Heard in the Cheap Seats

The Sixers needed a win in the worst way tonight, and they came through with a 98-85 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.  They pretty much had a comfortable lead throughout the game, but the Hawks were able to fight all the way back and cut the lead to one with about 9 minutes left in the game.  But the old veteran Theo Ratliff would have no part of a Hawks comeback win.  His hustle and defense helped the Sixers to a 14-2 run to close the game. 

It was a nice substitution by Tony DiLeo to insert Ratliff for Samuel Dalembert.  The Hawks were able to consistently get easy buckets in the second half until Ratliff was inserted into the game.  As anyone who reads anything I have written knows, I am constantly harping on defense being the key for the Sixers to have any success.  The Hawks were on the verge of taking the game over and were scoring every time down the floor, especially Josh Smith, who had 33 points and barely missed a shot.  I wonder if Sixers fans were picturing what Smith would have looked like with his skills on the Sixers this year. 

But, here’s what the Hawks’ possessions looked like after Ratliff was inserted: missed jumper and shot clock violation, made basket, layup, missed 3, 2 made free throws, Ratliff block followed by a missed three, missed jumper, missed jumper, turnover, turnover on a Ratliff steal, offensive foul turnover drawn by Ratliff, 2 free throws, missed jumper, 2 free throws, turnover, missed 3, and missed jumper.

As you can see, Ratliff had a direct impact on the Sixers defense.  The Hawks missed their last 8 shots to go along with 4 turnovers, 2 of those directly caused by Ratliff.  The other thing Theo did so well defensively was how aggressively he hedged on screens and still got back to his man in the lane.  Marreese Speights also gave the Sixers good minutes off the bench.  I would love to say that he got those minutes because DiLeo finally realized that even though Speights makes mistakes, he brings more positives to the court than negatives.  Unfortunately, Speights got his minutes due to the fact that Thaddeus Young went down with an ugly looking ankle injury in the first quarter.  Young needed help getting to the locker room.  Just when the kid was coming into his own, he has to land on someone’s foot.  More on that later, but back to the game for a minute.

It was a big win for the Sixers.  There really is no margin for error at this point.  As I have said, it would be great for this team moving forward to make the playoffs and win a series, but if they don’t find a way into the 5 seed, that won’t be happening.  If they can get into the 5 spot, their opponent would be the same Hawks team that the Sixers have now beaten 2 out of 3 times.  There is no room to throw up a clunker like they did against Charlotte.  All of the remaining 9 games need to be treated like playoff games. 

There’s only one problem, and I hate to be so pessimistic…or do I?  The Sixers won’t be earning the 5^th seed in the conference or winning any playoff games without Thaddeus Young in the lineup.  Defense wins in the playoffs, and with no Young, the Sixers become an extremely easy team to defend.  According to the postgame reports, Young’s X-Rays were negative and he will be having an MRI Wednesday morning.  Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.