Heard in the Cheap Seats

Well that won’t tell us much about how Elton Brand will be integrated back into the offense will it?  In only 13 minutes, Elton Brand scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting from the field in the midst of a 116-110 win over the New York Kicks.  His only points came around the bucket and he was rarely given the ball in the half-court.

What I find interesting, and mildly concerning, is Brand’s post-game remarks.  “It’s nice to have one under the belt.  Hopefully, the next game is a more fundamental matchup and I’ll get more minutes in the game.”  For weeks, the talk has been about how Brand needs to fit into the Sixers style of play rather than his teammates adapting to him.  The Knicks being a Mike D’Antoni coached team like to push the style of play.  They are not quite as quick paced as the “7 seconds or less” version of the Suns, but they can get up and down the floor.  As a skeptic, Brand’s quip could b interpreted as a disdain for this frenetic style of play and desire to play against teams where the half-court offense will be more important.  For now, I will give Brand the benefit of the doubt and assume he was referring to the way the two teams were matched up and not a reference to the Sixers fast-break offense.  However, a player’s quotes immediately following a game are often telling, so this is certainly worth watching.

What I liked:

Not rushing Brand back: I think Tony DiLeo is doing the right thing bringing Brand back slowly.  It is probably more about Elton finding his rhythm with teammates than it is about his condition as DiLeo has intimated, but it matters little.  Brand will be able to slowly find where he fits in on this team at a point where the club is clicking on all cylinders. 

The little we saw of Brand: It would be impossible to judge Brand or the performance of the team in full because of the scant playing time Brand received.  However, when Brand was on the floor he was effective.  In addition, we saw one of the side benefits of the Sixers newfound willingness to shoot from long-range—Brand’s rebounding ability.  Brand is one of the best offensive rebounders in the game and his second-chance points will likely increase with the new philosophy. 

Brand was also able to find the right spots on the floor.  Early in the season, he seemed to be catching the ball out of position and clogging up the lane at times.  He seemed like the proverbial square peg in a round hole.  Last night, Brand was not clogging lanes to the hoop and even laid a crushing pick at the top of the key to allow Andre Iguodala to get to the hoop.

The little we saw of the Sixers with Brand in the lineup: Perhaps more importantly than how Brand plays when he is on the floor is how the rest of the team plays.  Will they slow the pace down to get him involved?  Will they force the ball to him in the half-court sets?  We don’t have enough of a sample size to answer that question confidently yet, but the team is off to a good start.

Improvement in free throw shooting:

In a six-point game, that 26-32 from the line was crucial.  Here’s hoping this is the start of a trend because good teams do not struggle from the line.

What I didn’t like:

Effort on the Defensive End of the Floor:  Despite the win, I wasn’t pleased with the Sixers’ effort-particularly at the defensive end of the floor.  The Knicks were allowed far too much operating room to jack up 32 threes—knocking down 15.  Many of these three-point attempts came without a Sixer jersey in the frame.  The Sixers were slow on their rotations tonight and it almost cost them.  Next time a team knocks down 15 threes, I can assure you the end result will be different.

Pace of the Game: At this point you are probably raising your eyebrow wondering why I had a problem with the pace of the game when the Sixers scored 116 points and held a commanding 21-7 advantage in fast-break points.  But it wasn’t so much the pace of the game that I took issue with, it was who was dictating it throughout the game.  The fast-break points in this game are deceiving.  While the Sixers did hold the edge by a wide margin, the Knicks were often the team dictating the pace by creating fast-breaks off of made shots.  Too many times, the Sixers were beat down the floor after made shots.  The result was a game-long drill on defending the break. 

Perimeter Defense: I touched on this aspect of the game already with the weak defense against the three, but I think it extends beyond simply defending the arc.  The Sixers need to extend their ball pressure out and harass the ball handler a bit more.  Against a team like the Knicks that is looking to get as many positions as possible during the course of the game, pressure on the ball handler disrupts the flow of the offense.  Surprisingly, the only Sixer to do this with any regularity last night was Willie Green.  The best defensive sequence of the night was sparked by his end-to-end pressure on Nate Robinson.

Overall, the Sixers did just enough to win, but need to improve on the defensive end of the floor.  The next two games will be a good measuring stick.