Painful But true- Playoff run coming

Post #1 » by **tk76** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:42 pm

I don't want it to happen...

We are a little less than 1 month from the trade deadline, but prepare yourself for a bunch of playoff talk coming out of Sixerland.

We just finished a horrible 2 and 11 stretch, but find ourselves only 2 games out of the 8 seed.

We have 9 of our next 12 games against bad losing teams- mostly at home. If we get hot hand win 6 of those games we likely will be the #8 seed right around the trade deadline.

I assume Ed knows how bad this team is, but it will be hard to keep the players and coaches from talking about playoffs, and how anything can happen...

Of course we all know what would happen and what kind of player the #15 lands us.

Post #2 » by **tk76** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:45 pm

I do realize that March will be a lot harder, and put us back in the lotter, but a bunch of playoff BS from this team will seem eerily familiar after lasts seasons second half BS run.

Post #3 » by **The Guilty Party** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:03 pm

March is brutal and will bring us back to the pack... but let's look at the schedule between now and the end of FEB.

Wed, Jan 30 Milwaukee
Fri, Feb 1 Orlando
Mon, Feb 4 @ Atlanta
Tue, Feb 5 Washington
Thu, Feb 7 Miami
Sat, Feb 9 LA Clippers
Mon, Feb 11 Dallas
Wed, Feb 13 Memphis
Tue, Feb 19 @ Minnesota
Wed, Feb 20 NY Knicks
Fri, Feb 22 @ Orlando
Sat, Feb 23 @ Miami
Wed, Feb 27 Orlando
Fri, Feb 29 @ Golden State

While the schedule looks easy, I can't see us beating all of these "bad teams". If we lose to MIL, I believe we will then go on a 4 game losing streak which will put us 15 games under .500 and should kill any vibe about the playoffs. We could still win 6 games in the month of February but I don't believe anyone is going to be fooled by this team.

barkley34 · Post #4 » by **barkley34** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:14 pm

Wed, Jan 30 Milwaukee
Fri, Feb 1 Orlando
Mon, Feb 4 @ Atlanta
Tue, Feb 5 Washington
Thu, Feb 7 Miami
Sat, Feb 9 LA Clippers
Mon, Feb 11 Dallas
Wed, Feb 13 Memphis
Tue, Feb 19 @ Minnesota
Wed, Feb 20 NY Knicks
Fri, Feb 22 @ Orlando
Sat, Feb 23 @ Miami
Wed, Feb 27 Orlando
Fri, Feb 29 @ Golden State

I see 6 games that are probably definite losses.
Orlando(3),Atlanta,Dallas,GS

If we go .500 the other 8 games that gives us a 4-10 month.

Post #5 » by **tk76** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:32 pm

barkley34 wrote:Wed, Jan 30 Milwaukee
Fri, Feb 1 Orlando
Mon, Feb 4 @ Atlanta
Tue, Feb 5 Washington
Thu, Feb 7 Miami
Sat, Feb 9 LA Clippers
Mon, Feb 11 Dallas
Wed, Feb 13 Memphis
Tue, Feb 19 @ Minnesota
Wed, Feb 20 NY Knicks
Fri, Feb 22 @ Orlando
Sat, Feb 23 @ Miami
Wed, Feb 27 Orlando
Fri, Feb 29 @ Golden State

I see 6 games that are probably definite losses.
Orlando(3),Atlanta,Dallas,GS

If we go .500 the other 8 games that gives us a 4-10 month.

Considering 3 of those 6 "definite" losses are after the trade deadline, and a fourth is against ATL, I still see it very possible that we are the 8th seed, or with a game of it at the trade deadline.

Not only do we win games, but the wins will be against the other teams we a kockeying with for lottery position.

I realize that we could lose against equally bad teams- but we are healthy and most of the games are at home. I see 5-6 wins by the trade deadline (2/21) and us being right there as the 8th seed.

I guess its academic given March's schedule- I just don't want this team to fool management into somehow thinking playoffs.

barkley34 · Post #6 » by **barkley34** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:42 pm

tk76 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Considering 3 of those 6 "definite" losses are after the trade deadline, and a fourth is against ATL, I still see it very possible that we are the 8th seed, or with a game of it at the trade deadline.

Not only do we win games, but the wins will be against the other teams we a kockeying with for lottery position.

I realize that we could lose against equally bad teams- but we are healthy and most of the games are at home. I see 5-6 wins by the trade deadline (2/21) and us being right there as the 8th seed.

I guess its academic given March's schedule- I just don't want this team to fool management into somehow thinking playoffs.

