Alright everyone, here is my assessment after watching the game tonight (warning - it will be lengthy!) ;P
Hawks were hot in the first quarter, but the sixers helped them to be "hotter" by being terrible in defending one on one and effectively defending on-ball screens (and lots of off the ball picks!). McKee for the Hawks tore us apart, and the Hawks couldn't miss when they had a hand in their face or when they were left wide open because of a defensive miscommunication.
Things started to go down hill half way through the first and it was pretty ugly up until halfway through the second until Cortez saved the day. He scored 8 straight points in about a minute from two threes and a jumpshot. He had some other nice buckets in the game, and I was impressed with his solid D and the fact he didn't force his offence or throw up crap shots. If he plays like he did tonight all season he'll be a good fit.
We also got smashed on the boards in the first half and were unlucky as they had a few just fall into their hands on lucky rolls or mistimings on our part. We certainly could've boxed out much better though. It really highlighted how much we were missing Burston, but the Hawks were also missing the big B and Larry D. Tim Cooenrad(?) couldn't miss when he was on in the second - where the heck has he come from?? - and the midget man himself (someone help me out with his name?), stabbed us in the heart with a 3pt on the half time buzzer - it even looked like a set play for him! Darren hit a few nice shots to keep us in the game with Cortez in the 2nd too.
The third saw us come out much more aggressive in a zone defence. Actually, now that I think about it, the zone started in the second qtr, so we certainly got a lot more boards and were able to push the ball on the break. The 3rd saw us go back to man and we were more switched on, and got hands in the lanes and some transition buckets. Again, there were some basic errors in d by not switching on the on ball screen or rotating or communicating who was doing what (or just getting it right!) - it was really just poor communication - but since the team hasn't been together too much, you would hope that improves quickly, because again, that led to some wide open shots everywhere.
Tragardth was a gun all night - man he has sweet moves and a sweet shot! We didn't get Ballinger the ball nearly enough - he is unstoppable when he is one on one in the low block. He probably wouldn't have had more than 10 shots for the game. Pretty poor.
Herbert hit some nice early threes but didn't get many more looks for the rest of the game. Holmes shot very well all night and probably ended up with 15? Gilchrist - man, he is good. He burnt McKee a beauty on what would have made Mahersy jealous with the length (in time) of his stutter step drive to the hole move on one iso play. The other things is, if he is isolated above the three point line, there is no one that can stop him going to the rim. He is way too fast and has the moves. He hit some nice threes too.
I was impressed with Tom Garlepp too. He doesn't look anything special, but he gets the job done, plays hard, is very confident in his offensive ability and can hit open shots. Cooper was solid and was hard done by with some very soft foul calls. Molitor didn't see any time at all.
The lead ballooned out to 20 again during the third, but we got it back to 14 for the start of the 4th. It seemed like everytime we strung some buckets together to go on a mini run, they would hit a few tough shots, get a soft foul call or a loose ball would end up in their hands. That all changed in the fourth where things finally went our way, we got steals, we made tough shots and cleaned up well on the glass. Garlepp hit a 3 to tie it up at 90, then they hit a shot and after a no score play by us, they hit two free throws to go up by four. Balls then hit two free throws and Gilchrist did the impossible and almost stole the inbounds pass but forced a turnover as the ball deflected off McKeee for Sixers ball with about 17 secs left. Balls had a wide open 3 to win it with 11 secs left, but missed, then we fouled Sav where he missed the first and hit the second to put them up by 3. Gilchrist went solo and created space for a good look at a three but it was short and game over. He was not happy with himself!
Good turn out by the locals and a good job done by Skip and Bonz with the music and MC'ing. Man I forget how much I love Danger Zone!! ;P
I know that was lengthy and all over the place, but it's been too long since I've seen the sixers in action and it was great to see the new signings in sixers singlets!
