Kings vs Sixers Recap: Mixe...

After the first half, I was amazed at the job Jrue Holiday was doing on Evans (and, to a lesser extent, Martin). I thought Iverson was doing a bad job of contesting Martin's shots, and I didn't like the job Lou was doing denying dribble penetration to Evans. Despite the fact that Evans was struggling, he was getting into the paint at will, evidenced by how frequently he was getting to the line. His missed shots wasn't an indication of how poorly Williams was playing defensively, in my opinion.

Then two things happened.

First, Iguodala got hurt. Never a good thing, but it forced Jordan to move Young to SF, which forced him to play a legitimate big man at the PF spot. The Sixers were +12 in the game when they had a "big" frontcourt.

Second, Jrue Holiday came in. During Jrue Holiday's roughly 8 minutes and 40 seconds on the court during his first stint in the game, The Kings shot 2-13 and committed 7 turnovers during that span, and the Sixers went on a 19-9 run. This is when the Sixers took control of the game, and it was directly attributable to Jrue Holiday's defense, his ability to run the break, and his passing. He was phenomenal without scoring a point. He kept Evans out of the lane, played great off the ball defense by denying him the ball, and forced turnovers which he then converted into transition opportunities (anyone remember that GREAT find when he whizzed the ball past Dalembert and Ime Udoka's head to a streaking Young for a bucket?). The defense was suffocating, the transition game was working, and the offense was efficient. 19 points in under 9 minutes of game time is great production (contrary to what Jordan would say after the game).

Remember when Kevin Martin drove right, tried to spin left, and Holiday anticipated the move and forced him into committing a turnover? He's the only point guard on our roster who doesn't get burned there.

Heading into the second half, I thought to myself "wow, Jrue did a really good job there. But we haven't seen a big lineup with Andre at the 2. If we could do that, and play that group with Jrue at the point, we could really cause problems for the Kings".

I guess, with Eddie Jordan, 1 out of 2 ain't bad.

Heading down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Jordan went with Iguodala at the 2 for most of the final 10 minutes, increasing a 4 point lead to 12 by the time the final horn sounded. The lineup was effective, with the Kings scoring only 13 points in the final 10+ minutes, with Iguodala harassing Evans and Martin into tough shots.

But what did it come at the expense of? Jrue Holiday. The guard who played tremendously in the first half didn't sniff the court in the second, instead seeing the struggling Louis Williams and Willie Green (who didn't play in the first half) eat up the majority of the minutes down the stretch. Curious, to say the least. Once again, Jordan's rotations astound me. It would be one thing if Williams was playing well and Jrue was struggling, but it was quite the opposite.

Had Jrue made a shot or two, maybe it's a different story. I guess how well the team was playing, fueled by Jrue's defense and passing, doesn't go into the equation when Jordan is figuring out his rotations. Louis Williams scored 11 points (on 15 shots), ergo Williams is given the nod down the stretch. If you see Jrue in the future jacking up contested twenty footers early in the shot clock, you know why. He's just trying to see playing time in the second half, and shooting the ball is how you do so with this coach.

Does that ruin my enjoyment of the night? Definitely not. But it is frustrating. After watching Jrue perform a defensive clinic in the first half I was excited to see how he would do in the second, particularly if paired up with Iguodala to form a killer defensive guard rotation.

Quick Thoughts:

• Despite Thad's struggles, I actually see room for hope. His handles, to me, seem to be improving, and he's having more effectiveness going right. He's still only 21, I'm certainly very hopeful for his game going forward.
  
• Similarly, he made some nice passes. If he does improve his ballhandling ability, I think he might become a competent creator.
  
• Speights's rebounding the past two games has been somewhat improved, particularly defensively.
  
• Lou Williams was letting Evans into the paint at will. Evans missed some shots, mostly due to weakside help (Thad had a GREAT block, and Dalembert was everywhere again), but the difference between when Lou and Jrue was on him was readily evident.
  
• Similarly, Kevin Martin's aggressiveness when Iverson was on him was worlds different than when Iguodala or Jrue was on him. Our team defense will improve considerably once Jrue is developed enough to warrant starters minutes. He is our future PG, I have no doubt.
  
• Outside of on the ball defense, Jrue's worlds better than both Iverson and Williams playing off the ball. Both lost their man quite a bit last night. When they try to recover? Over-pursue and open a driving lane.
  
• Why does Williams avoid contact after he gets a defender to bite on a pump fake? It happens all the time. Rather than draw the easy foul he avoids contact and either passes away or shoots a contested jumper.
  
• Jrue's a much better fast-break point guard than Williams. His vision and patience on the break is great.
  
• The defense, particularly during that stretch in the second and through the 4th, was good.
  
• Turnovers were huge, as we did both a good job of forcing them and of taking care of the ball.
  
• Thaddeus Young broke out in a big way, and the Sixers were +16 while he was on the court, -4 in the 13 minutes he was on the bench.
  
• I'm curious about Jrue's availability for Monday's game. I assume the injury must be pretty serious. I mean, Iguodala sprained his ankle pretty good, sat out 7 minutes, and then didn't sit for the remainder of the game. For Jrue to have sat the entire second half after putting on a defensive clinic his foot must have darned near fallen off.
  
• Speaking of Iguodala, maybe not the best boxscore game (shot 4-13, although he did contribute 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks), but he was tremendous, particularly considering how obviously hobbled he was after the ankle injury. His defense was superb, and he contributed in many ways. I'm worried about how the ankle holds up after some rest. His availability (unlike the sarcastic comment about Jrue) for Monday is of concern to me.
  

Of concern, from Jordan after the game:
"We've just been working on it (defense). We spend a lot of time on it, and maybe that's why our offense is suffering a little bit ... I don't like our offense to struggle like it's been doing somewhat. But the defense was imperative that we improve."

The amazing thing? The Sixers had an above average game offensively, with an offensive rating of 107.8. Jordan talked about needing balance (between offense and defense), and how he doesn't like sacrificing defense. The thing is, he had balance. He just too oblivious to see anything other than his offensive system.

Overall, what I thought would be a tough matchup turned out to be a good win. I'm very happy we played a big-guard lineup down the stretch, I just wish it wasn't at the expense of Jrue, who played great in the first half.

Links:
Boxscore and Rotations
Sacramento Team Page
Next Game: Mon, Jan 18th @Minnesota
Player of the Game: Thaddeus Young. 20 points on 14 shots, and he was aggressive going to the basket, and even played some inspired defense at times. Sammy D with co-player of the game.