<div align="center"> <font color=""darkred"">Philadelphia 76ers (15-15)</font> @ <font color=""Purple"">Sacramento Kings (12-17)</font> Tuesday, January 3, 2006 | 10:00 PM | Arco Arena TV: CSN | Radio: -- | Spanish Radio: --</div> Game four of their six-game West Coast odyssey finds the 76ers in Sacramento (10pm, CSN, 610 WIP) on Tuesday. This will be Chris Webber's second trip back to the city he called home for six-plus seasons. On New Year's Eve, Philadelphia fell 108-102 in Utah. Allen Iverson scored 37 while Webber had 16 of his 21 after halftime. [DIV=50%]<div align="center"><font color=""purple"">Sacramento Kings Projected Starters</font> (Mike Bibby, Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia, Kenny Thomas, Brad Miller)</div> Mike Bibby: The guy is HOT. Dropping 38 and 33 points in his last two games, expect Bibby to try and out shine Webber who will look to have a big night. Bibby has been the catalyst to the Kings two game winning streak and if he has an off night it will be hard for the Kings to win. Kevin Martin: He's a young guy that's starting to get into his own. He won't do anything spectacular for you, but he will do those little things that end up being important when you look back. Diving for loose balls, sharing the ball and so on. Martin however will have a very touch matchup against Iguodala. Francisco Garcia: He's no Peja, but he can certainly shoot the basketball. Garcia is a clever player that can not only shoot the ball but take it to the rim. He's had a couple big games so far in his young career and in order to help increase his team chances at winning, he needs to have a 10+ point night. He almost must try and contain Korver will look to shoot the ball at any given chance. Kenny Thomas: Chris Webber is not the only one will look to try and have a big game. Thomas a key player in which Webber was dealt for will look to make his former team pay. Thomas had some bitter words for the Sixers after he got traded, so look for him to try and back those words up by having a big game. Brad Miller: This guy is underrated Center. Arguably one of the best passing big men in this league. He is not very athletic and won't bring a lot of energy but he can hit the 16ft shoot, again, pass the ball and crate tons of havoc. Sammy Dalembert(questionable) may have his hands full with Miller. [/div]<div align="center"><font color=""darkred"">Philadelphia 76ers Projected Starters</font> (Allen Iverson, Andre Iguodala, Kyle Korver, Chris Webber, Samuel Dalembert)</div> Allen Iverson: An MVP candidate. You know that he will give it his all each and every single night. He is pound for pound the best player in the league, and at the end of the day the only person that can stop him is himself. So you don't have to worry much about this guy. Andre Iguodala: The guy has been on a roller coaster all season long. But he is coming off a big game and will have an easy match-up. The match-up heavily favors Iguodala and he will be poised to have a big game. Kyle Korver: On offense he shouldn't have much of a problem, but going against Garcia who is more athletic, stronger and quicker may give Korver an headache. In this matchup he must look to put a hand in front of Garcia and not let him get hot. Chris Webber: This guy will be in the spot light. You can bet the fans will enjoy seeing him come back but they would much rather him leave the arena in a losing effort. And that being the case the last time these two teams met, Webeer will look for different results. Ever since he's been traded to the Sixers, they've played very close games with the Kings and Webber having just so-so nights, but now that he is rejuvenated you can bet he will look to have a monster game. Samuel Dalembert: He is questionable for tonight’s game. But if he decides to sit Steven Hunter will back him up may do a pretty good job doing so. However if Dalembert decides to suit up he should look to say away from foul trouble. Miller is a smart player and with Dalembert physique Miller may look to take it to the hole on more than one occasions. <font color=""darkred"">Keys To The Game For Philadelphia</font> <ul>Rebound The Ball The Sixers are 13-0 when out-rebounding their opponent. So that stat is enough to see the importance in the rebounding depart is for this ball club.[/list] <ul>Team Game: Everyone knows that this is a homecoming came for Webber and he will look to have a big night. But if he can get his typical 20 and 10, that will be all. The emotions will be hard to overcome, but the Sixers must keep it in perspective and Webber for one shouldn't look to be selfish and try to have a big game. If he is meant to have a big night it will naturally come to him, he shouldn't loook to force it.[/list] <ul>Control The Tempo The Sixers are at best when they have a mix of an up-tempo and half court game. They shouldn't look to run too much because that will take Korver and Webber out of their game, but shouldn’t look to play too much half court because that will take Iguodala and Dalembert out of their game. So a healthy combination of both styles should be the team main focus as well as playing transition defense since the Kings love to run.[/list] My Prediction I got the Sixers by 3. It will be a close game, and Webber will indeed have a big game. Alongside with Iguodala he will lead them to victory and Webber will finally be the hero he wanted to be against his former team. Garcia and Bibby on the other hand will have huge nights, while Iverson will have a so-so night.
i think webber will shine tonight, just because he's against his former team. i say sixers take this one 103 - 99
I have the same feeling... Webber can't guard him mobility wise... Theoretically we should win this game on paper due to all of Sacramento's injuries, but with this Sixer team you never can be sure what to expect.
first of all, i would like to say, nice preview avery. im digging the new style . as for the game, all i have to say is that we must win this one in order to get our momentum back. we have lost quiet a few in a row and this is the game that should bring us back. i think that we will win this game because of all their injuries, but the sixers shouldnt under estimate the kings. they still have a lot of offensive power and the sixers will have to play tough D in order to win. i predict this to be a close game, but the sixers will win, 98-94.
