Sixers Sign Iggy

ESPN is reporting that the Sixers have signed SG/SF Andre Iguodala to a 6 year, $80 million dollar contract extension. This move, along with the resigning of Lou Williams back in last Monday, brings back two of the younger, more exciting components of last year's emerging Sixers team.

Couple these moves with the signing of Elton Brand and Sixers fans have plenty of reason for optimism this fall.

For all of Iguodala's problems in the playoffs, I have always like Iguodala as a player, but did not want to see him get a contract that would cripple the Sixers in the immediate future.

This contract, while probably slightly more than I would place his worth, is probably the right thing for the organization to do. If the Sixers hadn't resigned him, it is uncertain as to how the Sixers would have replaced a player who has generally gotten better in his first 4 years in the league and plays hard defensively every night. Best case scenario is that Iguodala becomes a full-time shooting guard (with Thad Young moving to SF) and improves his jump shot to the point where he is outperforming this deal 3 years from now. Worst case scenario, he's the same player he is today and at his number, he still wouldn't be as grossly overpaid as Samuel Dalembert.

With the core components of both the Pistons and the Celtics getting another year older and the Cavs refusing to get LeBron James any meaningful help, the relative youth and athleticism of the Sixers makes them an intriguing team to watch in a relatively weak Eastern Conference.

Sixers Reach Out for Brand New Power Forward

The combination of the Phillies' poor play, my sore back, and a roster full of thankless things to do at work was going to compel me to write an epic, Dallas Green-style asskicking of the Phillies today.

I'll leave the rant for later.

Right now, I'm sort of in shock at the fact that the Sixers were able to come to an agreement with free agent power forward Elton Brand on a 5-year/$82 million dollar contract. This deal makes the Sixers instant contenders in the East a year after they wildly overacheived in a relatively weak Eastern Conference.

The first reaction to the deal is the Sixers are obtaining a guy who is a low-post force that they currently do not possess. It will provide Samuel Dalembert with some defensive help down on the blocks. The move allows Thaddeus Young to go to small forward, which allows Andre Iguodala (if the Sixers choose to resign him) to move to shooting guard.

Brand has been somewhat susceptible to injuries over the course of his career, missing chunks of time from 2002-2004 and coming off of a ruptured achillies that he incurred last offseason. But otherwise, this move has nothing but upside for the Sixers.

The next big decisions come with Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams. Do the Clippers (already rumored to be losing Corey Maggette as well) come after Andre Iguodala in a fit of revenge, with an unmatchable offer sheet? Does a team come after Lou Williams with the promises of a starting job, something that might compel Williams to bolt? These are questions that GM Ed Stefanski will be dealing with over the rest of the offseason.

Hopefully, the Brand deal can compel Iguodala and Williams to stay put for now, but that is also the same hope that the Clippers and their fans had when they went out and got Baron Davis.

Conjecture aside, this move represents a tremendous job of shuffling the deck by GM Ed Stefanski. It started with moving Kyle Korver off of the roster to clear space when he got here. It continued even yesterday, moving Calvin Booth, Rodney Carney, and a first round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for cap space. If you combine these roster moves, and consider the movement of personnel in a trade scenario, you have the Sixers getting Elton Brand for Cal Booth, Rodney Carney, Kyle Korver, and a 1st round pick. That's a move any amateur GM would love to pull off.

Pistons Pound Sixers in Game 5

The only word I can think of to use to describe what happened to the Sixers last night was "outclassed".

The Sixers got pasted by the Pistons by a score of 98 - 81 in a game that got out of hand rather quickly. The loss puts the Sixers down 3 games to 2 in their best of 7 series and means the game on Thursday night is do-or-die for the upstart Sixers.

After being tied 10 - 10 in the 1st quarter, the Pistons went on a run from which the Sixers never recovered. The Sixers got within 12 points a couple of times, but the Pistons were dead on in their shooting last night, going 58% from the field and 46% from 3-point land.

Even during those stretches where the Sixers played flawless defense or did all the right things, loose balls always seemed to end up in the hands of a Piston or the Sixers couldn't get an easy shot to drop. The play that summed up the Sixers' night for me, was the play in the 3rd quarter, when Thaddeus Young made a nice play on a pass into the paint by Detroit, only to have the ball deflect off of Young's hand and into the net for a Detroit bucket.

If there is a silver lining to be pulled from this game, it's that Andre Iguodala seemed to find his way offensively, scoring 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting. This game, it was Andre Miller who thrown off his game, as he missed 9 straight shots during one stretch of the first half. Miller ended up with 13 points on the night and, more telling, only 3 assists.

Did you notice?

- Rasheed Wallace was dominant once again in this game. He had 6 blocks and shot 3 of 4 from 3-point land....it seems every 3 he makes is a back breaker and occurs when you think the Sixers may have been creeping back into the game.

- What the fuck did Samuel Dalembert do to his head? That haircut was brutal.

Winter Sports Teams All Tied

The Sixers

The Sixers lost game 4 of their best-of-7 series with the Detroit Pistons by a score of 93-84. As a result, the series is tied at 2 games apiece, and it's heading back to Detroit.

This outcome could have been avoided, as the Sixers had a 46-36 halftime lead and were buzzing.

But the veteran Pistons came out of the lockerroom in the 3rd quarter, and overwhelmed the Sixers, outscoring them in the quarter 34 - 16. The sleeping Piston defense looked as if it had been poked awake in the lockerroom at halftime, as the going was a little tougher in the 3rd period offensively for the Sixers. Rasheed Wallace poured in 3 3-pointers during the quarter to punctuate the Piston comeback.

While all 5 Sixer starters posted double figures in points, Andre Iguodala continued to struggle, shooting 4 of 16 from the field and ultimately ending up with 12 points. Rookie Thaddeus Young posted 15 points and 9 rebounds in a losing effort.

Also of concern, is that somehow, someway, the Sixers might want to figure out how to stop Tayshaun Prince. Prince has now missed only two shots in his last two games, shooting 19 for his lat 21 and averaging a little over 20 points in those games.

Pivotal Game 5 is tomorrow night in Detroit.

The Flyers

The Flyers tied up their best-of-7 series at 1 game apiece by beating the Montreal Canadiens last Saturday by a score of 4 to 2.

The story of Game 2 was the goaltending of Martin Biron, who shut down the Habs when they were buzzing in the 2nd period. His best save, of many good saves, was a breakaway by Hab Tomas Plekanec that he snapped up with the glove. When Marty Biron is starting to get confidence on breakaways (he was TERRIBLE in penalty shots this year), he's clearly on top of his game.

RJ Umberger added two more fluky goals to go with the fluky goal he scored the other night. Danny Briere and Jeff Carter also added goals; Briere's 7 goals ties him for the NHL playoff lead with Red Wing Johan Franzen.

A side story from this game was a sucker punch delivered by alleged purse thief Tom Kostopoulos. After the Flyers scored a goal, Kimmo Timonen smiled at Kostopoulos and skated away from him. At that point, angry I guess, because Timonen had no purse to steal, Kostopoulos sucker punched Timonen from behind causing a scrum.

Apparently, according to Guy Carbonneau, Timonen deserved it. Flyer coach John Stevens had it right the first time, when after the game, he called it "cowardly".

Think about this for a second. What if the tables were turned, and it was uber-pest Steve Downie slugging Alexei Kovalev in that same fashion? I doubt Carbonneau's opinion would be so laissez-faire and I REALLY doubt he would suggest Kovalev "deserved" it.

Furthermore, the Canadian press would be all over Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell to suspend Downie is such an incident were to occur. The NHL never even considered sanctions against Kostopoulos.

This is just another example of a hypocritical Canadian press for not taking Carbonneau and Kostopoulos, members of a team playing in Canada, to task for this incident in the same way that the Flyers and Steve Downie were taken to task over their incidents with the Jason Blake and the Leafs earlier this year. At least Downie had the guts to face the guy he sucker punched; Timonen didn't even know it was coming.

Game 3 is tonite at the Wachovia center. I'll be in the house and have a good report tomorrow AM.

Sixers Get Revenge; Crush Pistons

It would have been easy for the Sixers to curl and die in this series after the whooping they took from Detroit the other night. Detroit played suffocating defense and frankly, Andre Iguodala hadn't been distinguishing himself on the offensive end.

Well, apparently, the only the thing the Sixers quit doing was playing passively, as they smoked the Pistons last night by a score of 95 - 75. There is no way I saw this coming after the way the Sixers got beat the other night.

The scene at the Wachovia center was exhiliarating, with the fans in their "white out" gear and screaming and cheering their asses off. If there is a Sixers team that deserves that kind of positive fan output, it's this one.

The key to the game was that the Sixers played relentless defense and the Pistons gave up the ball to the tune of 23 turnovers. Andre Iguodala may not contributing much offensively right now (10 points on 2 of 9 shooting), but he did manage 4 steals to lead the Sixers defensively.

Offensively, the Sixers were powered by Andre Miller with 21 points and "Slammin" Sammy Dalembert, who had 22 points and 16 rebounds. This was a startling turnaround for Dalembert after getting schooled by Rasheed Wallace for the first two games of the series.

Speaking of Wallace and the Detroit big men, they had sort of a rough night. Rasheed Wallace finished with 2 points, which is only 1 more point than he had technical fouls last night (he picked up a "T" jawing with Reggie Evans). Antonio McDyess had his nose broken and finished with only 2 points.

How bad was this game for Detroit? The Detroit Free Press' Michael Rosenberg called it one of the worst playoff games ever for this particular group of Pistons. It's clear that the Sixers' athleticism and energy were either underestimated by the Pistons or that this Pistons team is just not as good as everyone thinks they are. Either way, we should be in an exciting reminder of this series.

Game 4 is at the Wachovia center at 7pm.

Pistons Crush Sixers

In a case where it appears the Sixers awakened a sleeping giant, the Detroit Pistons came out last night and blew the Sixers' doors off by a score of 105 - 88. Watching this game, it felt as if the Pistons simply squeezed the life out of the Sixers defensively. Sometimes, you see a score like this one and wonder if the game went as badly as the score indicated. In this case, the game went every bit as bad as the score.

Andre Iguodala had another rough night, shooting 1 for 9 from the field. As a team, the Sixers shot a shade under 40%. Just a bad night all around and really, not much to discuss.

In contrast, 4 of the 5 Piston starters scored in double figures, led by Rip Hamilton's 20 points. Antonio McDyess scored 16 and added 12 boards. Tayshaun Prince played very well defensively, despite constantly looking like he could blown over any minute by a stiff breeze. Someone get that kid a couple burgers or something.

Further underscoring how dominant Detroit was in this game is the fact that the Sixers only got out and scored 10 fast break points. If there is any prayer of the Sixers pulling the upset here, they must get out and run. On the other hand, it's tough to run, when the other team shoots 55% from the field.

The Sixers return home to play games 3 (Friday night) and 4 (Sunday night) and will need every bit of the energy the home crowd can give them. In support of this, I believe I heard on the telecast last night that the Sixers are doing a Penn State-style "white out", where everyone in the crowd wears white and it looks real cool on TV. I was working on my mother-in-law's computer at the time when I heard it, so I may have heard it wrong.....if I see anything else on this, I'll post it.

Also: Did anyone see the interview with Comcast suit Peter Luuko? The same jack ass who runs both the Sixers and the Flyers apparently doesn't know the name of the team's point guard, referring to PG Andre Miller by the name "Reggie Miller". Lord knows we could use Reggie Miller right now.

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Burrell Propels Phils; Sixers Play Game 2 Tonite!

There is just WAAAY too much going on right now with the local squadrons. I'll do a Flyers playoff preview for lunch tomorrow......

The Phils

The Phils pulled out another late inning, come from behind win, this time against the Colorado Rockies by a score of 8 -6, giving them a record of 1 game over .500 in the season to date. The turning point in the game came with Pat Burrell's bases loaded double in the top of the ninth. Burrell's game winning hit came after Rockies' manager Clint Hurdle made the mistake of walking the slumping Ryan Howard to get to the hot hitting Pat Burrell. Brad Lidge put the Rocks away in the bottom of the ninth for the save.

The Phils will be in Milwaukee tonite at 8:05pm; CMH vs. Dave Bush.

The Sixers

The Sixers, after pulling a stunning upset of Detroit in game 1 of their best of seven series, get back at it tonite against the Pistons in Auburn Hills.

Will the Game 1 victory be seen as a wakeup call for the Pistons or a portend of things to come for the Sixers? Listening to Stephen A. Smith on the Mike Missanelli show yesterday, Smith thinks the Sixers are already done in this series. It is easy to forget that Stephen A. is pretty knowledgable about basketball and has real good NBA access when he's not screaming at us or overgesticulating like my drunk uncle on Christmas Eve. I've never been a huge fan of his writing after he became a columnist; I felt on items other than the NBA, he was practically unreadable. But in that interview, he sounded cogent and measured to the point where I thought he may have been drugged.

Anyway, I don't know if the Sixers will win tonite, but I do believe they are a little better than they are given credit for. As bad of a game as Iguodala may have had shooting in game 1, it's not as if Rip Hamilton had a good game either, shooting 5 of 17. If they can somehow limit Rasheed Wallace, (24 pts, 9 boards, 7 blocks in game 1), they should have a punchers chance tonite against what will probably be an angry group of veteran Pistons.

What a weekend.....

Last weekend is as about as busy as it gets when you follow the four major sports teams. The results were mostly good, especially for the winter sports teams, who with victories last Friday, both clinched berths in the playoffs for their respective leagues.

The Sixers clinched their playoff berth on the road, by beating the Atlanta Hawks by score of 109 - 104. Andre Iguodala led the way with 30 points and 10 assists. And while the Sixers did drop the backend of the home-and-home series with Atlanta, it shouldn't have dampened the palpable enthusiasm people are starting to acquire for this Sixers team.

The Flyers did not allow a goal all weekend and swept both games from their divisional foes. In doing so, they have earned themselves the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference and a playoff date with Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The Flyers' win against New Jersey last Friday night was nothing short of heroic, while their win yesterday against the Pens was nothing short of anti-climactic. Martin Biron collected both shutouts and seems to be peaking at the right time and Scottie Upshall, seemingly always in Coach Stevens' doghouse, picked up key goals in both games. A preview of the Flyers' playoff foe will come this week.

The Phillies have dropped two in a row to the Reds, but did win in convincing fashion last Friday on the strength of 2 Chase Utley homers. Brett Myers' adjustment back to the rotation was singularly unimpressive in yesterday's loss to the Reds, going only 5 innings once again. The Phils will have an opportunity to salvage a split with the Reds today, with CMH going up against Bronson Arroyo.

Other observations:

- Anyone catch Evgeni Malkin diving like Greg Louganis at the Olympics during yesterday's game? The Penguins are probably happy to be paired up with injury-depleted Ottawa in the playoffs, but if they try to employ their little diving techniques against a Canadian-based team, it will be trumpeted in the press all across North America.

- The last thing the Pens wanted was a playoff series against the Flyers. The Pens would probably win such a series right now, but they would come out of such a series beaten up a little. The Pens, like the Flyers, have shown a commitment to team defense recently, but they cannot hide that paper thin defense forever.

- Willie Green....1 for 11 last Saturday night against Atlanta. U-G-L-Y.

- Encouraging outing from Adam Eaton last Saturday....7 innings, 3 runs, all earned. He deserved a better fate than a ND.

- Hopefully, the league makes a big deal of it when Ken Griffey Jr. gets his 600th homer, which should be shortly the way he has swung the bat against the Phils. You tend to forget about Junior because of the inflated numbers so many other players have put up and the way he has been injured in the past few years. We should appreciate the type of player that Junior is while he is still playing.

