Official Game Thread: 76ers "at" Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“Whoo! Good Golly, Mister Molly! You sure like to ball!”

 

Kuester’s Revenge!

Tracy McGrady, Tayshaun Prince, Chris Wilcox, Austin Daye were among the players fashioning a mutiny against their coach. Even withering legends Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace were in on the boycott, petitioning for an overthrow of Detroit Pistons coach John Kuester.

His days were already numbered as the team piled on the losses, but by February 2011, his increasingly DNP-CD’d players sought to grease the skids by skipping shootaround and showing up to practice late. T-Mac complained of a “headache”, although the source of it seemed quite clear.

Coach Kue was well behind the 8-Ball, but at this point, he had enough. It was time to put his foot down. Seven of Detroit’s rotation members were benched and suspended on gameday.

The beneficiaries of Kuester’s Last Stand? Elton Brand, Thaddeus Young, Andre Iguodala, Lou Williams, Evan Turner and the resurgent Philadelphia 76ers. Elton would enjoy 20 points and a team-high 17 rebounds at the Pistons’ expense, and Philly wouldn’t need much more help than that. The Sixers looked across the floor at tip-off and saw five visitors suited up on the court, and just one available bench player, Jason Maxiell, on the sideline.

There were more than 5 Seconds of Summers, as Detroit’s Dajuan was pressed into a career-high 39 minutes of action. Formerly doghoused by Kuester, Will Bynum couldn’t believe his reversal of fortune. “I sat and got DNP’s for a month and a half,” he said to postgame media. “You think I was turning down 48 minutes? I ain’t crazy!”

Ben Gordon and Bynum tried their best to keep their team in the running through halftime, but as each got into early foul trouble, with no other backcourt options on the sideline, Kuester found himself at wit’s end. The coach got tossed by the refs, and T-Mac was caught on TV leading the sideline in barely constrained laughter.

It’s hard to say who laughed last. They didn’t get Kuester’s job on a platter until the summer, by which time many of them were on the outs as well. And I’m guessing Kuester, wherever he is (last seen around the pro ranks as a Lakers scout), is giggling.

Nearly a full decade later, Brand has assembled much of the current roster as the 76ers’ general manager, doing his best to build something competitive around inherited All-Stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Aided by a new boss in Daryl Morey, his Sixers surged to a respectable 7-1 start, the best mark in the otherwise parity-loaded Eastern Conference.

But now, Elton and new Sixers coach Doc Rivers can only look on in horror as the effects of COVID-19, quarantining and injuries whittle down their lineup to a daily crapshoot. They had a stacked squad in Brooklyn on Thursday, aside from starting guard Seth Curry, who was chilling on the sideline with a bum ankle. But when staffers gave Seth the hook and led him to the locker room, that was the hint that peculiarity was afoot.

Curry had tested COVID+, creating a distraction for the Sixers as the fell to a Nets team missing both KD (quarantining himself) and Kyrie (allergic to tie-dye). The resulting ripple effects would have Tobias Harris, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Terrance Ferguson, Vincent Poirier subject to the dreaded Health ‘n Safety Protocols. Rivers can’t even uncork Furkan Korkmaz (strained adductor) to help out.

Trying to figure out things to do versus Denver when you’re down at least a half-dozen players, Coach Doc tried swiftly shelving Simmons (knee swelling) and Embiid (back tightness) and kept a recuperated Mike Scott (bruised knee) off the court, in hopes the NBA brass would postpone their Saturday matinee with the visiting Nuggets. The league wouldn’t budge. Not until today, at least, when it was time to dock Doc’s team $25k for their failure to have Simmons on the initial injury report.

Rivers fielded seven Sixers to face the Nuggets, two aging yet still functional vets in Danny Green (along with Ferguson, part of the deal that dispatched our old friend Al Horford to OKC) and our other even older friend Dwight Howard, plus five fellows who you might expect to find in a dusty Who’s Who Among American Basketball Players yearbook.