I really liked Kenny Thomas in Philadelphia, pre O’Brien era. If we had not gotten Webber in return I would have been really upset to see the guy go. He was a hard worker, and a guy who you just loved to see play because of how hard he worked on the court. However, the past is the past, and right now in the present the 76ers should win this game against an injury whittled Kings team (something never change). If the 76ers play up to there potential Sixers by 9.
Kenny will present problems for us. He's quicker than Webber, and if we put Sammy on him I guarantee you Sammy fouls out in two minutes.
The matchups aren't very favorable for the 76ers. The Kings aren't nessecarily a better team, but they have players that match up against the 76ers players well. I still think the 76ers can win, and this is a team in a desprate need of a win coming of losses to Portland, and Utah. The 76ers need their bench to start producing, they have had a couple of days off so this team should also be well rested on the other hand.
Great win. This has to be the most balanced scoring so far this year from the Sixers. Next up, the Suns. This will be a tough game. I expected AI to struggle tonight and so he did, but no way he will have a night like that tomorrow in a tempo that will favor him. Box Score
Good win, and the game ball has to go to Andre Iguodala. This is the kind of effort us Sixers fans expected from Andre on a consistent basis, both offensively and defensively. Webber with a solid game, which was expected with his return to Sacramento. If Brad Miller wasn't as hot as he was, we probably would have won by thirty, but good defense by our big men on him in the fourth. If I'm not mistaken he didn't score in the entire fourth quarter. Good win... next up, Phoenix. We might be catching them at a good time, because they have been on the road and are coming off a disappointing triple overtime loss to the Knicks. P.S.: Something was weird about the Kings' broadcast tonight on NBALP, or maybe it was just my cable provider. Half-way through the fourth quarter, they turned the game off and showed Sesame Street of all shows, for about two minutes, and then the game came back on. I was like WTF?! And then the rest of the way I saw Sesame Street during commercial breaks... so messed up.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BigMo763:</div><div class="quote_post">P.S.: Something was weird about the Kings' broadcast tonight on NBALP, or maybe it was just my cable provider. Half-way through the fourth quarter, they turned the game off and showed Sesame Street of all shows, for about two minutes, and then the game came back on. I was like WTF?! And then the rest of the way I saw Sesame Street during commercial breaks... so messed up.</div> haha. dont know what there bigmo. lol. anyways, the win by the sixers was very impressive. i dont think anyone would have expected a blow out win against the kings. this was a good win and hopefully the sixers will gain some momentum from this and start a big winning streak.
Great win. Dalembert and Webber combine for 40 and 30. The Suns will be tough tho. Esp with another back to back
Every starter for the 76ers had a good game. The 76ers need to keep up the good work when it comes to balancing the scoring. One bad thing was the high scoring of Brad Miller. Had the 76ers had lost I would have been pretty dissapointed. The good thing is, they contained most of the other players to normal nights and that is what won them the game. If Allen would have had a normal shooting night, this game would have been over earlier then it was. But the good thing is, other players stepped up in his place. AI also dished out 12 assists, which is good since he wasn't scoring like he usually was. The 76ers play the Suns tonight, and you know that team will run you. Hopefully Philly will be ready, its important the guys off the bench can come in and run the floor and provide some energy, like Salmons and Hunter.
Great win for the Sixers. One thing I learned from this game is that Peja is definetly one of the most overrated players in the league. Balanced Scoring and Rebounds are two keys for the Sixers. They seem to win when one of those things happen.
Peja is one of the most overrated players in the league, in my opinion, but keep in mind that was his first game back from injury.
Kenny-Sammy With less than 4 minutes left in the game Dalembert and Thomas got into a little talking and both were T'd up. Thought this was just strange, although we have seen Dalembert get into some confrontations in the past (Alonzo Mourning last year). But since they were the two starting front court players for the Sixers not so long ago, I didn't expect them to get T'd up let alone in a dispute of words. I wonder what was going on.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sixerholic:</div><div class="quote_post">With less than 4 minutes left in the game Dalembert and Thomas got into a little talking and both were T'd up. Thought this was just strange, although we have seen Dalembert get into some confrontations in the past (Alonzo Mourning last year). But since they were the two starting front court players for the Sixers not so long ago, I didn't expect them to get T'd up let alone in a dispute of words. I wonder what was going on.</div> i dont think it was a big deal. obviously kenny was frustrated because his team was losing, so in the heat of things, they just had a little trash talking. its perfectly normal.
Hey, since when is trash talking an opponent an issue. It doesn't really matter that it was a former Sixer. I'm actually glad, I remeber those word Thomas had about the 76ers.
The words he had were mostly for JOB, not the rest of the team... although I wouldn't be surprised if he has a dislike for AI because he did mention that his favorite time as a Sixer (besides under Larry) was when Chris Ford was the coach.
