Huge win, huge dunks, huge grandma glasses.
Game Recap
Toronto demolished Philadelphia by a score of 120-88. DeRozan was awesome. Ross was great. James Johnson ended some random Sixers’ career before Sam Hinkie could end it for him (for a future second-round pick, of course). Hugs and daps all around to the Raptors for not taking their opponents lightly.
The win pushes Toronto into a three-way tie for the league’s best record at 6-1. The lopsidedness of the win also bumped up the Raptors’ plus-minus on the season to +11.3 per game, tops in the league.
There’s not much else to say. Raptors good. Sixers bad.
Thoughts on the Sixers
Now if you will allow, I want to speak my peace on the Sixers.
You have to hand it to the Sixers. It takes a lot of balls to tank this blatantly. There is a legitimate chance that this team could set a new NBA record for futility, which is ironically already owned by the Sixers.
There’s a sick ingenuity to their plan. Having monopolized the draft through hook and by crook, the Sixers managed to keep their cap clean, and boast a bounty of prospects and picks. They could become anything.
If they wanted to, the Sixers could cash in all at once and rebuild overnight. They lived through the struggle so another team didn’t have to. Say, in a few years, the next Kevin Love or Dwight Howard – whatever disgruntled superstar of the day – becomes available. The Sixers could trade in their blue chippers and get off the schnide. In effect, they are renting out misery for the hope of a better tomorrow.
Or, they could simply hold onto their prospects and cash in. A core of Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Michael Carter-Williams and whichever prospect they land next summer would rival that of any other team. They could take the bird in the hand, or the two in the bush. Either way, the future looks bright.
That plan is well and good on paper. It might work, or it might not. Either way, it’s the decision that Sixers ownership and management chose.
But I do want to say a peace for their fanbase, of whom are bearing the full brunt of losing. Whether fans like it or not, the Sixers’ plan is being thrust upon them. Each loss, each fill-in Brandon Davies, each future-for-now-Thaddeus-Young-for-a-middling-pick trade is a bitter pill imposed on the Sixers’ paying customers.
It’s not that the Sixers are unique in their decision to rebuild. Plenty of teams have, and are, employing this very strategy in hopes of a come up. I’m not slagging the Sixers for their choice. It’s probably the best move for their future.
Rather, I’m denouncing the unflinching fashion in which they have chose to employ this strategy. A fanbase and its team are one in the same. They’re supposed to be pulling in the same direction.
But that’s not what the Sixers are doing. They haven’t made a single concession to their fans. Not one. Not one legitimate NBA player signed this offseason. Ticket prices weren’t lowered. Fans don’t even get to watch the fruit bore from last season’s impotence, as Joel Embiid is out for the year with a broken foot and Dario Saric is trapped overseas. Not one concession. The Sixers have the fanbase by the ears, and are willing to drag the fans kicking and screaming to whatever promise land may lay ahead.
Again, I want to reiterate the positives in the Sixers’ plan. Given their situation when Hinkie and a new management group took over, the path beneath their feet is absolutely the correct one. It’s the ruthlessness that I take exception to. Sixers management is dictating to fans when games matter, and when winning matters. That’s fundamentally wrong. Fans, players and coaches decide when games matter, and to have it robbed from them is wrong.
And at the very least, don’t make jokes about the situation. Seriously. Y’all just lost by 32 and your own Twitter account is making jokes? Come on.
Hold on we’re going home. pic.twitter.com/7GwFIl6qBY
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) November 10, 2014
Miscellaneous
Terrence Ross and confidence
It’s nice to see Terrence Ross breaking out of late. When he’s engaged in the offense, his defense follows suit. He’s the bridge that takes the Raptors from good to great. When he is confident, his mind is set to attack, rather than his default placidity. Shots like the one below isn’t good in the abstract, but it signals Ross’s confidence, which is so very good for the Raptors.
DeRozan’s hard work paying off
DeRozan’s post-game is really emerging as a legitimate weapon. He can bully smaller guards on the mid-block and create a decent shot whenever he wants. His footwork is much improved, which led to improved balance. The improved balance has allowed DeRozan to more easily generate separation on his fadeaways, allowing him to make plays like this.
Act like we’ve been there
I’m noticing a trend. After every loss, the comment sections flare up, searching for sacrificial lambs. Questions about the team’s long-term success gets called into question. Conversely, after wins, comment sections light up in positivity, the team is hailed as one of the elite in this league, daps all over.
The point isn’t to not react. That’s what we’re supposed to do. I’m a fan like everyone else and we ride on the emotional roller-coaster together.
But we should aspire to the attitude of “act like we’ve been there, even if we haven’t,” because it really does apply. All this success is new to us, and we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’re not an elite team just yet, nor is the squad fundamentally doomed to fail. It’s early in the season, and as much as we would like to yell and scream, let’s keep perspective. Plenty can change between now and the playoffs. If we’re going to yell and scream after every game, we’ll be exhausted come time for playoffs.
Drake
Let’s just take a second to appreciate that Drake chooses to lay his head in our bed. We’re truly #blessed to call him our own.
Apologies for the incoherent and sloppy writing. It’s 3 a.m. and there really isn’t much to be said about the Sixers. Raptors won, as they should have. Good on them for taking care of business.
