Monday, April 18, 2011

Heat spank Sixers in Game 2

To beat the Heat, the Sixers need to play a nearly flawless game. They need to contain LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, they can't turn the ball over and they need to hit their shots. None of the above happened for the Sixers in Game 2 against the Heat as they lost 94-73.

It was over fairly early on for the Sixers as they started cold from the field, shooting 25.6% in the first half, and never recovered despite shooting slightly better in the second half. The Sixers simply don't have anyone besides Jodie Meeks that you can trust to hit a shot outside of 15 feet, and with Meeks not getting many open looks, the Heat defense was able to collapse and contest everything near the basket. Andre Iguodala once again came up small for the Sixers offensively, shooting 2 for 8 with just 5 points on the night.

On top of the poor shooting, the Sixers also struggled to guard anyone on the Heat, allowing Wade, James and Chris Bosh to score a combined 64 points while playing fewer minutes than they did in Game 1. While Evan Turner came off the bench and gave the Sixers a spark offensively, he repeatedly looked foolish as Wade and LeBron schooled Turner for easy baskets. Much was made before the series about how bad of a matchup the Heat are for the Sixers and that has so far been the case.

With the series now shifting to Philadelphia, the Sixers face quite an uphill battle to get back into the series. Normally, a series doesn't really start until someone wins a game on the road, but with how badly the Heat outclassed the Sixers in Game 2, it doesn't look promising for the Sixers to even win a single game. It's looking more and more like the only thing the Sixers are going to get out of the playoffs this year is experience.
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

No comments: