Sixers Came Back To Beat The Hornets, Now For The Home Opener

Last night was a great night for basketball in Philly. You have the Sixers winning to go along with Drexel winning, LaSalle winning, St. Joe’s winning and the Temple Owls knocking off the Dukies. Man, I love to watch Coach K look miserable on the sidelines. That rat face looking son of a ….. Sorry, I know I am a major “Hater”.

Then to watch the Temple student’s just bum rush the court was awesome. By the way did you see that security guard just throwing dudes around? LOL. I thought you were aloud to run on the court at a college game? I was going back and fourth between the end of the Temple game and the first half of the Sixers just to watch the expression on Coach K’s face.

Alright enough of the college ball on to the Sixers. This is why I love this team. You had the Hornets build a lead as much as 14 points in the first half. Then of course you see the Sixers wipe it away once again for a gritty, unselfish and fun as hell to watch victory 101-93 over the Hornets. The Sixers started slow once again though. Shooting only 33% in the first quarter. They ended up shooting 47% for the game.

Obviously, I would like for them to start the game a little bit better but they never stop playing no matter how they start. One of the things that impressed me the most was that they only turned the ball over 8 times all game. Solid. Here are some of the things that I noticed…

SIXERS

– Evan Turner. I tweeted during the first quarter (@phillytugger self pub!) that this would be a perfect time for Turner to break out. The team needed a spark asap. He made me look smart as hell. He came out aggressive and he actually played in the flow of the game for the first time this year. He let the game come to him. He was not just standing around in the perimeter when he did not have the ball. He moved very well with out the ball. He really does have a variety of moves to get to the basket. Hopefully this is the start for more things to come. He ended up having 21 points 4 assists and 6 rebounds. Nice.

– Jrue Holiday. I talked about in my previous post how I thought that Holiday need to run the offense better. Well, last night he went BOOM. He was flat-out awesome. He and Hawes had that pick and roll going on so smoothly. They could have run it every time down the court and it would have worked. He had 14 points in the 4th quarter alone. The Hornets had 20 points themselves in the 4th quarter. He was in control of the game all night long. He finished with 23 points 8 assists and ZERO turnovers. BOOM.

– Elton Brand. Nice to see Elton might be getting his game legs back. Like I said before he has looked very old so far in the early going. He works extremely hard so I was glad to see him have a solid game. He finished with 12 points 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.

– Spencer Hawes. Seriously, who is this guy? He is playing at an all-star level right now. He is doing everything extremely well shooting, passing, rebounding and blocking shots. The dude is playing out of his mind. He leads the league in field goal percentage with 67%. Man, I hope he can keep this up.

-The one play that stood out in my mind was in the 4th quarter. When three or four Sixers all had open shots swung the ball around to get Turner an easy put in. That is why this team is so much fun to watch they play the right way.

HORNETS

– Jarrett Jack. In my mind Jack is one of the most underrated point guards in this league. They dude can shoot a little bit; he plays solid ‘D” and he takes charge out on the court. He brings a hard-nose style as well. He finished with 19 points 11 assists and 5 rebounds.

– Gordon. The kid can score from everywhere. He was all over the place in the first quarter. He hit his first four shots of the game and ended up having 11 points at the end of the first quarter. Sixers did a better job in the second half of containing him.  He ended up with 22 points and 6 assists. He shot 8-22 from the field. His defense is very much underrated.

– Jason Smith. He brought a lot of energy off the bench for the Hornets. I was a little surprised that he only got 13 minutes though. He had 9 points and 2 rebounds in them 13 minutes. The former Sixers has turned himself into a decent backup.

– Carl Landry. I love his game it is work-man like. He would be a nice trade dead-line pick up for the Sixers as a fill in if he becomes available. He is a solid rebounder and a decent scorer in the post. His attitude and his play fit the Sixers perfectly.

What more can you ask for? The 3-2 start by the Sixers is perfect start for not having a home game yet. They are the only team that has yet to have a home game. People need to start noticing this team!! Here is the box score and recap.

A little side note “Mister Softy” himself Maurice Speights found a new home yesterday as you probably know already Memphis. The Sixers got two second round picks for Speights. I will take that any day considering that the guy had no chance of ever playing here especially when Collins asked him to come in to camp in shape and he was nowhere close to being in shape. Plus the guy would always look like someone just stole his lunch box if something went wrong for him on the court. Later!!!