Marreese Speights, Marreese Speights, Marreese Speights. It's turning into a man crush, and I don't care. Forget about my waxing poetic, the guy is insanely talented and is beginning to harness it before our very eyes. During an uptempo first half, Speights played for 11 minutes and scored 16 points on an array of alley-oop slams and jumpers. At one point, Speights scored 12 straight points for the Sixers and pushed the team out to a 13 point lead over the winded Phoenix Suns. In the end, Speights and the rest of the crew blew the Suns out of the Wachovia Center by a score of 108-91.
What more can we say about this guy? He runs with purpose, gives the Sixers a spark on the court, and has learned to minimize mistakes. Speights continues to lead all rookies in PER in the NBA, and it's funny to see Robin Lopez on the opposite bench, wasting away. The Suns picked Lopez ahead of Speights, and now have the honor of watching him soar in for dunks and scream the basketball Gods as he runs back down to the defensive end. Elton Who?
It's been a beautiful thing watching Speights flourish before our very eyes, and in this game against the Suns he has outworked everyone put up against him. Amare Stoudemire, the perennial all-star, has been thoroughly outplayed by the youngster.
In the first half, the Sixers did not shoot well, but still put together a great defensive effort. The Suns shot 43 percent and did not make a three pointer in the half, and were forced into 12 turnovers. Andre Miller and company kept the Suns offense off-balance and did not allow Steve Nash to find his mates. The Suns as a whole appeared stagnant and unenthusiastic from the beginning. Perhaps Sunday night's big win over the Detroit Pistons, paired with the fact they are playing back-to-back east coast roadies, the Suns were doomed from the start.
The second half was more of the same ineptitude by the lackadaisical Suns, and more Marreese Speights. The Sixers as a whole exploited the sub par effort of Phoenix at every turn, and ran as much as possible. Here's a noble endeavor: why don't the Sixers go after a shooter at the deadline and run like the Suns used to three or four years ago? They are just as fast, if not faster, than those Suns teams of lore. They pose problems for other teams athletically, but are not a bad rebounding team like the Suns were under Mike D'Antoni. Just a thought.
But back to the game at hand. Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala teamed up with Speights and combined for 47 points of their own. 'Reese finished with a career-high 24 points in 24 minutes off the bench, and has quickly allowed for Elton Brand to fade into the background. Brand had surgery on Monday to fix the shoulder that had ailed him since December 19, and Speights made it seem like he was the nine-year veteran. On top of the 24 points, 'Reese grabbed seven boards and blocked two shots, plus hit 11 of his 16 field goal attempts. All in a days work for the rookie.
This wasn't just the Speights show either. Iggy and Thad supplied the offense, Dalembert gave them an interior presence, and Andre Miller quietly ran the show en route to the bitch slapping of PHX.
It's this balanced effort that often escaped the Sixers through the first half of the year. However, since the turn of the calendar to '09, that instability is quickly falling by the wayside, and the Sixers are playing great ball against the best. This Phoenix team was supposed to provide a true test, but it turned into a laugher. The Sixers have won 13 of their last 17 and are now two games over .500.
If the Sixers continue to run and force turnovers, they can be an absolute force. They turned 18 Phoenix turnovers into 20 points and sped out to 19 fast break points against a slow team, which helped put Phoenix to bed early. The Sixers now find themselves just three games out of the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Quite a turnaround from that 9-14 start to the year.
But that's way behind this basketball team. It's all about looking ahead, and forgetting about what could have been. It's all about what CAN BE.
Keep runnin' boys.
No comments:
Post a Comment