Sixers win 2nd of the week, without The Answer

by Joseph Birmingham

Saturday December 19, 2009 

Sixers win 2nd of the week, without The Answer thumbnail

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics by a point tonight, 98-97 in a game played without newly acquired Allen Iverson.  Elton Brand had a strong game off the bench, scoring 23 points on 7-12 shooting; Iguodala, Speights and Green all scored in double figures as well.

Such is the NBA, where a 7-19 team that just broke a 12 game losing streak, playing without it’s newly acquired catalyst can defeat a 20-5 team riding an 11 game winning streak at home.

I believe this victory reveals the flaw in resigning Iverson to play with this team, when they so obviously perform better overall as a unit without him.    I love Allen, don’t get me wrong, but this current 76er’s team is vastly different from the one he was drafted onto in the 90’s and his playing style simply doesn’t fit in with the program.

Iverson has hardly been setting the basketball world on fire since his return to the east, playing in 5 games, averaging 34 minutes and scoring 15.6 points per game on 41% shooting.  More importantly, he has only dished out 21 assists and had 4 steals in his return, evidence that The Answer has lost a step, and is really not at home playing in an environment where his job is not to take the ball to the hoop every time he touches it.

Bottom line, 41% shooting just does not cut it in the NBA, and while his short return to the team has not been long enough to provide a true analysis, it is fitting that the team responded to the coach resting him after having his left knee drained twice this week in an effort to relieve arthritis with their first win over a winning team.

It also probably was significant that the Celtics played a large part of the game without Rasheed Wallace, who was perfectly healthy for the game, but who drew two technicals and then had a minor meltdown, having to be restrained by assistant coach Tom Thibadeau before before being ejected from the game.  This was Wallace’s 30th career early exit, the most for any player since 1992, and the two technicals give him 10 for the season, with 16 resulting in an automatic suspension.

That series of events may have marked a turning point for the Sixers, although they continued to trail until later in the game when they cut it to a one point game with 8:27 to play.

Bottom line, the Sixers WEREN”T terrible, for the second time in a week.  That is more than could have been said of them any time previously this season, so we will take that as an improvement, but I still see the 30 win plateau as a stretch for the current roster of players that in my opinion are grossly overpaid and underproductive.  The Answer, doesnt answer any of the current problems except to briefly put a couple more butts in the seats.  Now that the buzz from Iverson’s signing has worn off, that doesnt seem to be happening either.

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