Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia
76ers

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Wells Fargo Center,
Philadelphia

Records: Detroit 2-4 (fourth in
Central); Philadelphia 3-2 (first in Atlantic)

Pistons probable starters:
Tayshaun Prince, 6-9, 215 (Kentucky); Jonas Jerebko, 6-10, 231
(Angelico Biella, Sweden); Greg Monroe, 6-11, 250 (Georgetown);
Austin Daye, 6-11, 200 (Gonzaga); Brandon Knight, 6-3, 189
(Kentucky).

76ers probable starters: Spencer
Hawes, 7-1, 245 (Washington); Elton Brand, 6-9, 254 (Duke); Andre
Iguodala, 6-6, 207 (Arizona); Jodie Meeks, 6-4, 208 (Kentucky); Jrue
Holiday, 6-4, 180 (UCLA).

Last game: The Pistons trailed by
double-digit margins throughout the second half of Wednesday’s 99-83
loss to Chicago. Jrue Holiday scored 14 of his 23 points in the
fourth quarter of the 76ers’ 101-93 win at New Orleans, also
Wednesday.

Fast facts: Knight gets his
first NBA start in place of Rodney Stuckey (groin), and Daye steps
into the starting lineup for Ben Gordon (absent for personal reason)
… Philadelphia is the last team in the NBA to play its home opener
after starting the season with five road games. … Every other team
in the league has played at home at least twice. … The 76ers’
leading scorer, guard Lou Williams (18.2 ppg), has not started a game
this year. … The 76ers took two out of three games against the
Pistons last year, including a 104-100 win in the April 13 season
finale here. … The 76ers rank second in the league in scoring
differential (plus-9.8 ppg), third in field-goal percentage (98.2)
and fourth in scoring average (102.6 ppg). … The Pistons share the
league lead in free-throw percentage (81.0), but rank 28 th in
scoring average (86.8 ppg).

Frank-ly speaking: “We’ll
probably stay out there and stretch a little bit. We’re probably
looking at a five-minute, six-minute window. It’s not like you’re
going to get intimidated. Julius ain’t playing tonight.” –
Lawrence Frank, on pre-game ceremonies for the 76ers’ home opener,
which are expected to include a Julius Erving appearance.

The Philadelphia 76ers picked up their first win of the 2011-12 season. They did it in impressive fashion by blowing out the Phoenix Suns 103-83. Philadelphia is now 1-1 and had momentum going. They still have three more games in this road trip and all are winnable. In beating the Suns, the 76ers once again used their depth and spread the ball around. The team had six players score between 12 and 15 points. As a 76ers fan, I enjoy the balance of this team. Still, some players put in a little more than others. Here are three standout players for the 76ers in the win over the Suns.

Evan Turner

Turner probably should have shot the ball more. He missed just three of his nine field goal attempts and finished with 12 points. After spending the offseason working on his shot, it seems clear that Turner has improved in that area. He was also great on defense. Turner finished with seven rebounds and a steal. He stayed aggressive for the 29 minutes he played. He still has room to improve but he looks like a much better player in his second season.

Andre Iguodala

Iguodala could have shot the ball more as well. He made five of his seven field goal attempts and hit all three of his shots from beyond the arc. Iguodala also had four rebounds, four steals, and six assists. He was all over the floor in this game. I would argue that he was better in this one than he was in the opener. Iguodala is playing at the pace this team needs. I hope that continues.

Spencer Hawes

Hawes narrowly missed a triple double in the season opener. In this game, he fell one point shy of a double double. Hawes had nine points and 11 rebounds in the win. He has been a rebounding machine in the first two games and that is what the 76ers need him to be. The scoring is just a bonus. Through two games, Hawes is looking like a bargain. He is playing the position better and doing the things he is supposed to be doing.

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The Philadelphia 76ers rebounded nicely after dropping their season opener. Philadelphia put together a dominant effort as they crushed the Phoenix Suns 103-83. The game was never even that close. The 76ers dominated from wire to wire and looked every bit like the team a lot of people expect them to be. As a 76ers fan, I’m glad the team is now 1-1. Hopefully, this win will carry over into the next three games. It would be nice for the 76ers to conclude their road trip with a 4-1 record.

