Sixers vs Blazers mini-recap

Isn't that sad? Last night was a "good" game. They lost at home to a team missing its best two centers, and whose superstar player didn't play in the second half, and this was a good game. It could have been worse. It could have been Minnesota.

Sure, the miniature backcourt was used far too much, particularly in the first half. Having Williams and Iverson on the court at the same time when Andre Miller and Brandon Roy are on the court ensures Miller will have one of the two on him at all times. The number of times Miller was able to exploit this was comical, stopped only by his teammates not getting him the ball as much as they could have.

And yeah, it was odd to see Lou Williams get benched for the final 14+ minutes, particularly after he accumulated seven assists to 1 turnover.

And yeah, the Jrue Holiday/Lou Williams/Willie Green trio being on the court at the same time provided one of those "how the hell did he think this was going to be a good idea" moments.

And where was Rodney Carney? With Willie Green having an off night, it might have been a decent time to throw something different out there. Eddie Jordan sure has no problem changing up the rotation at halftime when it's working (see the previous two games with Jrue Holiday for examples), but when it's not working, he sticks with it.

But these are all decisions I've come to expect from Eddie Jordan. This is how low my expectations are.

As for how Holiday played, I thought it was a mixed bag. Obviously, two things stick out that aren't necessarily the norm. First, his scoring. It's probably unfair to expect 10 points in 23 minutes, but this was undoubtedly the reason Jordan gave him some second half burn. Second, the turnovers. As for his defense? It was superb with a dash of rookie mistakes. Sometimes Jrue's great physical gifts can overcome some rookie mistakes, but playing against someone as quick as Bayles, he was burned a few times because of them. But there were moments of brilliance, perhaps most notably the jump ball he forced on Andre Miller's drive.

In the last 5 games, Jrue is leading the team in assists per minute, second in rebounds, and first in +/-:

Links:

Boxscore

Last 5 games