Nov 06 2008
Flyers and Sixers fall on the road
Tonight was a bad night for Philadelphia sports. The Flyers got flattened by the Senators in Ottawa and the Sixers disappeared against the Magic in Orlando. Let’s start with hockey. The Flyers game was over pretty early because they came out so flat. Anton Volchenkov opened the scoring 8:49 into the first and Dany Heatley scored his for the fifth straight game 3:53 later to make it 2-0. The goal was Heatly’s ninth of the year. It was disgusting that the Sens outshot the Flyers 12-3 in the first period. Really, guys? You could only manage three shots in twenty minutes? It’s pathetic how bad they get out-worked by their opponents.
Arron Asham scored his first goal in his past 33 regular season games to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Jesse Winchester netted his first NHL goal to push the lead 3-1 and the wind was permanently taken out of Philly’s sails. Chris Neil added an empty netter late in the third to ice the 4-1 win for Ottawa. The Broad Street Bullies played a lot better after the first, but they still are having trouble scoring and beating decent teams. They need to start playing better soon. Maybe signing Brendan Shanahan could do something to light a fire under this team. Who knows? The Flyers return to the ice on Saturday night at the Wachovia Center when the Lightning comes to town. Hopefully, the Lightning will leave Philly the same way that the Rays left–with a loss.
Now let’s talk Sixers, who still couldn’t get a win despite Dwight Howard being in foul trouble all night. That makes three of their four losses by double-digits. Pathetic. I mean, they got blown out in the first quarter and won the other three quarters by four points, so that’s not a recipe for a win. Once again, Thaddeus Young led the way with 19 points. The kid just gets buckets. Andre Iguodala finally had a good game with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Sammy D had a double-double with 10 and 14 with 2 blocks. Andre Miller chipped in 15 but only two assists, probably due to Iggy’s eight. Elton Brand had a typical Dalembert night with 6 and 12. Not the type of line you want from an $83 million dollar player. The Sixers didn’t really get much from their bench tonight, but I would have liked to see Marreese Speights play more than 4+ minutes.
Every Orlando starter was in double figures with Hedo “Who knew I was 6-10″ Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis leading the way with 20 each. Jameer Nelson tallied 16 with 9 dimes. Dwight Howard and Mickael Pietrus had a bunch of dunks. Either way, not a great night for the Sixers. Bill Simmons was right that reuniting the two best players from the 2002-2003 Los Angeles Clippers, a team that went 27-55, was a very bad idea. The Sixers return home on Tuesday to take on a good Utah Jazz team. Probably another loss for this overrated Philly squad.