There were six players on the team that scored in double figures. Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala, and Thaddeus Young each had 15 to lead the 76ers. Evan Turner, Jodie Meeks, and Lou Williams all scored at least 12 points. As a team, the 76ers shout 48 percent and were on point in the second half. Spencer Hawes only had nine points but he grabbed 11 rebounds. It was another strong game for the center. Rookie Nikola Vucevic saw his first action. He contributed six points and six rebounds in the game.

As a team, the 76ers did everything right in this game. They won the rebound battle. They won the turnover battle. They controlled the ball. Even though Phoenix is a down team, this is still an impressive win for the 76ers. These are the kinds of games they didn’t win before Doug Collins arrived. Now, the team knows how to put things together. That’s a sign of maturity. The 76ers are only going to get better throughout the season.

The 76ers play on consecutive nights coming up. They face the Utah Jazz on December 30 and the Golden State Warriors on December 31. Both of those games should be winnable. It will be interesting to see how Collins works the rotations knowing that the team has games on consecutive nights. I suspect we will see the deeper parts of the bench in one or both of those games. But as long as the core players continue their strong start, the 76ers will have no problem winning these games.

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PHOENIX (AP) – Andre Igoudala scored 15 points to lead six players in double figures and added six assists and the Philadelphia 76ers routed the Phoenix Suns 103-83 on Wednesday night.

Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young also scored 15 each for the Sixers, who used a 19-0 run at the beginning of the third quarter to extend a 14-point halftime lead to 67-34 with 6:44 remaining.

Ronnie Price, signed as a free agent on Dec. 13, matched a career high with 16 points, and Grant Hill and Hakim Warrick added 14 each for the Suns, who are off to a 0-2 start for the first time since 1996-97.

Philadelphia needed less than 90 seconds of the third quarter to stretch a 48-34 lead at halftime to 11 at 55-34 on Spencer Hawes’ steal and dunk with 10:34 to go in the period.

The 76ers’ fast start was aided by Steve Nash, who threw the ball away twice, missed a jump shot and took the blame as his teammates walked to the huddle after coach Alvin Gentry called time out.

But Philadelphia never missed a beat. Jodie Meeks made consecutive shots, Holiday made four straight free throws and added a pair of jump shots as the 76ers opened a 33-point lead.

Shannon Brown ended the Suns’ quarter-long scoring drought on an 18-foot jump shot with 5:48 left in the period, drawing a sarcastic cheer from the crowd.

Nash finished 2 of 11 from the floor with one assist, six turnovers and four fouls.

Notes: The Sixers have won two straight in Phoenix for the first time since 1984-85. . Meeks, who scored three points in Philadelphia’s opener at Portland, finished with nine on 4 of 6 shooting. … Phoenix’s losing streak in 1996-97 stretched to 13 games before the Suns won 40 of their last 69 to make the playoffs. . Suns forward Channing Frye had eight rebounds in eight first-quarter minutes, but sat out the entire second quarter and played only five more minutes the rest of the way. . Phoenix had two field goals over the final 5:04 of the first quarter, both by Hakim Warrick spaced nearly four minutes apart. . Sixers coach Doug Collins is 3-0 against Phoenix since taking over in Philadelphia before last season.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PHOENIX (AP) — Andre Igoudala scored 15 points to lead six players in double figures and added six assists and the Philadelphia 76ers routed the Phoenix Suns 103-83 on Wednesday night.

Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young also scored 15 each for the Sixers, who used a 19-0 run at the beginning of the third quarter to extend a 14-point halftime lead to 67-34 with 6:44 remaining.

Ronnie Price, signed as a free agent on Dec. 13, matched a career high with 16 points, and Grant Hill and Hakim Warrick added 14 each for the Suns, who are off to an 0-2 start for the first time since 1996-97.

Philadelphia needed less than 90 seconds of the third quarter to stretch a 48-34 lead at halftime to 11 at 55-34 on Spencer Hawes’ steal and dunk with 10:34 to go in the period.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

About the 76ers: Philadelphia went 2-0 against Washington in the preseason, during which Holiday led the team in scoring (18.0 average) and assists (11) while hitting 12-of-19 shots. He also hit 5-of-7 from three-point range … Coach Doug Collins was 41-41 last season, his first in Philadelphia. It was a 14-game improvement from the year before …  The bench is led by forward Thaddeus Young and guards Evan Turner and Louis Williams … Iguodala is 10 pounds lighter this season. He went scoreless, missing all six of his shots, in one of the preseason games.

