Heard in the Cheap Seats

I was in the middle of writing a bunch of other stuff for the site when news just hit that the Phillies great Hall of Fame broadcaster passed away this afternoon. He was with the team in Washington for the series that starts in about an hour. Kalas was found unconscious in the press box. He has been with the Phillies since 1971 and his voice and calls have brought joy to all Phillies fans since day one. He has been, and always will be a part of all those who had the privilege to listen to him. Kalas will always be the voice of the Phillies and there will never be anyone who can fill his shoes. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. We will all miss you, Harry.

Now that was a weird road trip.  The season is winding down for the Sixers and they couldn’t afford to go out to the west coast and lose 4 of 5 games or even worse all 5.  When the trip started, I was hoping for a 3 – 2 record, and that’s exactly what they are coming back with, after last night’s big overtime victory over the Portland Trailblazers.  The weird part was how they got to that record.  The trip started off with an unlikely buzzer beater by Andre Iguodala to beat the best team in the West, followed by an ugly loss to the Suns the next night, then a bad loss to a Warriors team that looked like they were doing lay up drills, a blow out of the Sacramento Kings (worst team in the NBA), and then last night’s win against the team with the 5^th best home record in the NBA.  So, they lose to a bad Warriors team and a struggling Suns team, but beat the teams with the 2^nd and 5^th best home records in the NBA?  That’s not how I envisioned the trip playing itself out, but I will certainly take it.

The Sixers were led last night by the trio of Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, and Thaddeus Young.  The Sixers played front runners for most of the game, but in the second half Portland was able to knock down their perimeter shots and fight back to take the lead late in the 4^th quarter.  The Sixers fought hard in a game that for awhile seemed to be going against them late.  I rarely criticize officiating, but there was a 5 minute stretch in the 4^th quarter where literally every call went against the Sixers, and they were not all good calls at all.  But, to their credit, the Sixers were able to stay focused on the task at hand.  That is when it is great to have a guy like Andre Miller leading your team.  Miller seemed to take control of the game in the waning minutes and ensure that the Sixers would be flying home with a winning road trip. 

Yeah, it went to overtime, but the Sixers were able to make plays down the stretch to win a big game.  They did the same thing against the Lakers.  Could we be seeing this team starting to understand how to win close games?  It’s possible.  I definitely see a difference in one player in particular: Thaddeus Young.  Thaddeus Young has now scored over 20 points in four straight games for the first time in his career.  It is blatantly obvious that he is more aggressive and confident.  Instead of deferring to his teammates all the time, Young is looking to score.  This can only help the Sixers.  It gives them another reliable option in their offense that they can utilize in their half court sets.  In the previous 4 months of this season, Young took 15 or more shots a total of 13 times.  Already, in the month of March, he has done so 8 times.  He knows he can score, and he is being aggressive with his touches. 

On the negative side, the Sixers gave up 100 or more points in 4 of the 5 games on this road trip.  I know that the Suns and Warriors are high scoring teams, but the Sixers didn’t put up a fight.  They need to tighten up their defense.  You can’t head into the playoffs with bad habits on defense.

So, the Sixers have 13 games remaining in the regular season.  Seven are at home, and 6 on the road.  The goal should be the 5 spot in the Conference.  They are currently 1 ½ games behind the Heat for that spot.  I know the Sixers aren’t winning a title this year, but wouldn’t it be nice to at least have a chance of winning the first round series?  If they don’t catch the Heat, then they have zero chance of advancing past the first round.  I think the Sixers can take that 5^th spot.  They need to set it as a goal and fight for it.  The Heat have 12 games remaining, with 7 of those coming on the road.  The Sixers have the easier of the two schedules.  The battle for the 5^th spot begins tomorrow night against Minnesota.  Will the Sixers be up to the challenge?

In football, they say that special teams can change the complexion of a game.  Well, the same thing applies in hockey.  For the Flyers, even though they are ranked 6^th in the NHL on both the power play and penalty kill, their power play has been pretty awful for about 2 months now.  Dating back to a January 21^st game against the Atlanta Thrashers, up until last night’s game, the Flyers were 16 for their last 115 power plays.  That comes out to a 14% success rate, which, if it were over the full season would rank the Flyers second to last in the entire NHL.  But, in their last 3 games, the Flyers have gone 7 for 13 on the power play.  You do the math on that one.  Basically the Flyers have had half as many goals on the power play in 3 games that they had in the 2 months leading up to last night.  It’s better late than never.

