watch, and if he can keep getting better, he gives Nova an intimidating player inside that they have typically lacked under Jay Wright.
In the second half though, Stokes went off. He scored 10 straight points, and finished with 14. It's still worrisome that he shot only 5-13 on the night and all the sudden has become an erratic shooter, but it was nice to see him come around.
What wasn't nice was the devolution of Nova's defense. In the first half, they gave up just 6 points in the paint. Then damn near every other defensive possession in the second half, Marquette was getting a dunk or layup. The defense was horrible. That resulted in a big lead turning into a tight contest down the stretch. Luckily, Corey Fisher did what he's known to do, controlling the game with 17 points and 6 assists, and Antonio Pena added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, including hitting 8 of 9 free throws, several in the closing minutes to ice the game.
The good was definitely Yarou, Fisher, Pena and Stokes' second half, and the fact that Nova made 29 of 33 free throws. The bad news is that Stokes still struggled mightily in the first half, the defense was a joke in the second half and they had 12 turnovers to just 13 assists. But any win in the Big East is a good one, especially one that stopped a mini skid.
Syracuse also stopped its Big East skid, beating UConn 66-58 thanks once again to Mr. Double-Double Rick Jackson. The Philly product had 13 and 13, owning the glass like he has all season. He's fifth in the country in rebounding, averaging 11.5 a night.
As for the Sixers, they led from start to finish and beat an inferior team. There really wasn't much excitement, especially with Philadelphia building a 19-point lead in the 3rd quarter. However, the Sixers did manage to let the Nets back in it, as they have so many times this year, but not enough to make it close. Jody Meeks had his best game in months, scoring 15 points, and I learned that he is incredibly fast. Lou Williams led all scorers with 26 points off the bench. Brand added a double-double with 15-10. Iggy added 16 more.
But the story of the night was none other than the most promising reason to watch the Sixers, Jrue Holiday. Jrue recorded his first of what we hope is many career triple doubles, scoring 11 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists (to just 1 turnover).
It sure is a pleasure watching Holiday mature before our very eyes.
I would have liked to have watched Khalif Wyatt and Aaric Murray continue their maturation as well, but I couldn't. From the sound of it, Wyatt, who scored a team-high 18 points for Temple and continued his strong play in 2011, went off, helping the Owls to a 61-47 lead. Then Murray, who scored a game-high 22 points to go along with 8 boards and 2 blocks, led a furious charge back to make it a tight game. Lavoy Allen actually decided to show up too, putting up 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, which was nice.
It also would have been nice to see it, but I couldn't. Because the Comcast Network is worthless.
