Philly is a very suprising team. They are #1 in point differential, #5 in PPG, #1 in OPP, #4 in FG%, #1 in Opponent FG%, #2 in Opponent 3 point FG%, #5 in APG differential. Although the only "Good teams" they played are Indiana and PDX. And they are 1-1. But still, Colins must have some mojo or something. Seems his team is firing on all cylinders.
I would love for them to be the 4th seed and meet Miami in the second round. They would have a REAL shot at knocking them out of the playoffs.
Yes. Exactly why they are racking up these wins against a somewhat easy schedule. They don't have one "quality" win. Their back-to-backs at Golden State and at home against the Raptors were winnable. Their road wins in Phx, GS and NO were winnable games. Congrats on playing hard and winning games they had a shot at taking. They haven't played any contenders. The Blazers, by contrast have had two games against contenders and 2 quality wins already - in OKC an against the Lakers. We need to wait until Philly plays some signature games before we can assess the team. It will be a while. These are their next games: Kings, @ Knicks, Wiz, @ Wiz, Bucks, Nuggets, Hawks, @ Miami. The team is also getting way above average play out of several players. Thaddeus Young, Louis Williams, Andre Iguodala, and particularly Spencer Hawes are all putting up stats way above their career numbers. There is no way all of those players will or can maintain such a pace for an entire season. By contrast, nobody on the Blazers playing big minutes is playing way above their recent numbers. In fact, everyone is about at their career numbers, expect for the starting PG - Felton - who is way below his career numbers. The Blazers situation is far more likely to be sustained as the season progresses than Philly's. Blazers are not getting out of norm play from multiple players. Blazers have shown an ability to beat very good teams. Let us wait to see more from Philly before we get too excited.
I'm not really proud of Collin's, because I don't know him personally. But, I always have thought of him as a great basketball mind. I loved listening to him as the color guy on games. He seems to have learned a lot from his time away from the game. Also, I don't know what he's whispering in Hawes' ear, but that dudes balling out of control right now.
Hawes' improvement is directly responsible for their improvement. I got tix for ridiculously cheap for their game this FRI vs. WAS. Might actually go this time if I get out of work early. It's sad, though. They had less than 9000 people attend the game yesterday. People in Philly don't give a shit about them.
Collins has always been a great coach, with one huge flaw. He tends to ride young players so hard he eventually alienates them and they tune him out. Hopefully, he has loosened up a bit. What worked on Michael Jordan won't work on players who aren't nearly as self-motivated and mentally tough (see Kwame Brown). I will admit Collins has seemed to grow more likeable over the years. Let's hope his players feel the same way. BNM
There is absolutely no way Young, Williams and Hawes are this good. They have to come back down to earth. And if they are all perfoming like this because of Collins relentless pushing, they may blow their gaskets.
Heat are better without LeBron and Wade. Couldn't beat Hawks except when those two sat out. Reality check: Sixers have the same record as us.
For every team he's coached, Doug Collins has a hot first year. He has a psychological problem and becomes berserk after that. Then they have to fire him. Remember when the owner said it's up to Grant Hill whether to keep him, and Hill turned thumbs down like a Roman emperor?
