<div align="center"> <font color=""DarkRed"">Philadelphia 76ers</font> @<font color=""purple""> Toronto Raptors</font> Time: Sunday, Dec. 18, 1:00pm at Raptors TV: CSN, NBALP <font color="DarkRed">Philadelphia 76ers</font> <font size=""1""><font color=""DarkRed"">PG</font>- Allen Iverson <font color=""DarkRed"">SG</font>-Andre Iguodala <font color=""DarkRed"">SF</font>-Kyle Korver <font color=""DarkRed"">PF</font>- Chris Webber <font color=""DarkRed"">C</font>- Steven Hunter</font> <font size=""1"">Coach: Maurice Cheeks</font> ____________________________ <font color=""Purple"">Toronto Raptors</font> <font size=""1""><font color=""Purple"">PG</font>- Jose Calderon <font color=""Purple"">SG</font>- Mike James <font color=""Purple"">SF</font>- Morris Peterson <font color=""Purple"">PF</font>- Chris Bosh <font color=""Purple"">C</font>- Rafael Araujo</font> <font size=""1"">Coach: Sam Mitchell</font> </div> <ul><font color="DarkRed">Defense</font> the 76ers defense has looked worse than Michael Jackson’s nose job this season. Uncontested lay-ups, dunks, and jump shots have killed the 76ers in crucial stages of close games. Despite this however, they have still managed to hang around .500. The 76ers will be playing a Toronto Raptors team who they have already beaten twice, but have yet to really dominate on the defensive side of the ball. Cheeks has to preach defense tonight. A constant storyline in the last two meeting these teams had, as well as last season. Has been three point shooting last year it was Marshall this year Villanueva. You think the 76ers would learn from their mistakes.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkRed">Quick Start</font> the 76ers don’t tend to play well from behind. They waste too much energy on the comeback, and do not have enough energy left for that final push to get over the top. Though the Raptors have struggled this season they are still a tough match up for the 76ers because the 76ers weaknesses are the Raptors strengths if the Raptors get a lead early, and gain confidence they might pull out an upset.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkRed">Rebound</font> we are undefeated when we out rebound our opponents this season. Enough said.[/list] <div align="center"></div> <ul><font color="Purple">Get everyone involved</font> Mike James, Villanueva, Bosh all had good games against the 76ers the last time these two teams met they will need the same type of production from these guys to have a chance to win tonight.[/list] <ul><font color="Purple">Find the open man</font> whenever the Raptors play the 76ers their is always a guy open on the perimeter like I mentioned earlier. So if the Raptors can find that guy, and the guy can hit his shots that alone will keep the Raptors close and give them a chance.[/list] <div align="center"></div> The 76ers should be a lot better than they are right now. A lot of people where upset by Steven A Smith’s comments about the team during the Heat game, but for the most part they are true. The 76ers have not lived up to their potential as of yet. They have a easy stretch of games coming up however, they could very well win the next six games, and get back on track. They need to win games like tonight’s to be considered anything close to a contender. I will take the 76ers by five.
I honestly think the 76ers should win this game in a blowout, but that is not likely at all to happen. The Raptors competed with the Sixers the last two times these two played, and they made the 76ers fight for wins. Mike James looked like the leagues leading scorer in the last matchup, and he was really scoring at well. The 76ers need to stress defense for the rest of the year really, if they can contain every Raptor to an average night, then they can win this with ease. But if a player like Villanueva, Calderon, or James explodes, the Sixers could be in some trouble.
Amazing game by Philly. Right now we're up 31. Iggy had 26, Korver 23,6,6, Sammy had 11 and 18. Great all around game by us.
Safe to say that Iguodala has the Raptors number, always seems to kill when they face the Raps. An overall great win by Philly. And Shavlik with the reverse..