The Flyers have been saying that the return of Danny Briere would provide a much needed lift to their power play.  It is looking like they were right.  Now, three games do not make a season, but last night the Flyers took out the Devils because of the strength of their power play and the solid play of Marty Biron.  The Flyers went a perfect 3 for 3 on the power play with goals from Briere, Knuble, and Carter en route to a huge 4-2 victory over the hated Devils.  Simon Gagne assisted on two of those goals, and added an even strength goal of his own, his 30^th of the season.  Marty Biron made 32 saves and seems to be building more and more confidence.  The team as a whole just looks like they are getting more and more comfortable with the line changes and with the pressure of these big games.  They couldn’t have picked a better time to do it.  The Flyers are now riding a 3 game winning streak and seem to be taking a strangle hold on the 4^th seed in the Eastern Conference.  Ten games remain in the regular season for the Flyers.  The formula they are winning with now is a formula that wins in the playoffs.  Great special teams play and a goalie that’s “standing on his head” (I just had to use it once) can win you the Stanley Cup, and that’s all we really want.

By all accounts, this is a game the Sixers should win.  The Sacramento Kings have been awful all season long—amassing only 15 wins to go along with 54 losses.  As bad as that stat sounds, the Kings have managed to win only one contest against the Eastern Conference all season long, finally getting off the snide on Friday night against the Knicks.

By any statistical measure, the Sixers have a decided advantage against the Kings.  Sacramento allows opponents to pour in 108 points per game, is routinely out rebounded and gives teams an abundance of extra possesions by turning the ball over 16 times per game.

But if history has taught us anything this year, it’’s that the Sixers rarely capitalize on games where they have a huge edge.  This is a team that has lost to the Timberwolves, Bobcats, Nets (x2), Thunder and Warriors.  It is also a team that has beat the Lakers, Spurs, Rockets and Trailblazers. 

So which team will show up tonight?  The one that scratched and clawed their way to victory against the Lakers or the one that let the Warriors walk all over them? 

Their Sixers are a young team and clearly are prone to periods of poor play followed by spurts of solid play.  Part of this is the nature of their greatest offensive deficiency—a lack of outside shooting.  A team like the Sixers that is full of streaky shooters is naturally going to see its offensive production follow suit.  Some nights they will knock down open looks from outside, some nights they won”t.  I can live with that.  What I can”t live with is their lack of commitment on the defensive end of the floor.  Regardless of whether or not your shot is falling, you can always commit to playing solid defense.  This team refuses to do that on a regular basis. 

What makes it even more puzzling and frustrating is they absolutely have the personnel to be a solid defensive team.  In Samuel Dalembert, the Sixers have an elite shot blocker and above average rebounder.  With Iguodala and Young, they have two young, athletic players that should be able to play consistently tough on-the-ball defense.  Across the board, the Sixers are an athletic team that should be able to commit to solid team defense.  Yet they continue to make mental mistakes that cost their team points.  Instead of playing disciplined defense, they gamble for steals and abandon the perimeter in favor of clogging the lane.  And while help defense is important, the Sixers sometimes over commit with a complete and utter lack of awareness for who they abandoned.  When you are guarding Ray Allen, you don”t leave him to help out on Rajon Rondo—especially when you have a guy like Dalembert to defend the rim.  The Sixers to a man fail to grasp that concept.

And on that note, the keys to the game:

# 1: Defend the Perimeter: While the Kings are not an elite team when it comes to shooting the three, they do have a few players that can knock it down from outside in Kevin Martin, John Salmons and Andres Nocioni.  The Sixers need to force the Kings into difficult shots from the perimeter. 

#2: Own the Glass: It is no secret that the Sixers struggle when it comes to shooting the ball.  As such, there is sure to be ample opportunity for them to hit the offensive glass.  Fortunately, the Kinds are a terrible rebounding team.  The Sixers must crash the offensive glass and capitalize on the additional possessions.

# 3: Iggy Need to Snap Out of It: Despite the game-winning shot against the Lakers, Andre Iguodala has been struggling mightily from the field in the last three games.  When Iggy gets a few easy buckets in transition early in the game his jump shot seems to follow.  It will be important for the Sixers to get out and run early and get the ball to Iggy in spots where he can score.  This should be an opportunity for him to have a big game.

Despite the fact Kings are an awful team and the Sixers have an edge in nearly every statistical category, I don”t think this game will be a cakewalk.  Because the Sixers come into this game losers of two straight, one would hope they don”t take this team for granted.  With every game critical in the race for the 5^th spot in the Eastern Conference, this is one the Sixers must win.