The Sixers Finally Beat the Celtics

If you are Andre Iguodala's agent, and you're trying to get max money for your client this summer from the Sixers, you may want to commit last night's game against the Celtics to DVD and send a copy to the Sixers about every other day during the negotiations to remind the Sixers just how good Iguodala is now and will be in the future.

The Sixers, behind Iguodala's defense and a 19 - 0 4th quarter run, beat the Eastern Conference leader, the Boston Celtics by a score of 95 - 90. A cynic may say that the Celtics were weary, coming off a long road trip. I'm not sure it matters as the Sixers, for the first time this season, finally solved their old rival that they hadn't beaten all year. I am far more inclined to credit the athleticism of the Sixers and the way they are all pulling together at about the right time then any fatigue the Celtics might have been experiencing.

Andre Iguodala's night? 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Also, Iggy threw down some tremendous dunks that will fit in nicely with his ever-growing portfolio of highlight reel moments.

I don't know who the Sixers are going to meet in the playoffs, but whoever it is, better know that this isn't the Sixers from last year, that folded under pressure. This Sixers team will run and run, and then, run some more. They play pressure defense and can make you look silly with the resulting easy buckets. Take it from Doc Rivers:

“If they play like they’ve played, that’s a talent the other team can’t practice against,” Rivers said. “You can’t practice against hard play - and that’s a huge advantage for them.” - Doc Rivers - Today's Boston Herald

As I've been saying during this run, where they've knocked off some elite teams, this team definitely has some holes. They have almost zero low post offensive presence and no dead-eye from long range to create openings down low. But they are making the most of what they do have and it has been more than enough to create an entertaining brand of basketball.

The best analogy I can come up with for this season is that this Sixers season is the $20 bill you find in your pocket when you are doing the wash. You completely forgot about the $20 bill, but now that you have it, you figure you'll do something cool with it because it's found money. Well, that's what this Sixers season feels like; found money.

Andre Miller continued his brilliant season with a 20 point, 6 rebound, 6 assist effort and Thaddeus Young contributed 16 points to pace the reserves.

Allen Iverson Returns. And Loses.

"I came to this organization, I was 21, I thought I was ready," he said. "I wasn't ready. I never had a dime in my life, and then all of a sudden I came into a bunch of millions . . . I was a fish out of water.

"I did a lot of things [with the Sixers] . . . Looking back on it, it's embarrassing, but I can share a lot of experiences, a lot of do's and do nots. I don't regret any of it." - Allen Iverson 3/19/2008 (Phil Jasner's piece in the DN)

Last night was about as positive of an experience as you could wish for if you're a Sixer fan. You got to thank Allen Iverson for all he did for the franchise. You watched your team beat the Nuggets and maintain position for a playoff spot in the Eastern conference. Your floor general, Andre Miller, raised his game even higher against one of his old teams, on his birthday no less.

What made it better? It was nice to hear Allen admit he made mistakes here, because he clearly did. If he had applied himself in such a way that would enhance his natural ability, there is no telling what heights Allen and this franchise would have gotten to. But last night was not about negatives.

During the postgame press conference, Iverson went on, at length, about how much he loved the fans here, how much he missed the area, and he seemed genuinely touched by his reception. It was good to see Iverson, who so often puts up a hardass front, express himself so emotionally about his time here.

It was also good to finally hear from an athlete an acknowledgement of the type of fans that we are without references to Santa Claus, batteries, or snow balls:

"Philadelphia fans are the best in the sense that they care about their team," Iverson said. "They are diehard fans here. At times it was, 'I love you, A.I.,' but then it was, "We gonna whup your ass.'

"Yes, I respect you, and I love what you did, but I'm still Philly all the way. You've got to respect them for that. You've got to love them for that." - Allen Iverson 3/19/2008 (John Smallwood's piece in the DN)

The game itself might have been one of the best the Sixers played all year. The win brought their record to the .500 mark at 34 - 34. The money play? With under a minute to go, Andre Iguodala was driving the lane, lost his footing, and threw up a blind and desperate shot/pass (depending on who you want to believe) that ended up in the hands of Sam Dalembert, who (amazingly) caught the ball and deposited it for the go-ahead bucket.

