Sixers Make Pistons & Predictors Look Bad
After checking with the NBA office, it's now official, this reporter's pick of Detroit beating the 76ers in five games can't happen.
The Sixers made sure of foiling that prediction with Friday's 95-75 pounding of the Pistons to take a two ga
Sixers Make Pistons & Predictors Look Bad
After checking with the NBA office, it's now official, this reporter's pick of Detroit beating the 76ers in five games can't happen.
The Sixers made sure of foiling that prediction with Friday's 95-75 pounding of the Pistons to take a two games to one lead in their best of seven series.
It helped to be energied by the crowd, but the Sixers also made the Pistons look like a tired, old team.
Detroit has the capability to come back in this series, but not if the Pistons don't show more energy.
All the talk this series was how the Sixers would struggle in the half-court offense.
Well, Detroit missed 17 consecutive field goal attempts beginning early in the third quarter.
The Sixers made the Pistons look their age, which is old. While Andre Iguodala continues to struggle with his shot, the Pistons Chauncey Billups isn't faring much better. Billups, a notorious Sixers-killer, shot just 2 for 11 and is shooting just 30.8 percent for the series.
It's surprising to see a Pistons team that prides itself on taking care of the ball, commit 25 turnovers.
Considering how dominant Detroit was in Wednesday's 105-88 win, this may have been one of the Sixers most impressive victories.
It also was their best defensive effort of the season.
And now the Sixers are likely laughing at all who picked the Pistons in five. And those who made those picks, deserve any jeers for once again underestimating the will and ability of the surprising Sixers.
Comments (56)
Way ahead of you Marc, I said it already on my blog: "Detroit looked slow, sluggish, unmotivated (except Hamilton and Prince) and overall like they could just walk into our building and win without putting forth maximum effort. Sorry Detroit we don’t get down like that here in Philly. If they expect to beat the Sixers they will need to bring their A-game as they did in game 2." ***www.reclinergm.com***— ReclinerGM- Flip has BIG problem. He can continue to handdcuff Iguodala, or change it up. Either way, Iguodala will merely adapt either way, and Flip better have new looks or risk a major upset against a team that has embraced unselfishness and team ball, aggressively.— Mike J
- Before the series began I was hoping the sixers would win two games. I did not expect two this early especially with Iggy scoring so little; this team keeps surprising me and I am enjoying the moment.— charlievhenry
- WOW... Unbelievable... Not much else to say... LOVE the Reggie chants... I was at a bar watching the game and there was no sound. how loud were they?— JYurk
- Flip loses the next one and I think he's out of motor city. I think we might see another night of Game 2 Detroit. Our guys just have go out and play. Sammy's had some good playoff games against Detroit in years past. I hope we continue to use him if he's connecting. I'm impressed with his rebounding. No doubt Evans' aggressiveness was a distraction for Detroit on the boards, making room for Sammy's snags. Carney's coming around, is not ready to replace Iguadala, and he should be getting some increased minutes. Iggy's come up small for the team so far at the crucial point of the season, and at a critical moment for his wallet. I know they're keying D on him, expecting that by stopping him, our offense is dead. They're finding out Miller and co are stepping up big. I can't imagine that we'd be where we are with another pg given the makeup of this team. About Iggy, I'm not saying he can't come up huge over the next 2-3 games, and I am glad to see that he was finding the open man. As some of the fellas said before about Kobe and LeBron: Iggy's not even in the same arena. Matter of fact, if he plays like this the rest of the series and we lose, he's gonna be offered LESS money. Unless he comes out and plays like MJ over the rest of the series and well into the next round, he has no grounds for anything close to max money. I'm worried about what we would do without Miller if he leaves after next season. He has been the glue for the team this year.— xing
- Let me restate that about Flip- if he loses the next one, I think he loses the series, and by default, may be out of the motor city. Sorry about any confusion- and the lack of breaks in that last comment I made. The setup isn't easy to paragraph or break up..— xing
