76ers' necessary adjustments
76ers are on the court right now at AmericanAirlines Arena. They have this one practice session, and then tomorrow morning's shoot around, before Monday night's second game against the Miami Heat. Miami won Game 1 of this first-round, best-of-seven series on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Sixers by 97-89.
76ers' necessary adjustments
76ers are on the court right now at AmericanAirlines Arena. They have this one practice session, and then tomorrow morning's shoot around, before Monday night's second game against the Miami Heat. Miami won Game 1 of this first-round, best-of-seven series on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Sixers by 97-89.
Sixers coach Doug Collins has discussed at length the importance of making adjustments between games and today is that day. Here are a few observations/potential changes the Sixers should address:
1.) The production of Andre Iguodala. OK, so this isn't an X's and O's change, but it could be the most important upgrade the Sixers can make. It's not acceptable for Iguodala to score 4 points on 2 for 7 shooting in a close playoff game. No one is overlooking Iguodala's stellar supporting numbers: assists, rebounds, quality defense against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. But the Sixers can't have 40 to 42 dead offensive minutes from Iguodala. One basket in the first quarter and one in the third? Can't happen. Iguodala needs to score between 12-17 points during each game of this series. On Saturday afternoon, Iguodala missed a transition opportunity early and a three pointer from the top of the key late in the game. He finishes those two plays and he's already working with 9 points -- much closer to what this team needs from him offensively -- and the Sixers are in an entirely different position during the final 2 minutes of this game. Iguodala carries himself and speaks like he's a tested veteran in this league, speaking from a position of sweeping observation, but he's never won a playoff series. And that's almost certainly going to continue if he doesn't begin finishing a few more plays each half (realistically, even if he does up his contribution, that still won't be enough, but it'll make each game more competitive).
2.) Patch something together with their interior play. Miami dominated the boards and Collins was forced to go away from starting center Spencer Hawes because he was ineffective and in foul trouble. Collins played Marreese Speights for 12 minutes, Tony Battie for a few, and went small for long stretches. Speights is an interesting option during this series. On Saturday, he still committed some poor defensive plays, and he couldn't finish some really good opportunities, but you can see that he might be able to add something during this series. His presence won't change the rebounding differential, though, and Collins needs Hawes to hit one of his good streaks. The Sixers best play of the season has come when Hawes can be a steady contributor for 25-plus minutes. Maybe Speights can work in for a chunk each half, nail a few jumpers, etc. This is all a roundabout explanation, but it comes back to Hawes: Sixers can't compete if they're patch-working the center position all game. Hawes has to be productive.
3.) Remove Andres Nocioni from the rotation. Something interesting happened in the first half of Saturday's game. Collins sent Nocioni to the scorer's table to check into the game and then changed his mind. It was an embarrassing moment for Nocioni (he hadn't yet played a minute) and it seemed like Collins sensed that he'd made a mistake in sending Nocioni to the table and then calling him back. A minute later, Collins sent Nocioni in again, removing Thaddeus Young from the game after he'd played only 2 or 3 minutes. It was the most confusing substitution of the year and it kicked off a game where Collins routinely went to Nocioni, revealing quite clearly that Nocioni is not the answer. We shouldn't see him in Game 2.
4.) The free throw situation. I'm sure most fans want to blame the NBA and the referees, believing that the NBA has conspired to make sure the Heat win this series, but let's get real. Miami's go-to guys are Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, two of the most physical players in the league. Whereas the Sixers have Iguodala and Thaddeus Young as a couple of their key guys and both those guys try to slip around contact. First, the Sixers need to give harder fouls. Too many times the Heat were given the opportunity for old-fashioned three-point plays. That essentially gave away five or six points. Sixers have to either foul hard and keep the basket from falling, or give up the basket entirely. The in between is hurting them. Second, and this will aid the free throw disparity more, the Sixers need Iguodala and Lou Williams to draw contact and tack on points at the line. On Saturday, Jrue Holiday did a great job offensively (his performance was promising for the future), but Iguodala and Williams are the guys that can help balance this situation. It's never going to be entirely even because, quite simply, the Heat are more physical and more forceful going toward the basket.
