King James Tumbles in Philly: 116-107 - AI Taught the "King" a Thing or Two Wednesday Night
I can remember back in the late 80?s when the Doc came to the Pontiac Silverdome to play his final game in Detroit. Being a native Detroiter, it was an easy ticket considering the Pistons routinely sold 30, 40, even 50 thousand tickets to the big games. The Lakers and Celtics were the main draws back then, however, the NBA has come full circle since the late 80?s.
Wednesday night, AI and the Sixers hosted the world?s greatest basketball player, LeBron ?King? James. The face of the NBA was on full display. A capacity crowd (which is rare these days at Sixers games) filled The Wachovia Center to see what kind of show the Sixers had in store for them. Would this be the Sixer team that beat the world champion San Antonio Spurs, or might it possibly be the Sixer team that played woefully against Chicago and lost by 32 points just one day after their biggest victory of the season?
For most of the 1st quarter, the Sixers out-hustled and out-played the upstart Cavaliers. To sum up the entire first quarter, neither LeBron nor AI was the show. The Sixers shot 50% from the field, compared to a sorrowful 33% for the Cavs, only holding a slim 7-point lead after the 1st quarter. However, the Sixers couldn?t shake Cleveland for long. Led by Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland slowly cut into the Sixer lead. Things quickly turned the Sixers way once LeBron took his second quarter breather and increased their lead to 10 points with 5:10 to go in the second quarter, which stood for the remainder of the half. The Sixers finished strong with Chris Webber pacing a balanced Sixer attack, contributing 14 points at the break. Iguodala poured in 12 points and Iverson had 11 points. Ilgauskas led all scores with 22 points while LeBron showed glimpses of himself with a mere 11 points.
If the third quarter was an idication of what the Sixers have in store for the remainder of the season, Billy King better stay pat with the team he has. The Sixers ran their 3rd quarter lead up to 17 points, looking impressive on both ends of the court. In spite of some of their best play this season, the Cavs cut the Sixer lead to seven points. King James warmed up in the 3rd quarter finishing with 22 points after three quarters. No lead in the NBA is ever safe and the Sixers have yet to put anyone away this year.
The fourth quarter surge by the Cavs was short-lived. Slicing the deficit to six points with two minutes left, Webber grabbed a loose ball throwing it off of Sasha Pavlovic giving the Sixers the basketball, which then led to a John Salmons put back with :55 seconds left in regulation increasing the Sixer lead to nine. Iverson, Iguodala, and Webber all had impressive games on both ends of the floor with support from the bench, paving the way to a 116-107 Sixer win. LeBron James finished the night with 33 points, shooting 13 for 24, but received little support from the rest of his teammates outside of Zydrunas Ilgauskas who played a strong game pitching in 27 points, shooting 10 for 17 from the floor. Allen Iverson finished the game with 29 points and 12 assists, while Iguodala added a strong 25 points. Chris Webber added 24 points and 14 rebounds (all on the defensive end).
Sixers Notes: GM Billy King stated prior to the game that the Sixers might be content with what they have. We will all have to wait and find out if a trade is in the works. It looks as though the Sixers will sit pat with what they have and play out the remainder of the year. 2nd chance points? The Cavs outscored the Sixers 18-6. Cleveland poured in 62 points in the paint compared to 54 for the Sixers. When asked how far the Sixers could go with their current roster, Andre Iguodala replied by saying, ?This team can go all the way to the Finals. Going to The Finals is every player?s goal and there is no reason this team can?t go that far.? Furthermore, Andre added ?The team won this game tonight.? The Sixers will go on the road to face the Milwaukee Bucks Friday night and then return to The Wachovia Center to host the Chicago Bulls Saturday night.
Game Quotes: Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach Maurice CheeksOn getting LeBron James to "work" on defense..."We talked about it; getting Andre (Iguodala) some offensive opportunities on the block, realizing that he's going to be guarding LeBron (James) for 40 plus minutes. He's going to be on the move offensively so we tried to get Andre (Iguodala) some opportunities with the ball instead of just letting him roam around because he's a pretty good defensive player. They later on switched him on Allen (Iverson) so you know that's going to be a little challenge for him. Both of them took the challenge, but we tried to get the ball to Allen (Iverson) more on the offensive end."
Philadelphia 76ers Forward John SalmonsOn whether there was a concentrated effort to get Iguodala the ball more often..."I think so -- especially in the post."
Story by Phil Reggiohttp://www.PhillySportsLine.com
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