Sixers Rock in the Valley of the Suns

Thank goodness the first win of the season was nothing like last year's. This 76ers pop their cherry in only their second game with a romping 103-83 win over the Phoenix Suns. They even their record at 1-1. That's the kind of game I was looking for. Not only did they beat a team the should be able to beat, but the did so in convincing fashion.

The game started out just as one would hope.  (1) Iggy came out like a man on fire. He was all over the floor ... dropping 3's, grabbing rebounds and playing in your face defense. He finished the game with 4 of the Sixers 11 steals. (2) the Sixers took better care of the ball (only 3 turns at halftime) and (3) they played great team defense. Granted the Suns are Steve Nash & JBOD (just a bunch of dudes), but the Sixers did what they had to. Which was hound Nash, not collapse too much when he penetrated, rebound the ball and get out on the break.

They were up by 7 in the 1st period and 14 and the mid point. Then the 2nd half is was like WOW!

As the game tracker shows it took the Suns almost 6 minutes to score a basket. The Sixers scored 19 point during the stretch. At the point the game was essentially over.  The route was on.

Garbage time!

Time to rest some starters and give the second team some playing time.  The rookie Vucevic got some extended playing time. He looks like a keeper (6 pts, 6 rebs, 2 dimes). You can tell the boy’s got skills. It would be nice to see him become more aggressive. But you have to like what you see.

But the primary reason to sit starters when the game is out of reach is you don’t want to see anyone get hurt.  My heart skipped a beat when Jrue went down on an awkward play where he was stuffed by two Sun defenders. I was just thinking to myself “What he doing in the game?”  Coach Collins admitted to the this foolishness in the post game press conference. But Jrue was ok. No harm no foul I guess.

ROFL

Spencer Hawes has been playing well this season. But I could have died laughing when he batted a pass away from his opponent and proceeded to rumble down  towards the basket to score. I’m thinking to my self “Pass it” “Pass it” . I did not want to see him get embarrassed.  But he scored the basket. That just the kind of nite it was.