Led by rookie Tyrese Maxey’s 39 points and six assists, and Tony Bradley’s double-double off the bench, the spirited 76ers held their own through one half of play (up 58-51 through two quarters) before the wheels fell off in the third quarter of the 115-103 defeat. No, Dakota Mathias is not a song from The Lion King, although he was a passing craze (five assists, just 1 TO) during his 41-minute appearance as another rookie starter alongside Maxey and the new Arkansas Joe, Isaiah (4-for-18 FGs vs. DEN).

The residual Not-So-Sick-sers are in town to face the Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM, NBC Sports Philly), and while Embiid and Scott are technically available to play, Kuester’s Kurse hovers over the visitors. The deposed ex-coach must suspect McGrady is still a Vet Min, or that “T. Young” is actually Thad, because a pox seems to have spilled over both teams’ houses.

Knock on wood, until you get splinters, but be glad that Da ‘Rona is about the only thing not placing Atlanta players on the injury scroll. Tony Snell is listed as probable to make his Hawks debut tonight, but the swingman can only contribute to the ever-revolving door of injuries that is shutting the door on his team’s once-abundant optimism. The pu pu platter of maladies on Bogdan Bogdanovic’s knee (avulsion fracture, inflamed tissue, bone bruise), following Atlanta’s fourth-straight loss in Charlotte on Saturday evening, suggests we won’t be seeing him for a while.

There’s no need for a roll call on the other Hawks taking extended time off for recuperative purposes. But just to field a team themselves, coach Lloyd Pierce has no choice but to roll out a list of probables. Including Snell, there’s Trae Young (sore wrist from Saturday’s 113-105 defeat), Kevin Huerter (sore ankle), and Bruno Fernando (sore hip). Pierce’s prime challenge in navigating this swoon is to keep his sore collective from leaving tonight’s matchup with the Six Sirs looking like a bunch of sore losers.

From Collin Sexton, to Immanuel Quickley, to LaMelo Ball, one rookie/sophomore after another is doing their part to show up Trae and seize what we once hoped would be a slot for Cam Reddish (29.3 FG%, 1.2 APG in past five games) on this year’s fictional Rising Stars team. Maxey hopes to be next in line tonight, if Joe and Mathias don’t beat him to it. Another offensively potent outing or two might have Simmons returning to a full-time starting forward gig upon his return.

Despite season-highs of 34 minutes, 21 points and four steals in Saturday’s rematch, Cam was only slightly more effective in his return to the reserve unit after LP went with Bogi. Now, with Bogi out, there may be no choice but to return a starting spot to Kevin Huerter, which would certainly not be a bad option.

Red Velvet certainly looked like the only Hawk that showed up to play productive minutes for four quarters at home this past Wednesday (5-for-12 3FGs, 19 points and 6 assists vs. CHA). And while his aim on the floor was duller than Reddish’s on Saturday, Huerter at least looked capable of moving the ball (3-for-10 3FGs, 6 assists, no TOs in 34 bench minutes @ CHA).

Atlanta parlayed the Hornets games without a single Hawks starter making more than a single three-point attempt. Trae (last 4 games: 15.8 3FG%, 40.4 2FG%, 3.3 RPG, 6.3 TOs/game) was already woeful before banging up his wrist, particularly flustered now that he’s not drawing trips to the free throw line. Now his sore wrist will make the Trae Tricks – sinking shots from Social Circle, lofting floaters, dribbling bounce passes between defender’s wickets – all the more a challenge to execute.

When last the Hawks and Sixers played here at The Farm, at the end of January last year, Young enjoyed season-highs of 18 assists and 18 of his 39 points at the free throw line, flummoxing Brett Brown’s charges in a satisfying 127-117 victory. John Collins had a vengeance match of sorts against Embiid, coming up big with 17 points and a season-high 20 rebounds.

Philly will field a bunch of bigs, but Embiid and Howard likely won’t play much together, and the others, with all due respect to the hobbled Scott and lissome two-way contributor Paul Reed, cannot keep up with Johnny Bap. This is the game for Collins (just 4 FGAs @ CHA; one 3FGA in last 2 games) to get his touches up, early and often in offensive sets, and he must come through, whether it’s finishing around the rim, drawing Joel and Dwight out the paint, getting to the line and making the Sixers pay.

