Sixers Win in Milwaukee

Andre Miller’s  3-pointer over Michael Redd with 28 seconds left helped the Philadelphia 76ers hold on for a rare road win Wednesday night, 110-105 over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Miller led the Sixers, finishing with 28 points and 9 boards and 6 assists.  With only 49 seconds left, Miller went down the floor and Redd barely reacted, looking for a pick and expecting a drive when Miller pulled up and answered with a 3 to push the lead to 107-103 and seal the deal.

Lou Williams scored 12 points and Thaddeus Young 10 for the Sixers. Milwaukee got 26 points from Charlie Villanueva, 18 in the second quarter, 20 from Redd and 11 from Ridnour.

Sixers Snap Skid

YOUR Philadelphia 76ers put together one of their best performance of this short season so far on Wednesday night in Toronto.

Elton Brand scored a season-high 25 points, Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala each had 18 and the 76er’s snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Raptors 106-96 in the Air Canada Centre.

Willie Green scored 17 points and Marreese Speights had 12 for the 76ers, who won for the first time in four tries away from home

Chris Bosh had 30 points and 12 rebounds, but Toronto still lost for the fourth time in five games after starting the season 3-0. Jermaine O’Neal added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and reserve Andrea Bargnani scored 15 for the Raptors.

Next up for the Sixers are the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.

Heat Torch Sixers

D Wade scored 29 points, rookie Mario Chalmers set a franchise record with 9 steals, and the Heat scored 12 straight points in the fourth to pull away and go on to beat the Sixers 106-83 on Wednesday night.

Wade added seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Michael Beasley finished with 17 points, and Shawn Marion, who sported the mask to protect his broken nose, added 12 points and seven rebounds for Miami.

Thaddeus Young scored 12 of his 19 points in the first quarter for Philadelphia, which got 16 points from Lou Will and a double double from Elton Brand (12 and 12).  Andre Miller finished with 11 points and six assists for the 76ers (2-3), while Iggy who has been struggling to find his rhythm of late was held to only two points.

Next up for the Sixers is Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic tonight from Amway Arena.

Sixers Beat Defending Champs

YOUR Philadelphia 76ers opened the pre-season with a thrilling victory over the defending champion Boston Celtics in Beantown on Wednesday night.  To my dismay, this game was NOT televised (WTF Comcast?), a freakin’ Meet and Greet with the Flyers over THIS, the first game of the ELTON BRAND era in the 215.  Christ.

Lou Williams scored 27 points and Thaddeus Young added 21 to help the Philadelphia 76ers beat the NBA champion Boston Celtics 98-92 on Wednesday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Williams was 7-of-12 from the field and 12-of-13 from the line.  Leon Powe led the Celtics with 12 points and Tony Allen had 11.  The Celtics’ Big Three: Jesus Shuttlesworth, The Truth and KG — got off to a fast start, but played limited minutes. Allen had nine points, on three 3-pointers in an opening burst, while Pierce had eight and Garnett six.

Elton on the win:

This was an important game for us.  Boston has those three great stars. This gave us a barometer to see where we are.

Sixers Re-Sign Williams for Five

A source confirmed Thursday that the Sixers have locked up one of their two restricted free agents and signed guard Lou Williams to a five-year contract.

Additional terms of the deal were not known.

Williams averaged 11.5 points as the first guard off the bench for the Sixers. Although he wasn’t a starter, the slender 6-foot-2, 175-pounder often finished games during his third NBA season which garnered him some national attention this offseason.

Ed Stefanski must now focus on re-signing the key to the starting five, the spark on the court, Andre Iguodala.  Stay posted for updates.

UPDATE: Derrick Gunn on Comcast SportsNite is reporting that the deal is worth $25 million over the 5 years.

Sixers get ‘Poison’ Ivey

The Sixers reached an agreement with journeyman Royal Ivey for the minimum contract. The 6′4″ guard will join Willie Green and Louis Williams as combo guards coming off the bench for the new-look Sixers next season.

Ivey, 26, spent last year with the Milwaukee Bucks averaging 5.6 points and 2.1 assists in 75 games.

Royal Ivey

Offense isn’t his forte but he prides himself on defense.

I know the Sixers had to sign somebody since they only have 9 players under contract, but I hope management has their priorities straight. Signing Iguodala and Lou Will have to get done or this offseason tastes a little less sweet. We had a little scare with Lou Will, but the Warriors opted to go with Marcus Williams. Hopefully, Louis doesn’t take note of other signings and get any ideas of raising his asking price. My question is, were there no guards that could shoot that were cheap?

Warriors Express Interest in Lou Will

According to an ESPN.com report, the Warriors may be considering making an offer to 76ers restricted free agent Louis Williams.

The ESPN story quoted one “plugged-in” source as believing the Warriors “are planning to make a “big run’ at (Williams).”

Golden State is roughly $4.5 million under the salary cap after the Lakers declined to match the Warriors’ offer sheet to Ronny Turiaf, meaning it could offer Williams as much as $26 million over five years.

The Sixers would have seven days to match a signed offer sheet for Williams or Andre Iguodala, who is also a restricted free agent.  Golden State is looking for another point/combo guard to help Monta Ellis share the load after Baron Davis signed with the LA Clippers.

In other Sixer News: The Sixers inked Marreese Speights, the 16th overall pick in June’s NBA draft on Friday.

Speights, a 6-foot-10 PF from Florida, will earn about $2.6 million in the first two years of the contract. The team holds an option for two additional years.

Sixers Humiliate Knicks

  84       

  124

40! Enough said.

No, seriously though, did anyone actually keep Comcast on and watch this game?  I watched the first and second quarters and some parts of the second half.  The first quarter was absolutely ridiculous, the Sixers scored a season high 37 points in the first, and Iggy didn’t even have a bucket.  It was up and down, run and gun, exciting basketball, that was actually fun to watch.  Iggy steal here, Dalembert block there, Willie Green “in rhythm for two”.  Calvin Booth even had a monster jam off an Iggy steal and assist.   They finished the half on a tear ending with a season high 72 points, doubling up their counterpart who went into the locker room down 36.

Oh and Thaddeus Young, Rookie of the Year candidate as of last night.  He is playing incredible basketball, and had a sick dunk last night, in the second quarter I believe, off of a Lou Will steal that he muscled away from Fred Jones (? – I think).  Thad finished the game with 20 points on 8-11 shooting from the field and added 8 boards.

First things first, I must apologize to Mo Cheeks about my prior post.  He did a great job last night; keeping the tempo up, managing to get 9 players at least 20 minutes each, and really confusing Isiah Thomas with his defensive game-plan. Congrats on the big win, on the eve of your new contract.   

Tough few games coming up on the schedule.  The 76ers get to face Orlando two of the next three games with a “should” win game at Miami in between.  After that they hit the road for three tough games; at Golden State, at Phoenix, and at the Clippers (easy). 

Keep it up boys.  I wouldn’t mind attending a playoff game from the box. 

Youngsters Steal the Show

At one point during the game last night the Sixers lineup featured rookies Thaddeus Young (F) and Jason Smith (C), second-year man Rodney Carney (G), third-year pro Lou Williams (PG) and fourth-year swingman Andre Iguodala (SF) .  It was this lineup that took over the game and went on a 17-0 run that turned a 12-point deficit into a five-point lead and the 76ers never looked back. 

After being down 20 early in the game the Sixers rallied and came out with the 101 – 96 victory over the Gilbert-less Wizards at the Wach last night.

Interesting fact: Rod and Lou Will were the only Sixers to play the entire 4th quarter.