Season Opener: Atlanta Hawks @ Philadelphia 76ers

<div align="center"> Vs.

Time: November 1st, 7:00 pm
Where: Wachovia Center
TV: CSN







PG: Speedy Claxton SG: Joe Johnson SF: Josh Childress PF: Lorenzen Wright C: Zaza Pachulia





PG: Kevin Ollie SG: Allen Iverson SF: Andre Iguodala PF: Chris Webber C: Samuel Dalembert



Vs.

<font color=""Red"">Atlanta: Atlanta has a talented young duo in their front court. Ex-76er Speedy Claxton leads the Hawks at the point. Although he has never gained any all-star recommendations, the guy is talented when healthy. He has terrific speed and great ball handling skills with a nice shooting touch. Kevin Ollie will get a chance to test his defense tonight.

Former Phoenix Sun Joe Johnson is a young and rising star in the league, leaving the Suns last season for the opportunity to blossom and become the #1 option. He hasn't disappointed either, averaging 20.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 6.5 APG in his first season as a Hawk. I expect Johnson to continue his ways this season, so Iverson may may have a tough task in hand.</font>

<font color=""DarkBlue"">Philadelphia: NBA veteran and long time journey man Kevin Ollie will get the start in the season opener against the Hawks. Ollie has been in the league for 14 seasons already, and has never been a star. Ollie's main role tonight will be no different from his past couple of seasons. The Sixers will expect Ollie to run the offense, make plays, and play some tough defense against the opponent. Ollie will not be flashy, but his contributions will be vital for this team's success.

The Atlanta Hawks will get the honor to face one of the most prolific scorers in the league, Allen Iverson. The man needs no introduction, averaging 33 PPG last season. Iverson is a deadly scorer. The guy has improved his field goal percentage last season and is capable of hitting shots anywhere on the court. He can shoot the 3, shoot the J, and he also possesses the quick first step that can easily take him into the paint for an And 1. The Hawks will have a tough task matching up against AI. </font>



Vs.

<font color=""Red"">Atlanta: Starting at Small Forward, the Hawks have 6-7 Stanford standout Josh Childress. Childress possesses a long frame and will most likely have a height advantage over who ever is defending him. Childress has a nice offensive game, with a terrific mid-range shot. The guy will possess difficult matchups for the Sixers given his long body frame. On defense, Childress is a decent rebounder, but can his skinny frame give the Sixers an advantage?

Power forward Lorenzen Wright spent his past couple of seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies. The guy has talent, but is criticized for being inconsistent. He has a good mid-range game, and possess a good hook-shot. On defense, the guy is a terrific rebounder. Chris Webber may have a tough task in his hands. How will Webber and his knees match-up against Lorenzen Wright? Will Webber be able to keep up with Wright on defense? The answer is still up in the air, but what we do know is that Wright is a pretty good scorer, so Webber must try to eliminate the amount of opportunities Wright has to score.

Zaza Pachulia was acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks last season. Zaza is the type of player that plays physical, and gives it all he?s got. Zaza is not afraid to get down low in the paint, which will provide a tough task for Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert, coming off another hamstring injury, has been known to for play soft. If that is the case, Sammy must step up his game because Zaza will not back off.</font>

<font color=""DarkBlue"">Philadelphia: Andre Iguodala is entering his 3rd NBA season, and promised this off-season that he would have a breakout year. Those are some big words coming from Andre?s mouth, but the big question is, will he live up to it? Andre has been known for his tough defense, but many have criticized him for his lack of contribution on the offensive end. It?s not like Andre doesn?t have talent, he just needs more touches, and most importantly, he must be more aggressive.

At power forward, the Sixers will start veteran star Chris Webber. Webber hasn?t been the same after being traded to Philadelphia, actually, Webber hasn?t been the same ever since he injured his knee. He no longer possesses the athletic ability he once had, and in the past season has looked to his jump shot as his primary offensive weapon. Webber though, has a lot of different effective moves in the paint. It?s just that he doesn?t use them. If we see more of Webber?s post moves, then that will most likely give us a bigger chance of winning the game.

Samuel Dalembert was a big disappointment for the Sixers last season. After signing the big multi-year contract, Samuel hasn?t lived up to expectations. The guy has a lot of potential, but has never fully utilized it yet in his career. One game Sammy may give you monster numbers, only to disappear from the face of the earth the very next. One key factor for the Sixers is for Dalembert to stay on the floor. With that being said, Sammy must limit his fouls, and stop making stupid mistakes.</font>



<font color=""DarkRed"">The Hawks are an improved team, no doubt. But I just don't see the 76ers losing this one. They should be detirmined out there to try to win back some of the fans after a horrendous 05-06 season.

