Official Game Thread: Hawks - Sixers

[lethalweapon3]

Are we all still here, Mayans? Good!

Here’s your $64,000 question: What’s wild and woolly, hard to make sense of, and a troubling sign of uncertain days ahead?

What’s that? Andrew Bynum’s hair, you say? No, I’m so sorry. I was going for the Philadelphia 76ers season!

That’s especially true lately. The Sixers have been trying to hold it all together with would-be-superbig Bynum’s health status increasingly uncertain. Philadelphia went Bowling for Bynum this summer, taking what was then seen as a low-scale, high-profile risk for a young, potential Grade A superstar who was preparing for a non-invasive procedure on his gimpy knee in time for the start of an exciting season.

Fans were apparently sold on the prospect: the team’s attendance is Top 10 for the first time since the Iverson era. Today, they are increasingly convinced that the Sixers, still pilloried for the returns from trades of Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, and Brad Daugherty, just tossed another gutter ball. A report on Bynum’s status is due today. But unlike the off-season, when season tickets were heavily pushed, no promises of a timeline for his return to the court are expected.

With a sprained right foot shelving their leading scorer and playmaker, Jrue Holiday, for the past five games, the crack in Philly’s bell continues to widen. They’ve dropped all five games without Jrue, making their record 2-9 in December after an encouraging 10-6 start.

Evan Turner has been able to help produce some offense in Holiday’s hiatus, averaging 17.8 PPG and 5.2 APG in the first five games of this month. And thank goodness for that, as there’s no one aside from Turner with more than 1.5 assists per game on the roster. But now Turner is potentially sidelined, too, with a sprained ankle leaving him a gametime decision. You’d have to imagine at least one of Holiday and Turner will make an appearance on the Wells Fargo Center floor tonight. Without their two leading scorers and assist-makers, they’re left with The Youngs (Thaddeus and Nick) and the restless.

The only other traditional lead guard is former Hawk Royal Ivey, and he’s not getting much attention as he’s struggling with a strained groin. Coach Doug Collins was trying instead to shoehorn preseason star Maalik Wayns, an aggressive driving guard who had nine assists and no turnovers at Dallas on December 18, into the starting role. He was pulled after just 14 minutes against Houston (2 points, 1-for-5 shooting, no assists) on Wednesday. If Collins doesn’t trust his small guards, he’ll lean instead on his wings. The Youngs, plus Turner, Jason Richardson, Dorrell Wright and ex-Hawk Damien Wilkins, combined for 19 assists and just six turnovers against the Rockets.

The Sixers play at a low pace (90.3 possessions per 48 minutes, 24^th in NBA), but they get the fifth-most shots (84.0 field goal attempts per game). Taking care of the ball (11.9 turnovers per 100 possessions, 2^ndlowest in NBA) allows them to maximize their opportunity for a shot, even if it isn’t a terribly good one.

The passes in this offense are mostly for long-range two-pointers. The 76ers take the third most long-two shots (23.8 FGA per game from 16-to-23 feet) in the league. Almost everyone is in on the act, including forward-centers Spencer Hawes and Lavoy Allen, each taking as many shots taken from here as they have within 10 feet of the rim. Including starter-by-default Kwame Brown, the bigs themselves are not strong passers, either, and it’s tough to get them to participate fully in any pick-and-roll schemes.

The injured pair of Holiday and Turner represents Philly’s their most reliable defensive options as well. The wings will swipe and dive for steals, but beyond that, they’re having a tough time stopping people. They gave up a whopping 125 points to Houston, the third straight game a Sixer opponent went for triple digits. The Rockets managed 36 free throw attempts. Philly’s opponents have had at least 20 free throw shots eight times through ten games this month, after just six occasions in the first 16 games of November.

To match the versatility of Josh Smith, they’ll need a big game from Thaddeus Young (whose Twitter handle is ‘yungsmoove21’). His rebounding and shot blocks are up marginally, but while he fills up most of the stat sheet nightly, the longest-tenured Sixer really isn’t doing much to emerge from a leadership standpoint. We’re not one to criticize, but Thad’s free throw shooting is around 59%, down from 77% last year.

