What most accounts for the Sixers recent mediocre play?

[tk76]

After winning 19 of 24 the Sixers have gone a poor 3-5. What most accounts for the Sixers recent mediocre play?

Also, to what extent will they recapture their success in the playoff or next year?

[carltong23]

how about a mediocre team?

[ChuckS]

As most should realize, I am a big fan of Mo and this coaching staff. But I attribute much of our recent trouble to, what looks to me to be, a drastic change in our player rotation.

I thought it was stupid to get rid of Korver in mid season and even dumber to give away Giricek, but at least, I thought, I will not have to see Kyle guarding power forwards anymore. Thad is only nominally better, and I'm sick of seeing Andre Miller on a guy 6'7" or bigger.

I've been giving the coaches the benefit of the doubt. I thought maybe Thad's recent shooting demonstrations overcame his interior defense and maybe it isn't his fault we give up so many second chance points in the fourth quarter (because he IS a decent rebounder).

I thought perhaps he is healing Reggie's shoulder for the playoffs, and maybe that and Willie's recent slump is the reason we are giving up interior and perimeter defense, and quite frankly more experienced play, at critical stages of the game. I could imagine a problem with Evans and his foul shooting at the end of a close game. But frankly our free throws were so bad in the Indiana (?) game that I thought he would have been an improvement had he played.

I try to remember that in one game Iguodala was hurt and did little, and last night Miller had a less than stellar shooting percentage, so of course I have to accept that crap does indeed happen.

I also don't mind always switching on a perimeter pick and roll because Willie and Andre are strong enough to slow penetration until help comes. We have to do something better inside, however. I don't care how strong a small guard is he cannot stop a big guy five feet from the basket.

Maybe, because of our youth and the fact that some are experiencing playoff tensions for the first time, we are indeed tightening up. I do not think so though, because there has been no indication of that at other tough times throughout the year. I think Mo might be returning to things that I thought failed earlier in the year: an occasional too small team, and playing inexperience late. That might have been acceptable then because of the makeup of the roster and the need to develop our youth. I hope in the playoffs, his decisions are predicated on who is performing in which game, and not Dogma.

[T-Spot]

I'm going to guess that its a confidence issue right now. When they went streaking everyone was pumped and confidence was high. Now they are faced with real expectations, and confidence and morale starts to drop after a few bad beats.

Usually happens with young teams, imo.

[psykosacul]

how about a mediocre team?

[GreenWithEnvy]

the Washington game was an aberration. their shooting was unreal. we contested most of their shots and they hit an amazingly amount of difficult shots.

[carltong23]

the Washington game was an aberration. their shooting was unreal. we contested most of their shots and they hit an amazingly amount of difficult shots.

When we only score like 9 points in the fouth quarter, it doesnt matter how many shots they make. We just dont have the personnel to keep up with the elite teams, especially the really good offensive teams. Every game that we lose, we have long scoring droughts at some point in the game. Hopefully after the summer that wont be as much of a problem.

[Sixercise]

How about that they have been watched more closely since they clinched? The Sixers aren't low-key anymore, and they've got to pick up the slack soon.

[Louis Williams]

the Washington game was an aberration. their shooting was unreal. we contested most of their shots and they hit an amazingly amount of difficult shots.

I went to the game last night, and this is true. Those guys made tough shots. The game was close all the way through, and then Wash blew the door off.

Also I noticed that Washington did a better job executing down the stretch. They are a veteran team, so that is to be expected. We are not.

We must be able to execute in crunch time/4th quarter situations in order to have success in the playoffs.

[Sandalf42]

The problem is not just 1 thing but a combination of things. I think the most obvious problem is aggressiveness. There is WAY too much settling for jump shots. We were successful before because we played hard and attacked the basket.

I expect (as all fans should from a coach) for Mo to fix this and get these Sixers playing the way they were before.