Final Score: 94-86 Sixers win</font>

</div>

PS: Sorry if this seems a bit rushed guys. I was making the preview while handing out candy and watching TV. lol

 

Great preview Brian, and thanks for subbing in for me on such short notice. Anyway, I believe the Hawks will be a tough game for the 76ers. They have plenty of young players who will come out looking to prove something and make a statement for this season. Although, I still believe the 76ers should win this game. I doubt it will be an easy win.

 

Nice preview!

I see the Sixers winning this game.

 

the sixers should win this game with iverson more than likely having a big first game. Dalembert really has to play tough tonight and shut down the paint. i think one of the keys to the game will be how our bench matches up with their long athletic team.

btw nice preview

 

Sixers Hope to Confound the Critics

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Throughout last season, as the losses mounted, the 76ers players, nearly to a man, would swear they were a playoff team, that they were more talented than their record showed, that success would come if only they could put it all together. Never happened.

Instead, the Sixers struggled to a 38-44 record and another campaign with no postseason. The cast returns this year almost unchanged, and fans are naturally skeptical that the outcome will be any different.

Chris Webber feels their pain.

"I don’t know if the fans have a reason or not until we go out and prove it," Webber said. "I’m a fan of sports and I know how I am. You have to give them a reason. So, hopefully, being diehard fans, they’ll support us. But you have to prove yourself."

That could be difficult for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is their early schedule. Although the Sixers are just as capable of losing games at home as on the road, travel can take a toll. And this year’s club will be doing a lot of it early on since 22 of its first 33 games are away from the Wachovia Center.

Then there’s the personnel.

Allen Iverson and Webber are back, as are Andre Iguodala, Samuel Dalembert, Steven Hunter, Kyle Korver and Kevin Ollie. The only veteran additions through free agency were Alan Henderson and Rick Brunson, though the latter was waived last week. And guard Willie Green returns after missing nearly all of last season in the wake of knee surgery.

The Sixers did add rookies Rodney Carney, through a draft-night trade with Chicago, and Bobby Jones, via a draft-night deal with Minnesota. And they have free-agent rookies Ivan McFarlin and Steven Smith.

The Sixers are counting on continuity to help, and for the first time in four years the same coach who ended the previous season will begin the new one as Maurice Cheeks is back for a second campaign.

Cheeks, who watched his squad struggle on the defensive end last season, has placed a new emphasis on that area this year. He maintains that it’s a matter of changing the mindset, but with Webber, Iverson and Korver, all of whom are defensively challenged, you’ve got to wonder.

"I think what we’re trying to do is modify (the mindset) -- of going in with a concept of defense and not just a concept of offense," Cheeks said. "I think you’ve got to modify the mind a little bit. It’s not easy, it’s not hard, but you modify it a little bit here and there and it’ll result in a few more wins."

A few more wins might not be enough. The Sixers finished ninth in the Eastern Conference last season, two games behind Milwaukee and two games ahead of Orlando. But the Magic are probably better this time around, and Chicago, which had to fight to make the playoffs with 41 wins, looks stronger as well.

"I believe last year we should have made the playoffs, and I believe if we had won six or seven (more games) we wouldn’t have had the monkey on our backs that we have," Webber said. "So I believe six or seven games don’t make us a good or bad team. Obviously, it makes you a bad team if you don’t make the playoffs, but it shouldn’t have us coming in and doubting ourselves and things like that.

"I believe in myself. I believe in Allen. I believe in our team. I definitely think we’re going to do it this year. I can’t go into a season not believing it or I’ll retire."

The players might believe that, but few outside the organization do. ESPN.com had the Sixers ranked 29th, while InsideHoops.com had them 20th.

That’s not exactly inspiring.

"I definitely think they’re wrong, but I like it," Iverson said. "I’d rather it be that way than picking us first. That takes a lot of pressure off our young guys. And when it comes to pressure with me, it’s totally different than everybody else on the squad because I’m supposed to be the one that makes us at the top of those lists. I always look at it as a challenge for me every year. Those things really don’t mean anything, but I like the idea of us being picked so far down because we can sneak up on a lot of people and a lot of people can take us lightly and we can get things done.

"If people already expect you not to succeed, the best thing in the world is to succeed."

It’s easy to figure out why the critics are so negative. The Sixers didn’t exactly finish last season strong, going 8-16 down the stretch. And with so few changes, there’s no real reason to think the results will be different.

