The Focus Of Opening Night
Maurice Cheeks and Sam Mitchell have done their opening night homework.
The Focus Of Opening Night
This is a Sixers opening night with no surprises, at least none so far.
The starting lineup is as has been advertised: Thaddeus Young, Andre Miller, Samuel Dalembert, Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala.
The inactive list is as expected: The injured Jason Smith and rookie Marreese Speights.
Royal Ivey, serving the second leg of a three-game suspension incurred late last season as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks, isn't--by NBA rule-- in the Wachovia Center. But he does count against the active roster, leaving the team with 11 available bodies, one under the league limit.
Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks is focused on how his team performs, but says of the Raptors, ''Their main focus is Chris Bosh.''
Raptors coach Sam Mitchell doesn't expect the Sixers to vary from the running style they showed last season, but says of Elton Brand ''He's an added talent, a potential All-Star. He's a guy coming off an injury, but everyone knows what a healthy Elton Brand can do. He's a 20/10 guy.''
Historical note: Steve Javie, tonight's referee crew chief, and the veteran Tony Brothers are joined by former player Haywoode Workman in his debut. Workman becomes the third former player to turn to officiating in the league, following Bernie Fryer and Leon Wood.
Hey phil. Im a long time reader of your column in the daily news. i love your insight on the sixers. im an avid sixers fan so you know im a bit frustrated with whats going on with the team. im just wondering why coach cheeks feels the need to play willie green so much when we have a much better shooter on the roster in kareem rush. i dont see the use of getting kareem or donyell if they cant see the floor. iggie and sammy dont seem to have worked on their games at all in the off season. iggie doesnt have to shoot the 3 ball every time hes open. why wont he drive and try and draw some fouls and get to the line. i havnt seen too much of that out of him so far this year. i also think our defense as a team is lacking tremendously. im eager to hear your response mr jasner. P.S. dont you think kareem has to be in the game for more than 2 minutes at a time to get some type of rhythm and donyell also.— jersey2008
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