Sixers are practicing for a couple of hours today and the series continues Monday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
--Kate
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As ever, astute observations/insight Kate. Thanks.— CarpGuy- some nice observations. while i agree that the sixers need to make some adjustments in order to better compete, they are who they are and you can't change a tiger's stripes. but if they can do what you suggest while playing to their strengths, i think the sixers can steal one game, probably at home and only if the heat have an off game. regardless, this experience will good for them and with a little luck, they can add some more talent to this team in the next 2 years and become a legit contender. okay, now cue JonKap for his tired diatribe against the sixers front office and the need for superstars...— esesjay
- Kate: great piece, in particular your handling of the stupid, stupid, inane argument that the Referees, under orders from David Stern and the Networks, are fixing the games. Only losers and Flyers' fans (who ALWAYS whine about officiating) use that argument. Presumably, the refs did not start the fix until the second and third periods, and also did not put the fix in place for the most crucial part of the game, the last three minutes. More likely cause than a Fix: 1. Sixers play poorly against zones because they lack outside shooters. They had plenty of chances in the mid periods, but missed shots consistently. 2. with 3:58 to go in the game, score 88-85, Holiday missed a 25-footer, Young missed two free throws (refs forgot the fix), Holiday missed another jumper, still 88-85, Young hits layup, 88-87, then fouls Bosh, 90-85, Brand misses wide open 15 footer from top of the key, Brand fouls Wade, 94-89, Iguodala misses 16 footer, James blocks Holiday's driving layup, still 94-89, Iguodala misses 25 foot three pointer, Meeks fouls James, 96-89, Williams misses 26 foot three pointer, Young fouls Wade, 97-89, Williams misses final three pointer. Lucky for the refs, in on the fix, that the Heat made all those foul shots, but lucky for the refs in on the fix that the Sixers could not hit the ocean down the stretch. Great players come up big at the end of games, lesser players come up small. Same with the Pacers-Bulls game. Probably also fixed?— chuckw
Comment removed.- One killer for the sixers what that there was no offensive sets run when they went to the bench in the second quarter. There were 5 ill advised shots taken and Lou Williams was rusty when he first got out there. That contributed heavily to the horrible second quarter.
BTW...while the refs were looking at the monitors to see if Jodi Meeks foul should have been 2 and the ball, did they notice that Lebron took 5 steps before he even put the ball on the floor??? That is usually traveling even in the NBA.— rvb2321 - Sorry: meant to say, after Young fouled Bosh, then 90-87, Brand missed that jumper, then after Young fouled Wade, 92-87, Young hit another layup, 92-89. Then Brand fouled Wade, 94-89 &c.— chuckw
- One other point: every year, we see highly favored home teams lose or almost lose the first game of the playoffs to lesser teams, because they lack a sense of urgency. That was the case yesterday with the Bulls-Pacers game and possibly with the Magic-Hawks game and Dallas-Portland. That was the case with the Sixers in the 2008-9 playoffs when the stunned the Magic. Rarely is that a predictor for the entire series, however.— chuckw
- Nocioni can be used for his physical style of play [and 6 fouls] against James. The Sixers will not be able to overcome their problems at center, even against a team that only plays their center for a few minutes a game... Chris Bosh: 25 points? Give me a break.— fillyfan
- really great article. i watched the game and was proud of the way this YOUNG team fought till the end. They have no reason to hold thier heads low they are out matched and almost stole a game, if they continue that play we will make this a series and maybe pull th upset noone is talking about. go philly.— allfillyphan
- Add Memphis-San Antonio to that list of first round upsets.— chuckw
- Add the Hornets-Lakers to that list of first round upsets.— chuckw
- Hope we can start first round/ second game upsets on Monday. Defense,turnovers, transition scoring. Defense,turnovers, transition scoring. Defense..... Next priority: defensive rebounding. Thad, EB, and Jrue with a little help will produce enough offense to win. Meeks will have at least one or two big games. Jodie,are you listening(reading)? Miami has better stars. Sixers have a better team and better coaches.— philsix6
- Comment removed.
- This series will help Doug and Rod make the next level of tough decisions re the roster. I am sure they will exchange a couple of pieces to upgrade weak areas and supplement continued growth from Jrue, Jodie and Thad.— JBP
- chuckw - the proof is in the numbers. 15 FT to 39 FT. And you talk in some otherworldly vacuum as if we don't have confessed proof of this kind of charade - go Google Tim Donaghy and get back to me.