Except for this: The Sixers were a team divided last season with players blaming one another for this failure and that. They never came right out and named names, but the implications were there. And the negativity took its toll.

"Enough to get us off track, honestly," Iverson said. "I definitely won’t get into it, and I definitely won’t get into the players involved in some of the things last year, but it wasn’t together like we have been in the past and like we are right now. It’s too early to see if we’ll let anything distract us, but for right now it’s been positive. Last year, we were a team on paper but we weren’t as tight and together as we should have been in the locker room."

So far, that’s not the case this time around, although everyone’s a contender before the first ball goes up.

"It’s a lot more positive," Korver said. "Right now we’re upbeat. Everybody is in a good mood. For a while last year, just with the losing and negativity, guys got down. When you have that kind of mentality, it’s harder to play good basketball. Right now we’re positive, we’e practicing good, practices have been competitive and it’s more fun." </div>

Link

Their first step will be tonight

 

Finally, it all starts tonight.

I got Sixers taking this one.

 

Nice preview Brian.

I'm not to keen on Hawks ball but Josh Smith doesnt start?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Iggy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">
I'm not to keen on Hawks ball but Josh Smith doesnt start?</div>

Wow, my bad. I'm pretty sure Josh Smith starts over Josh Childress. Like I said, I really wasn't that focused at the time, and I was sort of rushing through. lol. My bad guys

 

Sweet intro.

And the game is underway!

 

Iggy with the sweet 3 and possible 4 point play.

 

14-2 start by us. Looks good.

How bout Iggy`s 3 point And 1?

 

^Haha we posted at the same time.

 

i cant see the game but sammy's stats are lookin pretty good so far. 6 pts, 3 rbs, and 2 blks in the first quarter. and were still blowen them out.

 

How's everyone doing so far? By the looks of it, Iggy is having a terrific game, and the Sixers are up.

 

The 76ers are doing fine, with about eight minutes to go until the game is over, they just have to play smart basketball. As a team the 76ers played alright, nobody in particular stood out, besides Dre.

 

We did everything that was criticized over the entire offseason.
These are several things I noticed:

1. Great defensive effort. Marc Zumoff and Steve Mix talked a lot about challenging shots and the Sixers did exactly just that. The guys hustled a lot more on defense with loose balls.

2. Andre shows up. I hope this is what we see of him for the rest of the year(if not more). His shot has definitely improved and he is more aggressive now. However he still needs to create his own shot. Starting with a 15 4 and 5 is a great way for a breakout year.

3. Sammy's D Like Andre, Sammy did his job today. 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. I notice that when Sammy's not in the game, the Hawks got inside A LOT more easily. I actually didn't get to watch the part of the game when he picked up the 4 fouls, but I'm just happy he didn't get his quick 2 in the first 3 minutes of the game like last year. He definitely has his mentality straght - to be a defensive monster.

Those are the 3 main things.

However, the Sixers were pretty sloppy on offense as you can see by the 16 TO's. Let's hope they will start taking care of the ball once the season goes on. (AI had 7 TO's).

Overall, I loved the effort. I think the coaching staff did a great job in training camp. Everything the Sixers were criticized for last year and during the offseason were fixed today.

Next game : Friday @ Orlando

 

Sixers beat Atlanta.

 

Unfortunatley I didn't see the game but considering from the box score Iguodala and Dalembert had good games as mentioned before.Only thing that I didn't like was that Webber started out well but ended up shooting 4-16...atleast he only played for about 32-33 minutes.

 

Pretty good season opener. As compared to last season, the everyone contributed something to the Sixers. Instead of last season where it was a two man game, tonight at least Iguodala stepped up as the third option. It also makes me curious as to whether or not he can contribute every game with scoring. Dalembert also impressed me as well with his defense. Now, I wasn't watching the game so I don't know if he had too many goal tendings, but he had a nice defensive game with his steals and blocks. In addition, him and Webber did a nice job of getting the rebounds for the team. Overall, I liked what the team put out there tonight. Still, I would have liked it more if Carney and Randolph got more minutes. Oh wait, it was against Atlanta...

Miss3pointer25, Liberty or Freedom?

 

I believe this team has found the sense of urgency in them.

Sammy realizes he needs to be the monster he can be.
Andre realizes it's time to step it up.
AI realizes he doesn't have much time left. From what I saw last night, he has come a long way and it looks like he really is willing to do anything to win.

And most importantly, everybody on the Sixers realizes the importance of defense now.

It's just a matter of executing.