About the Blazers: Portland has won 10 consecutive home openers … The Blazers have five new players: Guards Raymond Felton, Jamal Crawford and Nolan Smith and forwards Kurt Thomas and Craig Smith and three new starters from last year’s opening day lineup (Felton, Matthews, Wallace) … The Blazers were 30-11 at home last season.

Series history: The Blazers and 76ers split their two games last season, with each team
winning on its homecourt. Wesley Matthews averaged 27 points in the two
games. All-time, the 76ers lead 53-45, but the Blazers have a 30-20
advantage in games played in Portland..

Injuries: Blazers center Marcus Camby (knee) is probable. Center Greg Oden (left knee) is out. Philadelphia reports no injuries.

The Philadelphia 76ers had a pretty ordinary offseason. They re-signed Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes, and Tony Battie. The only player they lost was Jason Kapano. Basically, the 76ers are heading into the new season with the same team they had last year. As a 76ers fan, I am okay with that. But I have to wonder why the team hasn’t gotten rid of Andres Nocioni. To me, it was the one drawback of the short offseason.

The 76ers had the opportunity to use the amnesty clause on Nocioni but they didn’t do it. He is still a part of the roster and I’m not sure why. Nocioni did not play at all in the two preseason games. If a player can’t get on the floor in the preseason, I’m not sure what the team expects from him in the regular season. 76ers coach Doug Collins said he has confidence in Nocioni if he needs him. However, I can’t see the 76ers ever needing him in the upcoming season. Nocioni didn’t contribute much to the team in the 2010-11 season and I don’t see that changing.

Shedding the contract of Nocioni would have been a wise move for the 76ers. It would have given them some cap flexibility and they wouldn’t have been losing a contributor. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why the team decided not to go that route. However, it is what is at this point. Nocioni is on the roster even though a lot of fans might not know it.

Generally speaking, I trust in Collins. I believe he understands his roster better than most NBA coaches. I think he knows what he can get out of players and he knows how to drive his point home. Maybe he sees something in Nocioni that others don’t see. I have to think that is the reason. If the 76ers just waste a roster spot with this guy and don’t play him, it will turn out to be a huge mistake. Even if they do play him, I can’t see him doing enough to convince fans that he belongs on this team.

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Photo from Jon Ragnarsson via Flickr

SI.com’s wonderful Zach Lowe sat down with the Philadelphia 76ers’ wonderful Thaddeus Young for a fascinating interview over at The Point Forward. Young is coming off a career year that saw him cut down on those pesky outside jumpers and emerge as a sparkplug off the 76er bench with his athletic rim-attacking ways, playing a huge part on a defensively-oriented team that needed any offense it could get. This doesn’t stop Young from seeming very down to earth throughout the entire interview. Young covers a vast array of topics, from his impending restricted free agency and the chances it leads him to China, training with John Lucas as he strives to improve his mid-range and long-range shooting, and his first year under coach Doug Collins.

The interview should immediately be regarded as a must-read, a far cry from the depressing NBA lockout rhetoric that has dominated most talk with NBA players lately. However, the best part of the interview comes on the very last question.

SI.com: I have to say, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player more committed to the 2-for-1 concept at the end of quarters than your teammate Lou Williams.

Young: We actually have a play called “Go Lou.” It works every time. We run it when we’re taking the ball out under our own basket, on the other side of the court, and it’s pretty much just giving the ball to Lou, setting a screen and just watching him go. Sometimes we’ll discuss it at the last minute, and he’ll tell me that instead of shooting, he’ll drive inside the three-point line, bring the ball back out and have me set a screen for him so he can run a screen-and-roll.But, yeah, it’s known around the league that he loves the 2-for-1. If there are 35 seconds left, he’s getting it. Everyone knows that.

via The Point Forward » Posts Q&A with 76ers forward Thaddeus Young «.

I think it’s fairly safe to say that Go Lou is now officially the best basketball play of all time. In general, most of what revolves around Lou Williams is the best of all time – after all, Lou is basically Monta Ellis if Monta Ellis played on a team that thought he should chillax a bit, and you can’t hate anything about a chillaxed Monta Ellis. Though I would be hesitant to run Go Lou for the likes of Lou Amundson, this play is tailor made for the entertaining Williams, a bumbling pile of energy in a compressed body of insane athleticism and major tattoo work. With Lou having gained quite the reputation as a 2 for 1 enthusiast, it warms one’s heart to see that Philly plays to these strengths. As Thaddeus himself says about the play – “it always works”.

