Our heroes have lost a few games they should have won, so I guess it's only
right that once in a while they win one they should have lost. Wiz were
again without their best player, Arenas, and yet seemed to have to game
all
wrapped up until they went stone cold for about six minutes there in the
4th quarter.
The theme in the press I've read is that the Sixers were lucky to win
because they shot so bad. As a team they shot poorly, yes, but that
obscures a lot of individual performances which were anything but. While
Williams, Iguodala and Korver conspired to shoot 5-34 (ouch), four-fifths
of
the starters shot well, with Evans, Sammy, Green and Miller shooting a
combined 27-48, which is jim dandy. The Sixers might have won this one
easily if Andre Ig did not insist on throwing up brick after brick in the
last period, even when it was obvious he had no shot this night. What did
he have, something like 16 missed shots in a row? Hey Andre, part of
being
a team leader is knowing when you are off and letting some other guys
shoot.
It was a weird shooting night on many levels, but to my mind the best
statistical explanation for the outcome was 3 and 42, as in, Dalembert
only
had three fouls, and he played 42 minutes. That might be better phrased
as:
he played 42 minutes because he only had three fouls. May you continue
with
such discipline, young Samuel. With Sammy on the floor so much, the Wiz
only scored 84 points. They had 18 turnovers, and only shot 42%
themselves.
Coincidence? I don't think so. The Sixers also won the boards. Sammy was
so effective out there, Jason Smith was limited to five minutes.
Encouragingly, while he was on the floor a few mintues in the 4th quarter
to
give Sammy a rest, the Wiz continued with their bad shooting. Sammy had
19
points, 11 boards, and hit 5-6 from the line. It was probably his best
game
of the year. Let's hope he can keep it up, and play 38 minutes or so
every
night. It's not only good for the team as a whole when he is out there,
but
a happy by-product will be that the team won't have to rely so much on the
rookie Smith, who is getting better, but at this level he is still being
force-fed more time than you would like.
When Will Lou Williams Start Dept. This is turning into a real drama.
Just
when you thought Lou's time might be at hand, Andre Miller shoots 9-16,
dishes out 8 assists and even grabs 5 rebounds. Poor Lou picked a bad
night
to go 0-5 from the floor. Even Willie Green had one of his better games
by
comparison. I wonder how Coach Cheeks is assessing this all now.
--- Kurt Straub
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