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Andre Iguodala and the Philadelphia 76ers love facing the Toronto Raptors. Then again, so do most teams. Andre Iguodala scored 13 of his career high-tying 26 points in the third quarter to lead the 76ers to a 107-80 rout of the league-worst Raptors, who absorbed their sixth straight home loss. Iguodala, who made 9-of-10 shots, matched his scoring output of the Sixers' 121-115 victory here on November 16, the back end of a home-and-home sweep. Kyle Korver scored 23 points, Allen Iverson 18 and Samuel Dalembert 11 and 18 rebounds for Philadelphia, which has won six of its last seven meetings against Toronto. Iverson had scored a combined 76 points in the Sixers' earlier victories over the Raptors but shot just 6-of-19 and sat out much of the fourth quarter with Sunday's result not in doubt. Korver scored 17 points and Iverson 14 in the first half to help the Sixers take a 52-48 edge into the break. Iguodala took over in the third period, scoring on a variety of dunks to help Philadelphia push its advantage to as many as 24 points before settling for a comfortable 80-62 cushion entering the final period. Chris Bosh scored 22 points and rookie Charlie Villanueva added 15 for Toronto, which shot just 35 percent (29-of-84) and allowed Philadelphia to connect on 49 percent (40-of-82) from the floor. </div> <font size=""1""><div align="center">Recap l Box Score l Standings</div></font> Still undefeated when we out rebound our opponents...
The 76ers are very good when their starters are efficent on offense. But they have to keep this up, it is easy to beat the bad teams, a good test for this Philly team will be on Wednesday when they play the Golden State Warriors.
Good win for us, as we beat the Raptors 107-80. This had the potential to be a letdown game for us, coming off of that loss to the Heat. I'm glad our guys didn't take this game lightly (although they looked like they were still asleep early on) and hopefully we can use this to get back on the winning track. We've won 5 of our last 6 games, and are currently 1.5 games ahead of NJ for the division lead (they play GS later tonight). Iverson struggled, but did enough for us to keep the lead for the first three quarters. He finished the game with 18 points on 6-19 shooting, and his left thumb was obviously bothering him. Shots that he normally knocked down would rim out on him, so I'm not too worried. It's always nice when you can rest AI for 15 minutes at the end of the game... and it's always a good sign when your best player starts taking off his shoes and his taped ankles on the bench midway through the fourth. Andre... he must love Toronto! Another strong showing for him: 26 points, 9-10 shooting (mainly dunks), 2-2 from beyond the arc, and 6-6 from the charity stripe. Dang, if we played Toronto everyday, this guy would be the MVP of the league. Korver just lit it up all night, and I'm glad he played the way he did. Usually he starts off hot and then cools down in the second half, but tonight he carried it out throughout the entire game. Webber struggled, and he looked sluggish all game... 12 points on 4-15 shooting, six rebounds and 4 assists. Decent game, and he only played 30 minutes because this one was well in hand midway through the third quarter. Dalembert had a monstrous game on the boards... 18 rebounds, and chipped in 11 points, but most of those came after AI and Webber went to the bench in the second half. Shav had another strong game... I'm really liking what this guy is doing for us off the bench. Check this: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists in 22 minutes. Good win... I set a minimum of us going 2-1 for this week, and we got one of our mandatory wins (for me). Tough game against Golden State @ home Wednesday... and then a tough game on the road in Atlanta Friday night. We can't afford to take any of these teams lightly. There is a possibility that we're looking at a 3-0 week, but we need to stay focused 100% of the time.
Good analysis BigMo and game preview BKS. As for the game I honestly didn't expect a blowout. If I was able to post in this thread prior to the game my precitions would have come out on point with Iguodala and Korver having big games and as well as Iverson struggling. I was about 90% sure that he would have a off night. The guy just sprained his finger and he was bound to struggle in the next game(s). Other than his FT shooting against Miami the finger didn't really seem as if it was bothering him. But that was due to the fact that his body was warm, his blood was flowing and he remained active in that game. After he was able to cool down take a day off I'm sure that's when the finger started acting up and the game he had showed it. It seems as if he didn't want to take it a chance hurting it by only going to to the FT line on two occasions against a Raptors defense. That must be why he setteled for jumpers. But on the bright side the role players stepped up and we have two idle days so that finger will hopefully get better because there is no way we are beating the Warriors with AI shooting 6-19. Shav on the other hand is a beast. He is slowly starting to become my favorite Sixer.