While on first thought a play such as Go Lou doesn’t fit with the notoriously uptight Collins, the opposite is true. Collins’ coaching career has revolved around taking the best players on his teams and driving them to ground, demanding that they shoulder entire offenses for seasons on end. Since these Sixers don’t have anyone nearly as dominant as Jordan on the late 80s Bulls or Grant Hill on the mid-90s Pistons, it makes perfect sense that Collins would replace his 1-on-5 offense with an ensemble of 1-on-5 offensive plays, each one of them seeing a different player take over the role of “1”.

Luckily, we at HP managed to get a hold of Doug Collins’ playbook from the past year, enabling us to discover even more hilarious isolation plays for hilarious isolation players.

Go Elton

Elton Brand gets the ball and makes an awkward mid-range jumper with a release that looks as though he’s trying to reach a really high shelf. Then everybody reminisces about how good he was before he was injured.

Go Dre

Basically, this.

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Go Jrue

Jrue Holiday sets up on the right side, while everybody else goes left. Jrue jribbles around, jrags his defender into a jrowse, jrives to the basket, and jraws the foul. Afterwards, everybody celebrates with a jrink.

Go Jodie

The ball goes to Jodie Meeks. Jodie Meeks dribbles around aimlessly for approximately two years, convincing everybody that he isn’t an NBA caliber player. Then he buries a 3 in their face.

Go Marreese

Ironically, this play doesn’t actually involve Marreese Speights at all. This play also doesn’t involve passes, ball screens, or player movement. It has no guidelines, and it has no rules. But you can be 100% sure that even though it should, on paper, be a fantastic play, it won’t reach its potential.

Go Noc

Whenever Andres Nocioni walks onto the court, everybody kindly asks him to leave.

Go Spencer

The Sixers try to run “Go Noc” for Spencer Hawes, only to realize he’s the only center on their roster. Spencer Hawes turns the ball over. Everybody becomes sad.

A bunch of Philadelphia 76ers got together in Los Angles over the weekend to workout together. We’d love to tell you it’s a pre-training camp get together, but we all know better than that.

Still, a good turnout of the starting five of the Sixers and the first guy off the bench last year — Elton Brand, Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Jodie Meeks, Spencer Hawes and Craig Brackins.

And you can see some good signs at these workouts.

Elton Brand did. That’s what he told Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com.

“I see a lot of improvement in Jodie, Evan and Spencer,” Brand acknowledged. “Evan is looking more athletic. Spencer is running the floor better and Jodie, believe it or not, is even shooting better. Guys are really growing.”

“Spencer does look a lot more lean. Evan looks more fit too and stronger,” Holiday said, echoing Brand’s comments. “A lot of guys just do what they do like Lou who came out here and just lit it up. But it really is good that we could meet in one place. Our team just has such good chemistry.”

Those are things that should make you happy, Sixers fans. Especially if there is a season.

The Seattle SuperSonics disappeared back in 2008, when the franchise moved to Oklahoma City and dropped their name. Fans of the team aren’t done mourning the move, but few have gone as far as Washington native and Philadelphia 76ers big man Spencer Hawes(notes) — because the dude just went and had an image of Seattle’s Space Needle shaved into the back of his head.

Hawes unveiled the look at the H206 Charity Basketball Classic in Seattle on Saturday. Former SuperSonics beat writer Percy Allen was there to document the scene:

The former Washington Husky and Seattle Prep star, who shaved a silhouette of the Space Needle on the back of his head for this game, led a KeyArena crowd of 5,070 in a postgame rally cry.

“I just want to leave y’all with one last thing,” Hawes shouted. “Come home, Sonics! Come home, Sonics!”

The SuperSonics won’t be coming home anytime soon, because the Thunder have been a rousing success in Oklahoma City. But if the area can put together enough cash to cobble together a new arena, it would be hard to think of a more NBA-ready city than Seattle.

Hat-tip to SB Nation Seattle.

Related: Spencer Hawes, Philadelphia 76ers