Sellout C’s Shellacking

The first sellout crowd of the year, over 20,000 fans, came out to see YOUR PHILADELPHIA 76ERS take on the Boston Celtics last night. With the Sixers surging of late, Monday night’s game against the Eastern conference leading Celtics had that playoff musk in the air. The ticket booths were jam packed as tons of fans were scrambling to find last minute tickets to what Mo Cheeks described as “one of the biggest games of the season.”

However it didn’t play out so well during the first few minutes for the Sixers as they spotted the Celtics a 15 point cushion. Jesus Shuttlesworth and Da Truth came out on FIRE, torching the Sixers D from all over the hardwood. The Sixers got back on their horse and mounted a nice comeback eventually tying the game at 44 with five minutes to go in the second quarter. The crowd went nuts and everyone was prepping themselves for an exciting second half.

The second half was a totally different story however. The Sixers could not buy a bucket coming out of the gates and slowly feel into a 10 point hole. Iggy, who was hot all first half was struggling in the second as he air-balled a free throw and starting building a house with all his bricks he was chuckin’ up. It wasn’t pretty to watch and proved the 76ers are a ways away from where they need to be.

Down 16 at one point during the fourth, it was definitely time to leave when Jason Smith started launching three balls. The Celtics went on to win their 50th game of the season, the first time since their 1992 campaign, 100-86.
Notes:

• Slammin’ Sammy – 2 points, 5 fouls – SHUT YOUR MOUTH and PLAY you LOSER!
• Young Bucks: Lou Will didn’t look so good, Thad DID
• Nice to see Sam Cassell return to NBA action in a Celtics jersey last night. He played AWFUL and received a standing ovation as he exited the game with three fouls after approximately 5 minutes of action, good stuff.
• PJ Brown is still in the league, in case any of you were wondering, HA who knew. #93 by the way (Dennis Rodman ‘esque).
• KG is a beast.

Oh You Know What Really Grinds my Gears:

Parking at the Sports Complex. WTF is with these morons that run that shit. For the love of God, why can’t they open more entrances right off Broad and around back between the Linc. They make everyone late because they have 2 or 3 entrances open for 20,000 fans to get their cars into. It’s ridiculous. And $11, are you serious?

Sports Guy’s Trade Machine

Bill Simmons hit the trade machine hard as we approach the 3 pm deadline. Here is what he came up with for the Sixers and Andre Miller.

TRADE 5: Philly trades Andre Miller, Reggie Evans, Calvin Booth and Kevin Ollie to Minnesota for Theo Ratliff’s Expiring Contract, Sebastian Telfair, Chris Richard and Craig Smith.

Why Philly does it: I know, I know … this trade looks insanely lopsided on paper. So allow me to explain. Philly would use Miller to dump Evans’ contract, shed some luxury tax dollars (they’d save $8 million with this trade), pick up a good bargain in Smith (one of my favorite undersized power forwards, although they’d have to re-sign him), take a flyer on Telfair (showing some promise lately), and shed as much as $14 million in expiring deals after this season, giving them extra money to re-sign Andre Iguodala and remain a major player in this summer’s free agent market. I like Miller, but he’s never going to be an All-Star, he’s always stuck on losing teams and he’s a free agent in 2009, so you know they’re dumping him next season, anyway. Why wait a year? The 2008 free agent class is loaded and only four teams will be under the cap this summer? What’s the sense in waiting nine months to deal him for an expiring contract and a crummy No. 1 pick.

Why Minnesota does it: Here’s what I don’t understand about the NBA. You’re the T-Wolves. Your fans are ready to drink the Jim Jones Kool-Aid. You have no hope of ever luring a free agent there, and beyond that, you have a GM who shouldn’t be allowed to sign free agents under any circumstances. You also haven’t had a good point guard since Sam Cassell. So why not roll the dice with Miller and build around him, Al Jefferson, Corey Brewer, Randy Foye and 2008 Lottery Pick X? Not a bad foundation, right? I don’t see how it helps Minnesota to get absolutely nothing out of Theo Ratliff’s Expiring Contract. I really don’t.

(By the way, is anyone else getting sad that we only have 24 hours left with Theo Ratliff’s Expiring Contract? I miss it already. Or him. Whatever it is.)

My Take: 

Uhhh, I cant really grasp this trade, and I don’t think the Sixers front office would go for it either, but it is kind of intriguing cap wise. I do like Craig Smith, and consider him and upgrade over Reggie Evans, however, I don’t see how this really betters the team. Bassy Telfair is a mess, Theo Ratliff again. Ill tell ya one thing though, I sure wont miss Kevin Ollie. No thanks though.

NEXT.