Blaming the Lil Wayne concert?
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Blaming the Lil Wayne concert?
Let's just take a minute to address this drama surrounding Saturday night's Lil Wayne concert. The details are simple: Lou Williams and a few others 76ers attended Saturday night's concert despite having a noon game the following day vs. the Sacramento Kings. After the loss, Lou, believing their attendance at the concert had already been brought up, commented on it, saying that some guys who went to the concert played well (Jrue Holiday, Spencer Hawes), while other guys didn't play so well (Lou himself). Pretty quickly, this became a very big deal with folks saying the Sixers were being unprofessional and immature, staying out until 3:30 a.m. in the morning, and jeopardizing their preparation for the game -- an overtime loss to the Kings.
Before tonight's game against the Chicago Bulls, we went straight to Lou himself to get an explanation about exactly how all of this blew up on them. Later, I went back to Lou to ask him if he really was out until 3:30 a.m. and he denied that, saying he has a kid now and he can't be out all night like that. He seemed exasperated by all of this and didn't want to keep talking about it.
Here's what Lou said:
Why did you bring it up in the first place?
"Only reason I brought it up was because I thought it was mentioned before that. Other than that, it was nothing to me. I mean, we've done worse. Late movies, late dinners. So, that's the only reason I mentioned it. I've heard I made an excuse, which I've never made excuses for anything I've done, good or bad. Never took credit and never tried to downplay losing a basketball game. The only reason I mentioned it was I thought it was brought up before."
Were you suprised at the reaction?
"No, that's what happens, gives people something to talk about."
Was there partying after?
"We don't have heavy drinkers, we don't have heavy partiers, we just went and enjoyed a concert. Actually, I was the only one that played bad that was there."
Did you consider not going because it was an early game?
"The concert was over at 10 o'clock. And like I said, we've done worse, late dinners, late movies. We went to a concert, we weren't crowd surfing or anything. We were sitting comfortably in a suite and sat back and enjoyed the show."
And you don't sleep anyway cause you have a newborn?
"I don't sleep anyway. Like I said, if that was made for an excuse for us to lose the game, I was the only one that played bad that was there. That's it. I don't think it's that big of a deal. Period."
The decision to attend a concert when the next day's game is at noon (meaning most players arrive by about 10 a.m.) might not be totally blameless here, but I've heard some blatant lies regarding the situation: saying certain guys attended who did not attend, saying they were out partying all night. But this all seems a reflection of some sort of cultural stereotype rather than the reality of the situation: Lou went to the concert, he didn't play well. Jrue went to the concert, he played one of his best games of the season. Also of note, some of the Sacramento Kings attended the concert, as well.
OK, now that the situation is addressed, onto tonight's game vs. the Chicago Bulls, which will provide enough drama. Andre Iguodala will play tonight despite struggling with the knee tendinitis. It's going to be a challenging game (to say the least) for the Sixers after the loss to the Kings. They don't need a victory tonight, but the last time they were here they lost by 45 points. Tonight's game can't look anything like that. They need to compete for four full quarters or they'll be undoing something they worked very hard to build.
--Kate
Each week, Kate will check in from the road and answer fan questions about the Sixers. Click here to ask Kate a question or e-mail her at kfagan@phillynews.com.
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Party on mediocre talent— shawnmac- I passed on a Menudo concert when I was a kid. Good move.— Theo1980
- One playoff series and done.— jpgulli
- collins always gets us a good shot after a timeout by running a play. at the end of game why not run a play instead of isoing iggy or lou? they would probably get an open shot instead of a forced shot by iggy or lou— gan
- Concert over at 10, in bedby midnite. Up at 8:00 or 8:30AM for a 10:00 show. Whats the BFD? Non issue. Lou shulda never brought it up, unless they were out til dawn. Were they?— RAS
You lose to Sacramento, there has to be a reason for losing to the lowly Kings. Shameful.- i was at whispe ( a night club) sat night at 2 am and eturner and holiday were there— dididi
- Lil Wayne wasn't even worth the loss. Funny how one the most underrated players on the Sixers went to the most overrated rapper of all time's concert. Maybe Lou was disappointed with the performance. Good win tonight vs the Bulls!— low2behold
- i think he needs more tatoos— your_mom_says_hi!
- worst. excuse. ever.— theeman1
- It all hinges on how late they were partying. Go home directly from the concert, it's a normal night out. Go home at dawn, you've got a tired body not rested enough for the game. The facts here are not enough to form any kind of opinion. They had a great game against Chicago tonight, I think we should just let it rest.— goeagles87
- Lil' Waynegate...I think it's funny. Just like anyone else, these 76ers players get held up to Michael Jordan in terms of their work ethic. Do you guys think your NBA careers...your craft...is above all else? Can you guys do everything that you need to do to be the best you can be?— road515
- Kate: you're so much better than this. Don't resort to muckraking. You said yourself that Jrue played great and was there. Lou had an off game. End of story. Please focus on the dynamics of the game and not meaningless off the court stuff. Lou is 24. He can party all night and play at 1 if he wants to.— Leegles
- I think we're kidding ourselves to think these guys go home every night at 10am. Do i have a problem w/Lou going to the concert- not if he scores one more point in regulation and they win. But he had a bad game that had a direct affect on his team winning a must win game to catch atlanta. i don't care what the excuse is but it seems to me that he partially thinks going out the night before affected him and if it did than yeah, i'm ticked at him. these guys get paid way too much to not win games like this. we're not talking about a december game against the wiz. we're fighting for the 5th seed and he's going out and it's affecting him mentally the next day. i don't care if he stayed home all night and had too much pizza and beer and it gave him a stomach ache. it's almost april. we're making a playoff run. if you can go to the concert and be 100% the next day like jrue and spencer than fine. but if you can't hang than you shouldn't be doing it. you get paid too much and have too many people counting on you (teammates and fans) to be ready to play. when we get bounced in the first or second round, he'll still have plenty of money to take a trip to ny, chicago, la, or wherever to catch up with lil wayne and see him in concert. right now all we want to see are wins, not excuses for losses that are completely under the players control.— 76ers in 2076
- bulls lost to the clippers at home this year. im checking the lil wayne tour dates now if he was there.— Barkley
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.