My bad I was just looking at the month, I forgot you mentioned in relation to the deadline. :oops:

phiphan · Post #7 » by **phiphan** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:02 am

Wed, Jan 30 Milwaukee - W
Fri, Feb 1 Orlando - L
Mon, Feb 4 @ Atlanta - L
Tue, Feb 5 Washington - L
Thu, Feb 7 Miami - W
Sat, Feb 9 LA Clippers - W
Mon, Feb 11 Dallas - L
Wed, Feb 13 Memphis - W
Tue, Feb 19 @ Minnesota - W
Wed, Feb 20 NY Knicks - W
Fri, Feb 22 @ Orlando - L
Sat, Feb 23 @ Miami - L
Wed, Feb 27 Orlando - L
Fri, Feb 29 @ Golden State - L

6-8.

phillyborn_jacksonite · Post #8 » by **phillyborn_jacksonite** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:08 pm

i predicted 3-12 this month. the sixers will lose wednesday thus fulfilling my prophecy. i must therefore make another prediction that i came up with in my delrium during the charlotte game...its bold one..you ready..

Iguodala wakes up! and starts to put together more games like saturday and we go 8-6

there it is..laugh all you want but it shall come to pass....

TK i agree that we will start to here the playoff talk and frankly, i may be in the minority, but i wouldnt mind winning and playoffs....were not far off from the miami team from 02 with wade, lamar, and butler who went deep that year and lost...but valueable experience was gained for all and one big trade later they won it all..i can think of nothing better for our team....ahhh but a dream though ...march will definitely be difficult...and i will be happy with either path to tell you the truth...

playoffs=experience and hunger for more -

lottery = good pick more blocks and trade chips

Post #9 » by **tk76** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:20 pm

You are as much an optimist as I am a pessimist. You must be the happier person.

phillyborn_jacksonite · Post #10 » by **phillyborn_jacksonite** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:06 pm

i am lucky to live in an extremely beautiful place and it does have that effect on me...yes I am happy. good job, good place to lay my head, great girl, good dog, great weather..only one thing that makes me sad..our sixers..so i try to be positive about it...its hard we need alot of help..we still need our Wade in the previous analogy and i dont think its beasley or rose, contrary to most on this board.

Swoll Cracker · Post #11 » by **Swoll Cracker** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:07 pm

tk76 wrote:You are as much an optimist as I am a pessimist. You must be the happier person.

Call me Pollyanna then.

The Charlotte game, especially the second half, offered a true vision of what this team can be.

While ostensibly the Thad Young start was for match-up reasons, it represented a major shift for the Sixers. And while Young played one of his worst games since his minutes were increased, it had a profound effect on the play of the team. Not the least of which was a more productive Reggie Evans. Career bench players are rarely comfortable as starters. Evans was solid in the first half and outstanding in the second half and a real key to the Sixers win. Willie Green was much more effective playing fewer minutes as well. Dalembert woke up in the 4th quarter and both Lou Williams and Jason Smith played their roles very well.

There's no need to comment on Iguodala's performance on Saturday. It was All-Star caliber. Part of it was him being more assertive. Part of it was the combinations of players (guys like Young and Smith especially) who respect his game and are willing to set solid screens for him.

And if this team starts to do the little things that are so necessary, I can honestly see them going 9-1 in their next 10. I hope the coaches are smart enough to recognize the chemistry improvements that came from starting Thad Young and will continue regardless of the match-ups.

And I hope fans can get excited about a run to make the playoffs. Because the best thing that could happen to this young team will be for them to actually sneak into the playoffs and garner whatever experience they can in the post-season. Lottery picks are great. #1 picks are awesome. But playing winning basketball today is what its all about and this team has enough there to start to get over the hump.

dond · Post #12 » by **dond** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:43 pm

With the departure of Kyle Korver, this team seemed to lose a lot of its ability to beat teams at crunch time. So, in my mind, I do not think they have much chance to win more than 3 of those games. Playoffs ??? Playoffs ??? PLAYOFFS ????
That is no longer even in my wildest imagination.

dond · Post #13 » by **dond** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:47 pm

Swoll Cracker wrote:Call me Pollyanna then.

The Charlotte game, especially the second half, offered a true vision of what this team can be.

While ostensibly the Thad Young start was for match-up reasons, it represented a major shift for the Sixers. And while Young played one of his worst games since his minutes were increased, it had a profound effect on the play of the team. Not the least of which was a more productive Reggie Evans. Career bench players are rarely comfortable as starters. Evans was solid in the first half and outstanding in the second half and a real key to the Sixers win. Willie Green was much more effective playing fewer minutes as well. Dalembert woke up in the 4th quarter and both Lou Williams and Jason Smith played their roles very well.

There's no need to comment on Iguodala's performance on Saturday. It was All-Star caliber. Part of it was him being more assertive. Part of it was the combinations of players (guys like Young and Smith especially) who respect his game and are willing to set solid screens for him.

And if this team starts to do the little things that are so necessary, I can honestly see them going 9-1 in their next 10. I hope the coaches are smart enough to recognize the chemistry improvements that came from starting Thad Young and will continue regardless of the match-ups.

