Sixers Complete Upset of Shorthanded #1 Seed

Yea, it was about that tough.

As a Philly sports fan I prepare myself for anything.  And as history dictates, I was preparing myself for the worst and hoping for the best.  For the first time in recent history the city of Philadelphia and the Sixers were rewarded.  Iguodala, who had a aggravatingly sub par year from the stripe, made two pressure free throws to win the game.  I am elated that the Sixers chose the playoffs as a time to pull out close games.  This is when it counts most, right?

The first half was exactly as I would have diagrammed it if I were Doug Collins.  The Bulls put forth a valiant effort, but just could not keep up with the Sixers' defense in the first.  Luol Deng had a strong first half with 10, but was forced to sit when an errant elbow cracked his face open.  He was assisted by spark plug and St. Joe's nemesis, John Lucas,III .  The Bulls ran the same screen and go play 4 straight times down the floor and it led to Jon Lucas scoring a quick 7 points.  The frountcourt of the Bulls played very aggressively and physically.  Leading to 14 points for Taj Gibson, 10 for Omer Asik.  Asik had a career game with highs for points and rebounds(9).

The energy of the Bulls was admirable but the Sixers could not miss it seems in the first half.  The Bulls decided to go under screens for Jrue Holiday and Jrue took the shot when it was given to him.  He led the team with 12 in the half.  Iguodala decided to go shot for shot with Deng in this game to go along with some decent defense.  Deng had 19 on .500 shooting but most of his shots were on put backs, and that is reflected in his gaudy number of rebounds(17).  Lou Williams got off in the second quarter scoring 11 points.  Lou took his defensive assignment seriously tonight.  He countered some shaky decisions with 3 steals that led to some easy baskets that always works wonder for his jump shot.





It was a tale of two halves to say the least.  The Sixers came out a little slow to start the half.  Luckily, the Bulls came out even slower.  The Sixers ended up by twelve with 7:48 left in the third.  After that it was all Bulls in the third quarter.  The went on a 26 to 14 run to close the quarter tied.  Richard Hamilton was seemingly unstoppable with that perfect mid range jumper of his.  I always respected Rip because he is constant energy and movement on the floor.  You have to stay with him because of his ability to knock down the jump shot.  CJ Watson, Luol, and Gibson filled it up during this stretch.  Gibson played like a man possessed,not injured, getting overly emphatic on a baseline dunk.

The Sixers really let them back in the game with silly mistakes.  The Bulls were switching the big man on the screens of Iguodala and it seemed it was because they know he is slowed by his injury.  They were daring Iguodala to shoot over their big men and he was too happy to oblige.  I counted no less than six times throughout the game where Iguodala took it easy on their cement footed, Turkish big man Asik.  He missed the shot 6 of those times, where as, if he were to drive he stood to at least get a foul.  But no, Iguodala started acting like he had a mid range jumper all of a sudden and like all season they were shooting blanks as a team as a result.  When one person shoots badly, the entire guard corps decides to get the can't shoot flu.  They were fortunate to escape the quarter with a tie.

The fourth quarter was much of the same.  Gibson had a crucial six points to keep the Bulls in the game.  It took some good decisions and better defense to keep the Bulls from stealing this game and taking the series back to Chicago.  The Sixers went the entire first three quarters and 4 minutes of the fourth quarter an offensive rebound and were out rebounded for the game by 23.  But they kept their turnovers down to 7. The Sixers did a good job getting to the line at pivotal times to stop the clock but they were under their average for the series by about 5 with 21 for the game..  Iguodala had a solid 7 points punctuated by the aforementioned 2 pressure free throws with 2.2 seconds left.

Hope to see this in two weeks also.

This was an old school Eastern Conference playoff game and I am glad to see the Sixers pull it out.  It was their third time winning a game closer than 5 points in the series and that speaks volumes towards their growth.  The numbers tell a funny story in this game but the Sixers closed it out with high drama.  All the while making my prediction of them winning in 6 games look sage-like.  I know people will discount this series victory because of the injuries but you can only play the team that is in front of you.  The Bulls were a number one seed and they did that with Rose out for half of the season.  So, hang your heads high Philly.  And let's get ready for Rajon Rondo and the always tough Celtics.