- Besides forcing turnovers, the Sixers' defensive success can be attributed to their defending the defensive glass. After an atrocious defensive rebound pct. of 52% in Game 2, they took 19 of the first 21 rebounds on their defensive glass, on the way to an excellent 82% rate for the game (32 of 39). Without so many offensive rebounds, the Detroit offense suddenly looked ordinary. Prince and Hamilton hit an unusually high number of jumpers in the first half, but even the best halfcourt teams can't survive just taking jumpers. Also looking ordinary -- as I've noted all year -- was Jason Maxiell, who really doesn't do anything if he's not getting offensive rebounds. In fact, I'm still really not that impressed with anybody on the Pistons bench. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Great games from Dalembert and Miller. Who could have guessed that Dalembert would ever outscore Wallace 22-2 in any game? And Miller continues to match and even outplay Billups -- totally unexpected. (NEW PARAGRAPH) Coming into the series, and even during it, people (including Sixers reporters) talked as if it was Detroit's series to lose. Maybe at some point those same people will start to realize that the Sixers are good too, that they match up well with the Pistons, and that they will give the Pistons all they can handle in this series -- just as most of the regular posters in this blog predicted before the series (unfortunately, all those posts are lost by now with the switch). My pre-series prediction (now made more boldly) still stands: Sixers in 7. Game 4 will be a war; hopefully the Sixers fans will be out in force supporting their team.— Statman
- Wow! how many deflections did they have? Great energy! Reggie wants to be our starting PF next year. Initially, I was happy that Iggy was struggling a bit to keep that contract down next year BUT now I'm really concerned about his confidence. You can't throw out the season performance when evaluating Iggy but it's obvious he's a supporting player. He won't ever be the man. It's a credit to all players & coaches. The chemistry continues to be off the charts. Hey Morty, Suede(Seude) was wondering why your girl friend didn't wear her tee shirt last night?— sfw
- All the talk this year was about the west. Stayed up to watch S.A. destroy Pheonix, I don!t think Pheonix could defend against a team of us bloggers. We are doing it the right way "DEFENSE". We are establishing a scrappy, defensive personality with a lot of athletes and a true leader [A.MILLER]. Wonder what is going on in E.S. !s mind; what is needed and who will "fit" into this teams "personality". By the way, Josh Smith is stinking it up also in Atlanta.— seude
- Jumpin Johnny, your thoughts on Sam's game?— JBP
- JBP, Exceptional. Caught Sheed mailin' it in, built from there. I give him a lot of credit--for 1 game. When his elbows are high & akimbo and his nostrils are a-flarin - watch out! The Steamin' Sheriff is on duty! Bravery was bolstered by posse of 20,000. TEAM defense was the name of last night's game. A great, sustained effort by Sixers!— jjg
- Well, Marc, predictions aside, I think a truth has emerged in this series... The Sixers can defeat the Pistons and move on in the play-offs. Whether or not this will happen is yet to be determined...but the Sixers can win it. Philly sports writers now know it. Sixers fans now know it. Most importantly, the Sixers now know it. One way or the other, the rest of this series is going to be very, very interesting...very exciting.— Ed RosenBerg
- I think Iggy in this series should be used as a decoy...he's not good enough to be able to break the double team consistently or when placed one-on-one with Prince...he did get 6 TOs yesterday...but he has shown some ability at driving in the paint and kicking it out to the open shooter...he's been grabbing some boards for us and for him to play strong D on whoever he's guarding. We don't need him forcing up bad shots because that's not part of his game right now (being optimistic). When he gets the open lane, throw a couple of dunks down to show that you're still a factor. I'm glad to say that we haven't needed him to score. Willie Green also bringin' up the ball a little bit, letting Andre Miller get post position, perhaps more of that is needed if we continue to give Green 20+ minutes a game. (New Paragraph) And a couple of defensive sequences by Carney on Rip definitely shows me that we have been right in that Carney can seriously bother Rip when guarding him. When Green is on him, Rip will go off. That is something we lived with last game because only him and Prince was scoring. I personally don't know if it'll work again but then again, I predicted a Pistons series win 4-2...so...— Mercurial41
- suede and sixersguy, I have been more then patient with Iguodala. There is no way that we could lock this guy in as our SG with a huge contract. He isnt worth it, playing that guy at the 2 will guarantee that your team will be stank from the perimeter unless you have a sharpshotting PG who bombs trey's. Trade him for that stud PF, if our 11 million isnt enough to get that PF then use this guy in a sign and trade. You will never win a championship with AI as your starting 2, never. The dude is a natural 3. Too bad Garnett wasn't available this offseason, but lets pray on another big man superstar asking out and sich.— The Greek
- sfw, You need to brush up on your Norwegian.— jjg
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About this blog
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
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