Don't blame the refs

Sure, it appears to me they started the clock about a half second late on a Devin Harris buzzer beater that left his hands with a tenth of a second left.

And yeah, the shot was quite frankly luck. Andre Iguodala was playing great defense, even knocking the ball out of Harris's hands, leaving Harris with just enough time to push a half-court shot towards the rim, that somehow went in.

But the Sixers deserved to lose this one. The half-court shot made it tragic, but the missed free throws and inability to defend the 3 made it possible.

For as good as the Sixers looked in the first quarter, they were inept (on both ends of the court) in the second.

Iguodala had a nice bounceback game after struggling the previous two. One thing I've been fairly impressed with in Iguodala's play this year is his ability to keep his turnovers in check, especially when considering his role in creating opportunities for his teammates. A 2/1 assist to turnover ratio for a wing player with his assist numbers is impressive, and the Sixers ability to win the turnover battle is one of the few facets of the game they've been able to consistently hang their hat on. After struggling his first year or so as a top option with turnovers, ever since the second half of last year he's doing a really good job of that.

Willie Green also had a nice game, carrying the Sixers early. And Dalembert was downright dominant defensively in the early going as well. It would be nice if those two could do that two games in a row (at times, even two quarters in a row).

Miller had a nice statistical game, but boy am I sick of seeing Devin Harris have big games against us. The 27/8 in early December was bad enough. This was brutal. It's no surprise that Miller has trouble staying in front of someone as lightning quick as Harris, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

We have got to get more production out of the bench. Ivey (except for a a nice defensive stand on Harris late in the game) was a liability on both ends of the court. For a guy who takes such a high percentage of his shots as 3 pointers, his inconsistency limits his effectiveness. While he looked like he might have been an improved 3 point shooter in January, he's quickly reverting to the norm. A while back I posted how Ivey was slowly winning me over, but every doubt I had about him being in the regular rotation is slowly returning.

Similarly, Evans was a net-negative. Reggie's great fun to watch at times, but he's extreme dead weight on the offensive end, and a terribly overrated man-man defender. I would like to see Speights get a consistent 25 minutes per night, and Reggie getting spot minutes to provide some energy and maybe be a spark. Whenever Reggie gets near 20 minutes, his deficiencies show in spades.

14 missed free throws. 12 made three's by the opposition. The refs didn't miss the free throws or hit the 3's. Focus on that, not the lucky buzzer beater, as they have much more relevance on the remainder of this season and the playoff push. With the Sixers road heavy schedule coming up, there could be some tough times ahead.