You give a team that already possesses more talent almost 3 times more freebies, you make it almost impossible for middling teams like the Sixers.
Who knows if it goes on every game? Donaghy said they'd do it sometimes but not always. So who knows? Last night, by any matrix, was an abomination to a beautiful sport.— evolutionary - Donaghy did not operate under orders from Stern and the Networks; he was padding his own back account, betting on games to pay off huge gambling debts. Big difference. Officials on the take would be betting on the Sixers to get a price, not the Heat. This is a billion dollar business; if refs were under orders from Stern to fix games, at some point, an honorable ref would have spilled the beans and the game would be destroyed. You are a ridiculous whiner. Presumably, the refs would have fixed other games than simply the Heat, like the Lakers who lost to the Hornets, or San Antonio who lost to the Memphis Grizzlies. Philadelphia fans like you are a pathetic joke. Teams win and lose on merit; are there bad calls sometimes in every sport. Yes. Are the games fixed? Do yourself a favor and get a life. As Kate Fagan said, get real.— chuckw
- Quixote: Stern acted so quickly on Donaghy because he knows that the integrity of the sport is paramount to its success. You don't take the chance in a billion dollar business to ruin its future by asking refs, no matter how subtly, to fix games. As for your argument equating fixing games to the faux reputation of Iguodala is, to be kind, rather forced and you know I am not much of a fan of his. Like the Grizzlies and Hornets today, both of whom won, the Sixers had plenty of chances to win that game but blew it down the stretch. I will grant you this about the NBA: referees forever have penalized rookies with ticky-tac fouls and given greater leeway to superstars, but not in order to fix games under orders from the commissioner. By the way, Stern would love to see the Knicks in the finals, given the New York market, but tonight the refs called two fouls on Melo in the first three minutes, sending him to the bench and helping the Celtics.— chuckw
- And Donaghy also said that the problem is rampant throughout the league.
Whatever, believe what you want. I love basketball and love the Sixers, and I'm an optimist by nature. I only wish ALL games were played out based on the merits as you say. Refs need to stay out of it if they can't call it down the middle. Any true fan of basketball and the Sixers would want the same, and not just regurgitate the same trite "well the Heat are just more talented" nonsense.— evolutionary - PLEASE POST HIM UP..!!— combocancer1975
- Anyone remember Iguodala's "dunk" off of Hawes' nice bounce pass? Notice anything? He barely got up in the air, could hardly get his hand above the rim. Ordinarily, he'd tomahawk the hell outta that or two hand yank the rim for a monster dunk. The guy is really hurt. He's got little explosion off the dribble or rising. Add a physical defender with James and there's not a lot he's going to be able to do offensively. Just a very bad time for Iguodala and Williams to be hurt, especially against THIS opponent.
As far as the fouls, all you need to do is look at Wade kicking Young and Young getting called and James literally running over Young only to see the ref motion Young to get up. How was that different than Iguodala's O.L. vs the Celtics? If there is even the slightest contact with the 3, the whistle is blowing. Yet, there's constant contact with Sixers players, including Young and Iguodala with no calls. Young got hammered to the floor in the 4th Q run, he went to the line once.— PhilaPhans - Comment removed.
- I'm glad to see Ms. Fagan has finally seen the light on Nocioni playing. We got the party line there for a while. 'Experience' 'mentally tough', all excuses not to play the clearly better Turner. I'd only give Noc time if Iggy gets in foul trouble.
Also need to see more of Battie. Plays good defense and can knock down the open elbow shot. You can't allow Bosh to have 25, he ain't that good.— blah - First line of your 2nd observation/adujstment - "Patch something together with their interior play." Last line of same obseravation - "Sixers can't compete if they're patch-working the center position all game." So which is it? Lol— Xdaxblessedx
Keith Pompey has been an Inquirer reporter since September 2004. He takes over the Sixers beat after covering the Temple men’s basketball team for the past three years and Temple football the past two seasons. Pompey also previously covered the Penn and Drexel men’s basketball team and Villanova football team after initially focusing on high school sports.
Pompey is a native Philadelphian and a University of Pittsburgh. Follow him on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers or reach Keith at kpompey@phillynews.com.
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.