As for Andre Miller, what else can be said of him that already hasn't been said? He was tremendous, playing against his former team, putting up 28 points and dishing out 12 assists. His signature play was posting up Allen Iverson down low and pump faking Iverson into the air and having Iverson fall down hard on his back. Miller subsequently shot and drew the foul. Afterwards, the usually stoic defiantly Miller yelled and pumped his fist. He clearly wanted this game.

Allen Iverson wanted this game as well. Let's thank Allen for all he had done for the franchise, but let's be glad the current edition of the Sixers wouldn't let the night be perfect for him.

(sneaker picture from yahoo.com; Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

HUGE Win on the Road for the 76ers

Had to come back today to post a 2nd time to give some love to the Sixers.

Despite not shooting all that well (40% as a team) and despite missing their floor leader, Andre Miller, for the final 7 minutes of the game, the Sixers went on to gut out an 83-82 win over perennial Eastern Conference power Detroit Pistons.

Andre Iguodala managed 22 points on 6 of 22 shooting, but most importantly, he made 9 of 12 free throws, but Iggy was not the whole story here.

With Miller out (low back bruise and ab strain), everyone seemed to contribute from Sam Dalembert (15 boards, 3 blocks that should have been 4 but for a bullshit goaltending call) to Rodney Carney (16 points on 7 of 10 shooting) to even Jason Smith, who used all 5 of his fouls (I mean that in a good way....it's not a horrible thing to be an energy guy and come out, play physically, and use up your fouls).

It's been said by better writers and observers of the team than myself, but I cannot say enough for the style of play this team has taken on since Ed Stefanski became the GM. Don't listen to me.....take it from Chauncey Billups (from Phil Jasner's article in today's DN):

"I think you've got to run different sets that sometimes you might not run," he said, "because [the Sixers] are locked in, and that team is long and very athletic, and they used that to their advantage."

Basically, what that means is that a coach is using the talent he has in the most appropriate way. Not sure there is another coach in the city that can be said of other than Mo Cheeks. Sure, this Sixer team definitely has holes (no consistent, dead-on 3 point threat, no low-post offensive presence) and Lou Williams' development sometimes scares me (1 for 10 shooting last night....yikes!), but you can't dispute that this team has been damn entertaining for some time now.

It's fun that Sixer basketball is starting to matter again.

Sixers Win 5th Straight

The Surging Sixers continued their winning ways, pummelling the hapless Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 102 - 88. Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 29 points, 8 assists, and 8 rebounds in a dominating performance. According to the Sixers website, this winning streak is the longest since the end of last year, where they won 7 straight (from 2/26/07-3/10/07).

Andre Miller also played a significant hand in this win, chipping in 14 points and 11 assists. He was mentioned in trade rumors in the print edition of Sports Illustrated this week (I'll include a link once I find the same online rumor) as perhaps going to Cleveland. Not sure how feasible that is, as I'm not sure what Cleveland would give us back that we would want.

Speaking of point guards, would it be such a horrible thing if, somehow, the Sixers could get Memphis' Kyle Lowry somehow to be an understudy for Andre Miller. Always loved Lowry's game at Villanova. Lowry had 6 assists for the Grizz in the losing effort.

Last night also marked the return of Marc Iavaroni to the Philadelphia area. Iavaroni was the 5th starter on the Sixers' 1983 Championship team, a team near and dear to me personally (and the name sake of my little Keebler tree on the internet). Phil Jasner wrote a nice article about Iavaroni and how he was integrated into that team, which had already been through the wars (and lost). The thing I always remember about Iavaroni is that he enabled Bobby Jones to come off of the bench (mentioned in Jasner's article) and also the way PA announcer Dave Zinkoff always drug out the Iavaroni's last name when he scored or announced him as part of the starting lineup. Now, "Zink" had that distinctive style that he applied to everyone's name, but I guess Zink's style lent itself more to an Italian surname. I wish I could track down a wav file or something, Zink pronounced his name something like "EYE-A-VA-ROWWWWWWWWW-NI", loudly enunciating each and every syllable. The stuff you remember from your childhood can be just weird.