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Posts Tagged ‘Kobe Bryant’

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76ERS ARE FOR REAL, 76ERS ARE FOR REAL!!!!

In Philadelphia 76ers on February 6, 2012 at 10:19 pm

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In our post last Wednesday we talked about how important this week was in determining if this 76er’s team could be considered for real or not. Well I think it’s been determined, THE 76ERS ARE FOR REAL, THE 76ERS ARE FOR REAL!!!  The team finishes the week with a 3-1 record beating the Chicago Bulls at home, the Atlanta Hawks on the road and the Los Angeles Lakers at home, while losing to the Miami Heat at home. These are all real good teams and the 76er’s are as good as they are. The win over the Lakers is as big a win as there’s been in Philly for some time and although the boxscore doesn’t look that great they hung in there and played great D-E-F-E-N-S-E again. The BEAT LA, BEAT LA chant by the sold out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center brought back memories of the Spectrum and days gone by. The keys to the game are pretty simple. They played Doug Collins basketball, besides great defense the 76ers commited only 4 turnovers in the  game, a team record. Unbelievable!! The Lakers out rebounded the 76ers by 55-30. The 76ers only had 3 guys in double figure scoring with Lou Williams off the bench with a tremendous 4th quarter and 24 points. Jrue Holiday added 13 and Andre Iguodala added 12. Maybe as important as any stat for the game, as we’ve discussed in every one of our posts the Lakers shot only 42.0% from the field and a 7-24 from 3-point land for 29.2%. It’s still about the defense and fundamentals of the game. For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, 24 points in the 1st half and was shutdown in the 2nd by Iggy.  Andrew Bynum had 20 points and 20 rebounds and Pau Gasol added 16 points.

You know what, it doesn’t matter!!! The 76ers are for real!!!!!!!

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IT’S SHOW UP TIME FOR THE 76ers

In Philadelphia 76ers on February 1, 2012 at 8:21 am

On January 21 we asked if the 76ers were for real. We discussed the next 6 games, 1 at Miami and the next 5 at home finishing up last night against Orlando. We said the 76ers needed to win either the Miami or Orlando game and would probably lose one of the four games that they should win because it just happens that way. Well I wish I could pick lottery numbers so well. The team did exactly that, finishing the 6 games with a 4-2 record and now leads the 2nd place Boston Celtics by 5 games and the Knicks by 7.5 after beating the Magic by 6 last night in a game that was never close.  The 76ers led the entire game and they’re lead reached 17 points in the 4th quarter. With Boston playing better basketball we lost .5 games in the standings while winning the 4 games. The 76ers have bought in to Head Coach Doug Collins phiosophy and continue to play outstanding defense even though both of their big men, Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevik are out with injuries.

Still asking how they’re doing it? It’s simple D-E-F-E-N-S-E!!! Over the 6 game period the teams points against dropped from 86.7 ppg to 86.1 ppg moving them to the top of the league in that category. Opponents are now shooting 41.4% from the field which is also tops in the league.

The team individual scoring didn’t change much with Lou Williams sill leading the way at, 15.3, Jrue Holiday, 14.2, Andre Iguodala, 12.9, Thaddeus Young, 12.0, Elton Brand 10.7, Spencer Hawes, 10.4 and Evan Turner, 10.2 ppg.

The next 5 games will be the real challenge for the team to see if they’re for real. Last week’s games they should have won and did what they should have. This week they have the Chicago Bulls at home. The Bulls are in 1st Place in the Central Division with an 18-5 record which is the most wins in the league, the Miami Heat at home after being whipped handily in Miami last week.  At Atlanta against a very good Hawks team that is in 2nd place in the Southeast behind the Heat and back home against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers next Monday. The Lakers are presently in 2nd Place in the Pacific Division and Kobe is again leading the league in scoring with a 30.2 points per game average.

This is a tough schedule for the week. The team really needs to win 2 of the 4 games and maybe 3 of 4 just to prove they can play against the good teams with winning records. Boston isn’t going to go away so it’s important to come out of each week with a winning record especially this week against these quality teams.

What’s the winning combination? D-E-F-E-N-S-E!!!!!