It's that time of year again and Sixers are about embark on their longest road trip of the season. Unlike last season it's no longer nine consecutive road games, this time it's a reasonable seven consecutive road games. Here is the schedule: <u>Dec</u> Fri 23 @ Atlanta <font color=""Red"">L</font> Tue 27 @ Denver <font color=""RoyalBlue"">W</font> Wed 28 @ Portland Sat 31 @ Utah <u>Jan</u> Tue 3 @ Sacramento Wed 4 @ Phoenix Fri 6 @ L.A. Lakers Record: 1-1 Projected Record: 5-2 I think the two losses will come from PHX and LAL. The Sixers are playing very well right now and won six out of their last seven games so the momentum is defiantly in their favor also in addition we start off the road trip against ATL. But what really gives the Sixers a good edge in this road trip is the idle days. Just check out how much days they get off between most of those games. Fatigue has been a problem for the Sixers early on but with all of these days off I think they will come out with energy and most importnaly sustain it for the majority of the game. Don't call me crazy for what I’m about to say but if the Sixers went 7-0 on this road trip I would not be surprised. POR, UTH, ATL, SAC(Webber!) are all gimmie games in my eyes while DEN will bring some comp at the end of the day looking at where we are right now and where they may possible be we could very well beat them. PHX and LAL are my only concerns. I'm sure Kobe is going to want to show Iguodala a thing or two after Iggy "shut him down" and PHX, well they are PHX. Plus, out of all the 30 teams in the NBA Iverson struggle the most against them. For his career he averages somewhere between 20-23 PPG and shots a very low percentage against them. So that may be of some concern. But for the most part I’m expecting a successful road trip and I’d be very upset if they lost more than three games.
I think we're going to go 4-3. This Sixer team is unpredictable and could do anything any given game. This team should go 6-1, but I think 4-3 is what will be the result. The losses will come against Phoenix, Denver and an upset against Utah.
This road tip will say a lot about the 76ers' character. It will be tough, but at the same time it could create more of a bond between all the players as teamates. The 76ers have one 6 of their last 7 games, they have also won 10 games at home this season, tied for best in the NBA. But if any team in this league wants to be successfull, winning on the road is a must, and so far this season the 76ers have not been getting the job done. If the 76ers come out and win a lot of these games, their confidence should increase as their next home game is on January 9th. It is important for the 76ers to stay consistent as possible on this trip, because when you are playing in a different city every night it gets tough to keep your mentality straight. With that being said the 76ers need their two stars to guide this team even more then they usually have to. Like Avery said, Philly's first game to start the trip is against Atl. If the 76ers do in fact win, as they should hopefully that game can be the momentum starter for this road run. Last season the Sixers had a pretty similar situation, they came out of that trip in pretty good shape. Therefore, I am expecting them to come back to Philly have gone 5 and 2 on this road trip with the lossing being against Denver and Phoenix.
The 76ers need to do two things to be successful in this road trip. First and foremost they need to rebound the ball. It has been a point of emphases all season, and when we out rebound our opponents it is well documented we win. Secondly, they will need to get off to a quick start. The 76ers are a team that really tends to struggle when playing from behind. They waste all their energy on getting back into the game, and don’t have enough energy for that final push to get over the hump. This will hold even more truth since they will be playing on the road. I personally think if we do everything we are suppose to do I think we should go 6-1 on this road trip with the one lose coming to the Suns. The first four teams we play on the road trip have all struggled immensely this season, with the exception of the Nuggets. With that said, I doubt that we will be able to come out of the road trip with all the wins we are suppose to get. The 76ers are known for struggling on these annual road trips they take right around this time. They also tend to struggle on back to back frames, which they will have to play twice during the road trip. I would not be surprised to see the Hawks pull off an upset they have been playing very well recently with wins over the Cavalier and the Spurs. To be short and sweet I would like to see 6-1 with the lose coming to the Suns, but realistically I think it will be something like 4-3.
Not the best way to start off, but I'm still sticking with the 5-2 record. The second loss will come to PHX.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">We MUST take advantage of the next two games(POR and UTH).</div> Well.... we didn?t. The 76ers have shot themselves in the foot thus far on this road trip. The first half of the road trip was really the easier part of it, but the 76ers where unable to take advantage of that, and went 1-3 despite playing well in all four of the contests. They had horrible melt downs in the last minute or so of every game the 76ers where one Iverson game winner away from being 0-4. The 76ers inconsistency has been really frustrating so far this season, and I think everyone would agree. I do not really see a reason for this inconsistency. Allen Iverson has provided us with a constant scoring threat in every single game thus far this season, and we usually have three or four guys in double figures each night. Our bench has improved dramatically since the beginning of the year. I don?t think anyone expected Shavlik Randolph to have the type of impact he has had, or for us to resign Barnes. I could name several players coming off our bench that could give us a solid rotation Hunter, Shavlik, Barnes, Salmons, Bradley, and Green (when he returns from injury). The 76ers really have no excuse to lay back on right now. They just need to find some consistency to their season lets hope they find it. I don?t think it is a coaching problem, but rather an intensity factor that the 76ers have not brought night in and night out. Let?s see where they go from here.
Ouch 1-3 I had a feeling we were going to lose to Utah. They are really underrated. I have a feeling Webber will explode in his return to Saramento. We better win against the Lakers and the Phoenix game doesn't look likely, but this Sixer team is unpredictable!