Without being able to generate many turnovers from Philly, Atlanta will have to deploy a steady rotation at the 2 and 3 spots, ready to defend all those Sixer spot-up jumpers from 15 feet and beyond. Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver will have to provide the defensive energy necessary to keep Sixer guards out the lane. In the frontcourt, the Hawks need to limit Philly’s second-chances, and attack the paint persistently to thin out their options.

Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

The Hawks will be doing without Devin Harris again, as he stays home to nurse his left foot. I do wonder if we'll see more of John Jenkins, in Harris' absence, than we got against OKC.

Degree of difficulty also goes way up, as both Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner announce that they'll be in the Sixers' lineup tonight.

~lw3

[Admin]

The Hawks will be doing without Devin Harris again, as he stays home to nurse his left foot. I do wonder if we'll see more of John Jenkins, in Harris' absence, than we got against OKC. Degree of difficulty also goes way up, as both Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner announce that they'll be in the Sixers' lineup tonight. ~lw3

Harris proving again that he can't stay healthy. I'd like to see Jenkins get some more PT but he's got to produce when he's out there. Can't wait to see Lou for one up against his old teammates tonight!! And thank God that Jodie Meeks is no longer on Philly as I swear that guy killed us from 3 every time we played them. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[lethalweapon3]

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=11794

Lou Williams at first tried to downplay his first return tonight to play the 76ers, but the Atlanta Hawks guard then quickly changed gears and admitted that this is not a typical NBA game.

Williams played his first seven years with the Sixers and is in his first season with the Hawks. He is enjoying the same success in the super-sub role.

Last season Williams led the Sixers in scoring, averaging 14.9 points. This season he is averaging 14.3 points for the surprising 15-8 Hawks, who trail first place Miami by two games in the Southeast Division.

“It’s one of those games that will be emotional,” Williams said following this morning’s shootaround at the Wells Fargo Center.

~lw3

[MaceCase]

Is there a matching gamethread on SixersMixers, Lethal?

[Colin]

Zaza needs to start taking advantage of all his opportunities.

[Alex]

Ho hum. Another loss and this one looks to be a blow out.

[AnthonyI11]

Anddddd Teague gets benched all game for what? Lou is awful at running the offense

[itsslomotionbaby]

where the hell is horford. he is just totally not their, did he get his girlfriend pregnant? did he comit a robbery & comback in time for the game?this is allso the first time korver & lou seemed like the batterries were taken out of them. but sixers allways have looked like they were more physical then we were.wait until they get their monster back & we want be able to touch them. i hope this is no more than a 3 game skid without the 3 ball. but see this is why you try to get your bench some playing time besides just practice fodder b/c you never know.some nights size wise zaza & ivan are not going to be enough.i think we were too fast in getting rid of dampier i personally would have like to seen what he could give us in shape. you see the celtics picked up our other big stiff. i have seen him more than fab melo.

[itsslomotionbaby]

wow the first time hawks got blowed out & stuck in the 70's OH WELL.

Anddddd Teague gets benched all game for what? Lou is awful at running the offense

teague wasnt bringing anything to the game, he was in foul trouble, thats the other thing about teague he is on again off again, he needs to bring us 20 pts. a night no less than16. lou is out their to score & he just did not have it tonight

[Gray Mule]

Boy, that was easy.

Easy for the 76ers, that is. Garbage time found our rookies

on the floor. They didn't look too bad. maybe they get a

few more minutes.

Shots were falling for the 76ers and were not for the Hawks.

This adds up to that easy 76ers victory.

Oh well. Tomorrow is another day (or night) and both Atlanta

teams will be playing - glad I've got split screan, Let's win two

tomorrow night.

GO HAWKS AND FALCONS!!

[DJlaysitup]

We need Devin - otherwise Lou gets all crazy with his shots - knowing LD has limited options.

[DJlaysitup]

...still pilloried for the returns from trades of Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, and Brad Daugherty, just tossed another gutter ball....