Defensively, Clint Capela is here specifically to minimize the need for Collins to risk foul trouble holding up against the likes of Embiid (3.3 APG, highest among active PHI players). When the Sixers’ star center puts the ball on the floor in the post, Collins and Young should be ready to pry, deflect and swipe to limit easy kickouts to Green (37.7 3FG%) and the Sixers’ spot-up shooters.

Collins must also be more involved in moving the rock and setting up teammates, an element of his play that seemed to be unearthing itself in the Hawks’ late-game loss to the Cavs (5 assists vs. CLE on Jan. 2, most since April 2019), but has gone back underground since. Especially now with Bogi bogged down, it cannot just be predictable sources like Young and Huerter creating for Atlanta (62.9% of made FGs assisted, 4^th-highest in NBA).

At least the Hawks’ all-time career assist leader has some willing backcourt contributors to turn to without Simmons and Curry, even though those options unheralded newbies to the pro game. It has been almost a calendar year since Atlanta enjoyed a breakout performance from guard Brandon Goodwin, who subbed for a struggling Jeff Teague in Trae Young’s absence last January and sunk 3-of-4 threes for 19 points, helping Collins and the Hawks trip up Doc’s shorthanded Clippers. A double-digit, low-turnover scoring effort off the bench tonight from Goodwin to supplement Trae would be welcome, and long overdue.

Coach Pierce has his hands full trying to chart a different course for the Hawks than we’ve seen over the past week-plus. But if Atlanta’s losing streak extends from tonight, the final home game before MLK Day, and through the upcoming three-game road trip, and if the fault appears to be more bad play than bad luck, there may be calls for somebody a little less kinder and gentler to run the show going forward. A harder-nosed taskmaster may be on the horizon, one looking for a little less conversation, and a little more action, please.

Wait a minute… did you hear that crashing sound? Is that… is that John Kuester’s entrance music?

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Dnice]

"Hawks is still the hawks "..how about post that on their bulletin board...lol

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Carmine]

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Woah... Trae & J.C on good terms now? Did Kyrie pour some of his sage on the court pre-game?

[mcleitsy]

We're toast.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

13 minutes ago, Carmine said:

Woah... Trae & J.C on good terms now? Did Kyrie pour some of his sage on the court pre-game?

 

There was never any real friction between Collins and Trae.  Anybody who has played organized ball, has disagreed, argued, even fought one of their teammates.  It's just part of basketball to have disagreements when things aren't going right.

LOL @ that matador defense by Capela and Collins, while Embiid does a slow motion Euro step between them.

[NBASupes]

Jojo flopping like a fish

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Look who's back in the lineup.

Watch the score.

[mcleitsy]

Just now, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Look who's back in the lineup.

Watch the score.

Nice shot. And foul.

[Cwell]

Bruno lucky he didn't get that 2nd foul lol

Edited January 12, 2021 by Cwell

[TheNorthCydeRises]

( shrugs )

The team just plays better with Bruno on the floor.

( +4 ) already.

[hawkman]

Hopefully that three gets Trae going again. 

[mcleitsy]

Just now, Cwell said:

Bruno lucky he didn't get that 2nd foul lol

We magically learned how to score when he went in. Let's play BF 40 min tonight.

[NBASupes]

Just now, TheNorthCydeRises said:

( shrugs )

The team just plays better with Bruno on the floor.

( +4 ) already.

Lol. This is why +/- is bullshit

[Carmine]

Make them shoot, Jojo is their only threat right now. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 minutes ago, mcleitsy said:

Nice shot. And foul.

He shot a rocket layup.

No worries though.  Trae has his screener back.  Let's see if his offense picks up, if he's completely in the clear.

[NBASupes]

Back to making 3s

Good feel Bruno

[mcleitsy]

Trae isn't getting another call the rest of the season. Too much bad PR to start off the season.

[NBASupes]

Refs full of shit

Just now, mcleitsy said:

Trae isn't getting another call the rest of the season. Too much bad PR to start off the season.

They are on a mission to swallow the whistle