The "Adjustments" Post

[STChaser]

I watched the game again last night and saw several things. Cheeks is going to have to compensate for several of these potential chess moves:

1) Maxiell: The Bad - He was killing us in the paint and we had no answer for him. He is precisely the kind of player that Sam struggles with. The Good - Maxiell's own worst enemy appears to be himself. He was clearly winded in the 2nd half and didn't look accustomed to playing so many minutes. Quick Fix - I'm not sure their is one. Perhaps put Jason Smith on him? Maybe Reggie Evans? Perhaps do our best to draw him into foul trouble by attacking him with Lou and Iguodala. Either way, Cheeks is going to have to really game-plan for his influence in game 2.

2) Stuckey: He had an awful game overall but does change the tempo for them - and Miller often struggles against quicker guards. Quick Fix - Do we throw Ollie out there for defensive purposes? Green would seem like a nice matchup but seems best suited against RIP and you don't want to wear Green down when RIP's on the bench. Lou is surely quicker than Stucky, but size-wise, I think that matchup could favor Detroit.

3) Amir: We're sure to see some of this kid sooner or later. Can't really predict his impact until he's out there but Flip may try to match up better against us in game 2 by using more of their youth like Amir and Affalo. Unfortunately, their impact is yet to be seen but we all know it's going to happen sooner or later. I hope our young guys are up to the challenge.


STChaser

[Mozy-76er Fan]

Both Wallace and Maxiell had an easy time getting good post position and getting a lot of easy inside buckets and rebs as a result. I wonder if Booth with his size and strength can muscle those guys out of the paint in limited minutes. It is worth a shot.

[tk76]

I don't know about adjusting to Maxiel, but here are the adjustments the Sixers players need to make.

Lou needs to work more for a short pull up jumper in the lane instead of going for the contested layup.

AIG needs to find a rollong Sam or Thad when Sheed comes over to help on his drives.

Green needs to continue to drive. No jumpers outside of 17 feet allowed.

Miller needs to forget about posting up Billups. He normally is great in the post, but Billups is too strong of a defender. Instead, he needs to do what he did in the second half- get past Billups and work to the foul line. from their he can shoot or pass now that the defense will have to collapse on him.

Thad needs to come out just like he did last game, and attack. The Pistons lack a player that matches up with him. he should either be able to get on the boards or out on the break depending on if the Pistons throw a big or small defender on him. If the Sixers are successful next game, Thad will go for 17+ pts.

Sam has to make himself more available when Lou and AIG drive. No reason he shouldn't be getting dunks when Sheed leaves him to cover up on drives.

[GreenWithEnvy]

simple adjustments

-play some zone, especially in the beginning when Thad has to guard McDyess he has no chance there

-get Willie and Iggy off to fast starts. Iggy needs to curl off those screens sometimes instead of constantly comin off soft to just catch the ball and face up.

- get getting into the lane. don't settle for jumpers

- pick up the energy in the 1st half.

- post Miller on Hunter when he comes in.

- attack the offensive glass but run back in transition.

-and most of all run run run at every opportunity.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

I look at the Detroit Pistons and Chanucey Billups is not an hall of fame PG. He's not a Chris Paul or a Jason Kidd. But he makes that team go. By staying home on Sheed, we've been able to stop Billups/Hamilton/Prince from taking shots. But I wanna go further then that. In order to run the floor, we need to create turnovers. And to do that, we need to pressure the guy with the ball and that is Billups. I say we double and trap Billups at every sane opportunity.

[STChaser]

The other thing our team may have going for it is this; as this series goes on, I would think that our youth and younger legs would be a major advantage for us (assuming Flip continues using a short bench and doesn't play Amir, Affalo, or Stucky that much). I'm not sure Flip will use his younger guys much because Detroit's system is so methodical and predicated on many of their veteran's familiarness with one another. Throwing in a guy like Amir or Affalo may actually hurt Detroit's cohesiveness.

One plus for us is that even if Flip does go deeper into his bench, we still have useable pieces as well who haven't contributed much, like Carney, Ollie, and Jason Smith - and even Shav for that matter (who I think showed some really nice post moves and aggressiveness in his limited play late this season).

My main concern is that while I know we haven't played our best ball yet, our guys will get overconfident. That whole letdown at the end of this season still has me concerned - and I'm hoping that was just a result of us having clinched a playoff spot.

[STChaser]

If tonight's game finds our team down only 10 points going into the 4th, do we win?

This is the big question. No doubt in my mind that they're going to come out like gang-busters in the 1st quarter. But if our team can weather the storm and keep it somewhat close, I have full confidence in this group that we can win again.

When I say "group", I mean Sam grabbing those 4th quarter critical rebounds, Thaddeus playing with high energy and disrupting the Pistons' offense, and Lou making clutch shot after clutch shot. Call me crazy but I have full confidence in our young guys - more so than I do in Iguodala, WG, or Miller (though Miller is debatable) late in the game.

STChaser

[STChaser]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=8385

Decent breakdown for game 2. I agree that we need a third scorer to step up. My predication is that this time around, it won't be Green; it will be Thaddeus.

STChaser

[arjwdotcom]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=8385

Decent breakdown for game 2. I agree that we need a third scorer to step up. My predication is that this time around, it won't be Green; it will be Thaddeus.

STChaser

I agree, definitely a good outlook on game 2 needs for both sides. Noting that Green (Phi) and Wallace (Det) don't usually have back to back good games was interesting. Wallace probably knows this and will adjust his game accordingly. If I am Cheeks, I tell Willie to keep attacking, and let the chips fall where they may.

The Sixers cannot afford to not attack the rim though. Last game they did it in spurts. Screw the issue of having bad games at the line, its better for their tempo to continually force the ball down the middle of the lane every time down the floor.

Would be nice to see us win the game by having one of those "unseen" hot nights from the outside though. That would just about scare the crap outa Det and any other team

[Johnny Broad-Street]

Get hands on balls...that's out best option.



...that's what she said...

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

If tonight's game finds our team down only 10 points going into the 4th, do we win?

This is the big question. No doubt in my mind that they're going to come out like gang-busters in the 1st quarter. But if our team can weather the storm and keep it somewhat close, I have full confidence in this group that we can win again.

When I say "group", I mean Sam grabbing those 4th quarter critical rebounds, Thaddeus playing with high energy and disrupting the Pistons' offense, and Lou making clutch shot after clutch shot. Call me crazy but I have full confidence in our young guys - more so than I do in Iguodala, WG, or Miller (though Miller is debatable) late in the game.

STChaser

Are you kidding me? Andre Miller's the guy that always gets us our 2 pts when we need it, be it early, middle or late in the game. He's obviously a part of our team of impact players.

[Johnny Broad-Street]

I think we need to coe out wit hthe mentality that we're going to go punch for punch in the beginning. They're going to be strong, and we can't let ourselves feel like we can let them get ahead and come back.

I agree that our young guys will be key, as they play a pretty short bench, and if we can run them early, we may be able to wear them down by the second half.

I said it above and made a joke but it's true. We need to play active, opportunistic, frustrating basketball and get our hands on a lot of passes/shots/loose balls. If we do, we may just prompt them to make mistakes.