And I hope fans can get excited about a run to make the playoffs. Because the best thing that could happen to this young team will be for them to actually sneak into the playoffs and garner whatever experience they can in the post-season. Lottery picks are great. #1 picks are awesome. But playing winning basketball today is what its all about and this team has enough there to start to get over the hump.

Wow ... I didn't see the Charlotte game but from your comments, I wished I had. As you can see from my previous comment, I have low expectations for this team at this point. After reading your post, I will be looking with interest to see if what you observed is what I see. I hope you are correct.

Grenerd686 · Post #14 » by **Grenerd686** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:07 am

looking at worst case we win a couple of games and are in the 8th seed before the trade deadline. Would Ed trade some of our young talent to get a vet to help us make a stronger push for the playoffs. I do not want this but is this a possibly.

Post #15 » by **tk76** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 1:39 pm

Grenerd686 wrote:looking at worst case we win a couple of games and are in the 8th seed before the trade deadline. Would Ed trade some of our young talent to get a vet to help us make a stronger push for the playoffs. I do not want this but is this a possibly.

I hope not.

We are now 1 game out of the 8th seed, and still have 5 of the next 6 against fellow bad teams before the trading deadline. I put our chances at 50% that we are in 8th seed at the deadline.

I have yet to see much playoff hype from the media, but the team is talking playoffs- which is understandable.

I don't want the team to lose, as long as Ed keeps his eye on the ball.

PrimeTime21 · Post #16 » by **PrimeTime21** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:27 pm

I don't know if I'm the only one but I want this team to make the playoffs...The hell with the lottery and waiting for the draft, then waiting for next year. It seems like all we do is wait. I'm tired of watching other teams in the playoffs and not getting excited about Philly playing games. Playoff experience would be great for this team, even if it's as 8th seed playing Boston in the first round. They manage to beat them (very unlikely) they are world beaters and if they lose they weren't expected to win anyways. At least they will get a sniff of the postseason instead of just having a losing mentality.

Who's with me? Chances are if they don't make the playoffs they will just miss it and end up with the 10-12th pick, what's the difference than making the playoffs and having a little later pick?

THFM · Post #17 » by **THFM** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 3:24 pm

I want this team to make the playoffs as well. Even if we make the 7th or 8th seed, we can maybe pull off an upset espically if we play the Magic or Celtics. Can you imagine if the Celtics are injuries going into the playoffs? Plus we almost beat the Magic so I really think this team can beat anybody in the east. Hell even the Bobcats and Cavs beat the C's twice. This team needs playoff experience and will give us a better understanding how much we need to pay iggy.

Post #18 » by **The Guilty Party** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 3:26 pm

We are only 1 game out of the 8th seed right now and I think there's a good reason as to why I think we will make the playoffs but I also think there's a good reason why we will not.

WHY WE WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
-We are currently 1 game out and are chasing 3 teams with serious issues. Chicago is a severely injured team that is now playing games without Deng, Gordon, and Hinrich while Indiana is an inconsistent team that is missing Jermaine O'Neal. New Jersey is currently 1 game ahead of us but there's a chance that they will blow that team up before the trade deadline.

WHY WE WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
-Our schedule. While the rest of February gives us a lot of very winnable games, our March schedule is hideous and will most likely produce a similar record to what we had in January.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/schedule?team=phi

Post #19 » by **tk76** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:48 pm

tk76 on 1/27 wrote:I don't want it to happen...

We are a little less than 1 month from the trade deadline, but prepare yourself for a bunch of playoff talk coming out of Sixerland.

We just finished a horrible 2 and 11 stretch, but find ourselves only 2 games out of the 8 seed.

We have 9 of our next 12 games against bad losing teams- mostly at home. If we get hot hand win 6 of those games we likely will be the #8 seed right around the trade deadline.

I assume Ed knows how bad this team is, but it will be hard to keep the players and coaches from talking about playoffs, and how anything can happen...

Of course we all know what would happen and what kind of player the #15 lands us.

I wanted to dig this up now that we have made our run.

Has our recent success changed Ed or your mind about the role of Miller, Carney and cap space to our future?

Are we now to be short term buyers on the trade market (as long as it is for short term contracts like Artest?)

Has this all just been a scheduling farce of a win streak, or are we like Portland, who just needed a chance to turn the corner? (Portland has been about 500 since their streak.)

Post #20 » by **kingofthecourt67** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:10 pm

I will be devastated if we were to make the playoffs. Lets be realistic, we're looking at a sweep in the first round at the hands of Boston, Detroit, or Orlando. I honestly believe next year is when we can seriously begin making a push if we get someone in the top 10 picks, even if we choose not to spend our money this offseason.

At this point, all we are doing is setting ourselves up for years of mediocrity. It is too late now for 1-5 but hopefully we can play bad enough to get into the 6-10 range.