The Magic's strategy is to go after Thad

[LongLiveHinkie]

On WIP Sixers beat writer Tom Moore called in. He said said that when he was at the game he found out that Van Gundy told his players and ran plays specifically to go after Thad. He said the last play was designed specifically to get the ball to the player Thad was guarding. It wasn't specifically designed for Hedo.

They think Thad has some growing pains and they can expose him on defense with his youth. This was a good strategy because he's headsy, but he makes some mistakes on defense and has throughout the year that has cost us games. There was no excuse for playing off Hedo.

Anyway, I expect they continue to do this until the Sixers find an answer. Let's hope we do. Not just for Thad, but we need ways to get easy baskets. They are daring us to shoot the 3 and we can't make them pay.

[83SixersRocked]

They almost blew it then. If the 6ers hadnt switched on that pick Turk wouldnt have had Thad guarding him.

[dbodner]

Thad's played tremendous defense this series. That one play, while big, doesn't change that.

To me it looked like Thad was slowed down after he hurt his ankle in the 3rd. It'll be interesting to see if that lingers at all.

[Philly_King]

On WIP Sixers beat writer Tom Moore called in. He said said that when he was at the game he found out that Van Gundy told his players and ran plays specifically to go after Thad. He said the last play was designed specifically to get the ball to the player Thad was guarding. It wasn't specifically designed for Hedo.

Of course it was specifically designed for Hedo. That's why Lewis came with the screen which forced Iggy to switch on Shard and Thad on Hedo.

They think Thad has some growing pains and they can expose him on defense with his youth. This was a good strategy because he's headsy, but he makes some mistakes on defense and has throughout the year that has cost us games. There was no excuse for playing off Hedo.

I agree. Thad should've played him a lot tighter, especially when it was obvious he was going to settle for the J.

Anyway, I expect they continue to do this until the Sixers find an answer. Let's hope we do. Not just for Thad, but we need ways to get easy baskets. They are daring us to shoot the 3 and we can't make them pay.

Huh? What series are you watching?

[LongLiveHinkie]

The Sixers 3 PT % is a misleading stat. They've shot well in spurts, but not consistently, and haven't been able to consistently knock down perimeter shots in the 4th quarter. Since game 1.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

3pt shots, even for the Magic. Consist of only 20-to-30 percent of the offense. It can be negated by playing generally well. Which is why we've won two games.

Let's look back at game 2, the 2nd game we lost:

Miller:30 Pts
Iggy: 21 pts
Thad:20 pts

Good day right? Except for Andre Miller's assists(3).

That and Iguodala's dissapperance in the first half, which can be contributed to exactly that fact: He probably only shot 3 times, touched the ball about 7 times in that half.

Consistant playmaking from the big 3 is neccessary. Not to mention the lack of bench use.

Whether DiLeo likes it or not, we'll need the energy of Speights downlow.

[9th Wonder]

Thad's played tremendous defense this series. That one play, while big, doesn't change that.

He and Iggy have been great against Lewis and Turk. The fact that they can easily switch and still maintain a favourable match up is big advantage.

Yes, in an ideal world Iggy would have been defending that last shot, but I've been very happy with the defence coming from the 3-4 spots.

[Just Plain Mark]

This is interesting because what Mr. Moore is saying directly contradicts what SVG said in his post game interview. He was directly asked if he knew th 76er's would switch and he said he didn't know. Now, he could be telling a different story to keep his strategy under wraps, but generally, he's a pretty blunt, honest guy.

I've thought that Thad has played pretty good defense this series, FWIW.