I'll never forget how they botched that deal...wow...while Daugherty never really panned out that well - that would have been a great front line for a few years....definite contenders in a time when the NBA had some great teams.

Oh well...it is Philly...so who cares.

P.S. - Cool about the world not ending

Edited December 22, 2012 by DJlaysitup

[Plainview1981]

This team is done. They suckered people in again with a decent start only to start jobbing to good teams again.

[TheTruth]

Horf is playing passive, looks scared to shoot, and his jump shot is beyond broken. Teague looks like a scrub too many games with lapses on the defensive end to go along with terrible passes, Korver couldn't get into a steady rhythm Deshawn is borderline useless if he isn't knocking down 3s, and Lou is way too inconsistent to depend on if we are in a hole (not including his weaknesses defensively and the inability to run an offense). About the only positives are Smith, IVAN, and Pachulia...but even he is inconsistent.

We cant have 4/5 of our starting lineup be so wildly inconsistent night in and night out. We settle for jumpers too much and we don't have bigs who can get easy buckets besides the turnover-prone Zaza...and even he misses too many bunnies. We badly need a big who is superior to Zaza that can get us easy offense around the basket. Until we do, deficits will grow larger when our jump shots and floaters don't fall and we have no one else to get us easy points in the paint.

I said they'd play around .500 ball, and if they don't shape up quick, that's exactly where they will be in a few weeks. It doesn't mean we are a bad team...it just means we played above our heads and are now regressing toward the mean.

[hawkrule152]

All I know is it looked like Josh quit on the team tonight in the 3rd. Im f***ing sick and tired of seeing people complain to the refs the whole game and not getting back on defense giving opponents a wide open layin...

It seemed as if almost everybody was just extremely LAZY tonight, especially Teague and Smoove. Props to Zaza and Lou for actually giving a damn out there tonight.

[Gray Mule]

The Hawks got down. Bad. They came back. The score was

tied or within two - I don't remember.

Then, the 76ers made another run and stretched their lead back

up by 8 or 10. Coach called a time out to stop the run. Seems that

was mid 3rd quarter, maybe a little later.

At this point, the Hawks quit. Gave up. Conceded the game. Why?

"A day late and a dollar short." Yep, like the payday that will not

stretch to pay all the bills, the Hawks just couldn't get the job done.

76ers shot, rebounded, shot again - - - Repeat until the ball goes in.

Hawks shot and missed and the 76ers grabbed the rebound. Shoot

until it goes in. When you are already down and your opponent adds

a two or a three every possesion and you are getting an occasional

shot to fall, disaster is at hand.

Time to regroup. Another opportunity at home tonight. For some reason

Hawks seem to play well in the second game when they are back to back.

Lets hope that happens tonight against the Bulls.

GO HAWKS AND FALCONS - - TONIGHT!

Edited December 22, 2012 by Gray Mule

[itsslomotionbaby]

Horf is playing passive, looks scared to shoot, and his jump shot is beyond broken. Teague looks like a scrub too many games with lapses on the defensive end to go along with terrible passes, Korver couldn't get into a steady rhythm Deshawn is borderline useless if he isn't knocking down 3s, and Lou is way too inconsistent to depend on if we are in a hole (not including his weaknesses defensively and the inability to run an offense). About the only positives are Smith, IVAN, and Pachulia...but even he is inconsistent.

We cant have 4/5 of our starting lineup be so wildly inconsistent night in and night out. We settle for jumpers too much and we don't have bigs who can get easy buckets besides the turnover-prone Zaza...and even he misses too many bunnies. We badly need a big who is superior to Zaza that can get us easy offense around the basket. Until we do, deficits will grow larger when our jump shots and floaters don't fall and we have no one else to get us easy points in the paint.

I said they'd play around .500 ball, and if they don't shape up quick, that's exactly where they will be in a few weeks. It doesn't mean we are a bad team...it just means we played above our heads and are now regressing toward the mean.

you are exactly right are starting units are not sturdy enough, i was beginning to think teague would be an untouchable & we build around him . but now if we can get an upgrade. we have needed an upgrade from zaza for yrs.but we refuse to do it for some reason