The Spectrum will not be standing soon and tonight the building will host a major sporting event for the last time when the Sixers host the Bulls.  As most things do in this world, the Spectrum came, and soon it will be gone.  But, it will always hold its place in Philadelphia history, as well as the sports and entertainment history in this country.  There aren’t too many ballparks, stadiums, or arenas that stay around like Fenway, Wrigley, and MSG, and it really is a shame.  I know that it isn’t high up on the scale of world importance believe me, but places like the Spectrum are where many memories are made.  Memories of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, and friends.  Memories that bind families, friends, and a community together.  I don’t have kids of my own yet, but it would have been great if I could have taken my son or daughter to the Spectrum or The Vet to share my stories, but I won’t get that chance.  I remember as a kid, my grandfather used to talk about Connie Mack Stadium and Franklin Field.  The cool thing for me is I can still drive or walk by or set foot inside Franklin Field anytime I want.  The Spectrum will always hold a special place in my heart.  I can remember watching Charles Barkley dominate on that floor.  I remember always looking up into the rafters and being fascinated by the Flyers and Sixers banners, and even the banners that showed the amount of sell outs for Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.  I think about seeing a Sixers game from high up in the Spectrum with a basketball team I played on and chanting for Dave Hoppen to be inserted into the game.  Yeah, the Sixers were pretty bad.  I remember seeing my buddy Ryan play in an All-Star game on the floor of the Spectrum.  I remember seeing players like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and dreaming of being an NBA player some day.  The Spectrum was home to some great players, some great teams, and great events.  The Sixers did battle with the Lakers and Celtics in the 80’s, the Broad Street Bullies made it a place no team wanted to visit, and the Boston Strangler did exactly what he always did there: crush the Celtics.  So, since it is a time for nostalgia, I wanted to highlight a few of the many historic events that took place at the Spectrum, which opened in 1967, and is now slated to be officially closed on September 30^th of this year.  If you don’t know what some of these are in reference to, then you are probably not a Philadelphia sports fan.

-Flyers win 1^st Stanley Cup on May 19^th, 1974, beating the Bruins 1-0

-One of the most historically significant sporting events that has ever taken place (and I don’t think that is over stating it) took place on January 11^th, 1976.  The Flyers took on and beat the Soviets 4-1.  For those of you who don’t know, this was during the Cold War, and the Soviets were as close to unbeatable as it came.

-Dr. J’s incredible dunk that I can watch over and over on ESPN Classic

-I know it’s fictional, but in Philly it’s just a little more real.  Rocky fought Apollo in the Spectrum twice, although it wasn’t filmed there.

-The Rocky Statue

-Kate Smith

-1992 East Regional- Kentucky vs Duke- Laettner hits a miraculous turnaround jumper to beat Kentucky at the buzzer 103-102.

-2 NBA All-Star Games and 2 NHL All-Star Games

-6 Stanley Cup Finals- 2 won by the Flyers

-2 Final Fours

-4 NBA Finals- including the 1983 Sixers Championship

-Pretty much every great musician in history played at the Spectrum

I could go on and on, but I won’t.  Basically, the Spectrum belongs to Philadelphia and although the building is going down, the memories will never be lost.  Apparently, the building will be officially closed at the end of September with a concert filled with some of the great musicians that played there in the past.  So tonight, the Sixers will play there for the last time, and some of the Sixer greats will be in attendance.  Let’s hope the Sixers can honor those players and that building by closing it out the right way: A Sixers win.  If anyone has any great memories to add, please share them.  I could have gone on forever, but I don’t think anyone would have wanted that.

This certainly does not come as a shocker to Eagles fans: Tra Thomas is leaving Philadelphia to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.  The writing has been on the wall for this one for weeks now.  Thomas has played very well for the Eagles for a long time, but the Eagles had shown no interest in bringing him back.  So, it is pretty clear that the Eagles will be entering the 2009 season with 2 new starting offensive tackles.  The question remains, just who will those players be?  We won’t know the answer to that question for awhile, but we know the offensive line will have a completely different look to it next year.  I think it’s a pretty safe bet that at least one of the Eagles draft picks will be used on the offensive line. 

The Eagles are clearly getting younger in this off season.  Aside from that it looks like they are more than willing to part with members of Eagles teams who have many successes, but have not collected a Super Bowl victory yet.  What all this says to me is, we are moving into a new era of Eagle football.  If Andy Reid is not able to lead the Eagles to a championship soon, he may not be far behind.  Reid was quoted as being very confident that both Dawkins and Thomas would be signed before free agency began.  Rarely does Reid give that kind of assurance regarding personnel to the media.  He has not made any public comments regarding Dawkins’ departure, and now Thomas is gone.  I think it’s pretty apparent that Reid does not have as much power as he once did.  There are some non-football guys pulling a lot of the strings.  I am of course referring to Joe Banner and his crew.  I am not sure this is a good thing, but none of us will care if we are partying on Broad Street in February.