<div align="center"> <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%">@</span> </div> <div align="center">November 3rd 2006, 7:00pm EST.</div> <span style="color:#CC0000">Philadelphia 76ers</span>(1-0)PG- Kevin Ollie, SG- Allen Iverson, SF- Andre Iguodala, PF- Chris Webber, C- Samuel DalemburtKey Bench Players: Kyle Korver, Steven Hunter, Willie Gree, Rodney Carney, Shlavik Randolph<span style="color:#3333FF">Orlando Magic</span>(1-0) PG- Jameer Nelson, SG- Grant Hill, SF- Hedo Turkoglu, PF- Dwight Howard, C- Tony BattieKey Bench Players: Bo Outlaw, Darko Milicic, Keyon Dooling, Travis Deiner, Pat GarrityKey Player for Philadelphia: Samuel DalemburtDwight Howard is becoming a monster in this league and how well Dalemburt can control the paint on defense can be the deciding factor of this game.Key Player for Orlando Dwight HowardDwight Howard is clearly becoming the leader and star of this team and how well he plays will be a huge factor for Orlando. If he comes up big like he did against Chicago the 76ers will have a hard time beating Orlando.<span style="color:#000099">Iversonfan's thoughts on the game:</span> Should be a very good game. The game could very well be decided on how well Orlando's Dwight Howard plays. Howard proved on Wednesday that when he is hot the Magic will be a tough team to beat. Also another huge factor could be if Iguodala shows the same aggresiveness we saw in him on offense on Wednesday.<span style="color:#CC0000">Iversonfan's Predictions:</span> I'm predicting a close game but Orlando pulls out with the win. The teams two stars both have great games, but Howard will end up getting more support.Final Score: Orlando wins 95-89Philadelphia's Leader: Allen Iverson- 34 points, 5 assists, 2 stealsOrlando's Leader: Dwight Howard- 24 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks
Well it's been a pretty close game so far like I predicted. The Sixers are leading 53-52 at halftime. Allen Iverson has had a great game so far and has 19 points on 7-13 shooting at the half. He also has 7 assists. Another good thing is Iguodala is has been aggresive on offense again. Even though he is only shooting 2-7 he is taking it to the hoop and taking shots. It's a big improvement considering last season he only averaged 8 shots a game. As for the Magic Grant Hill and Jameer Nelson have both had impressive first halfs. Hill has 13 points so far and Nelson has 11. Dwight Howard had a slow 1st half and only has 7 points and 4 rebounds so far. The Sixers have been doing a good job putting pressure on him. Oh I almost forgot to mention Kyle Korver. Korver has had a spectacular shooting night so far and is 6-6 from the field. Hopefully he continues playing like this in the 2nd half.
Despite the fact that we're up by 1 at the half, we have played absolutely horribly this game. We have no offensive flow whatsoever, and despite the fact that the Magic have been turning the ball over more than usual, we cannot take advantage of that and convert. The Magic have done a good job keeping us from running our fast break, and the main reason for that is that they have outrebounded us by 10 or so in the first half.Our defense isn't as good as it was in the first game (Magic are shooting over 60% from the floor), so that needs to improve as well. We're up 1, but we've been pretty lucky so far. Iverson needs to continue to play well, as does Korver, but Webber needs to either start making his shots or look to set up others (he missed Carney on a wide-open backdoor cut in the first half that pissed me off). Offensively we need to attack Jameer and Howard, who both have three fouls. If we can keep them on the bench then our chances of winning this game increase dramatically.Dalembert has played decently - 7 points, 3 rebounds and only 1 personal fouls - but he needs to play better defense and crash the boards.
Wow close game. Sixers a re leading 103-99 with 42 seconds left. I was glad to see Webber Took the ball to the hoop and drew the fould instead of settling for the shot whiich he probably would've missed.Sixers win 105-103 and you can thank Allen iverson for all of this won. Samuel Dalemburt makes a bone head move and commits an offensive foul with time going down and Grant Hill ties it up at 103-103. Iverson ends up hitting an awesome shot and hits te game winner with 2.2 seconds left. He finished with 39 points on 15-25 shooting and 10 assists. Korver did have a great shooting game though and finished with 28 points and 10-13 shooting including 4-4 from beyond the arc.
Big, big victory for the Sixers, and it looks like all the focus on defense in training camp is paying off. This is the type of game we lost countless times last year, and it's good to see us grind out the victory in our first two games.Iverson was amazing tonight, and efficient for the second game in a row. He had 39 points on 25 shots... he shot 60% from the field, and had 10 assists with all those points, not to mention the incredible game winning shot. Korver was HUGE for us tonight... he could not miss... 28 points, and he probably would have had more if he didn't pick up his fifth foul with 5 minutes left in the game.Webber sucked in the first half, but it was good to see that he recognized that his shot was off and that the other players were hot and that he needed to feed them the ball. He made a big play in the final minutes though, as you mentioned iversonfan, attacking the basket instead of settling for his usual elbow jumper.Dalembert was decent tonight - 9 points, but only 3 rebounds - and came up with a huge block down the stretch (within the last minute or two). Iverson bailed him out after he committed that stupid offensive foul that allowed Hill to tie the game up, but that was his only boneheaded play of the game. He's gotten smarter on when to go after a shot and when not to (I don't think he has been called for goaltending yet this season).It was also nice to see Mo Cheeks have confidence in the rookie Carney, putting him out there down the stretch on Orlando's hottest scorer (Hill). Carney played great defense, but Hill was just on fire tonight.Overall though, we have a lot to improve on. We were lucky to win this game mainly because of Iverson and Korver's great performances... Orlando outrebounded us by 20+ rebounds... that is just simply unacceptable. The Magic just shot themselves in the foot though by committing 23 turnovers (I can't believe how many travels were called on the Magic tonight... probably 8 or 9).The referees were pretty good tonight... the only gripe I had was with the zero tolerance rule tonight. The technical on Iverson was warranted, but the one on Keith Bogans was not. Bogans was talking to himself, away from the referees, and they called a technical foul on him when he was just calmly and rationally talking to himself.Anyway, good win, but we better improve our rebounding before Sunday afternoon, otherwise Shaq and Zo will totally rip us apart. The dream of an undefeated season is still alive, and we're in first place in the division!
Good Win.Willie Green seems to be pissing me off, everytime he's on he is ethier shooting, fouling or turning the ball over so I really hope he gets his game together in which would help the sixers bench score a little more.
I tuned in with about 52 seconds left, It was a really good ending.Webber with the clutch free throws, Hill with the clutch jumper, Iverson with the game winner.I love the Sixers announcers, They have so much energy when the Sixers make a big play.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BALLAHOLLIC? @ Nov 4 2006, 02:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I tuned in with about 52 seconds left, It was a really good ending.Webber with the clutch free throws, Hill with the clutch jumper, Iverson with the game winner.I love the Sixers announcers, They have so much energy when the Sixers make a big play.</div>I do too... unfortunately I usually get stuck watching the opposing team's broadcast on NBALP.
I feel for you pretty bad, NBALP has the most biased announcers I have ever seen.I live in PA so I watch almost every Sixers game. I love Marc Zumoff and Steve Mix.IVEEEERRRRSOOON AT THE BUZZER! YEEEEESSSSSSSS.
