| Sixers Lose To Kings In Webber’s Debut Authored by Jim Serratore - February 27, 2005 - 4:25 pm
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With only a few seconds remaining, Allen Iverson found himself on the foul line for one last shot and the Sixers trailing by two. The only option was the old “miss it on purpose and hope my teammates can come up with the rebound” play. Iverson couldn’t have missed it any better. The ball rolled off the rim and landed comfortably in Webber’s outstretched hands. But the buzzer sounded after his rushed putback attempt landed just inches short of sending the game into overtime.
Webber’s first game as a member of the Sixers had its fair share of highlights. Unfortunately, for Sixers fans, the biggest one of them all came courtesy of Cuttino Mobley and his go-ahead trey in the fourth. On the night when Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner made their strange homecoming to Philadelphia - the city that they never really got to leave yet - after being traded for Chris Webber, it was the homegrown Philly product Mobley who stole the show with a special homecoming of his own. Mobley finished as one of six Kings to score in double figures with 17 points.
Webber got off to a nearly perfect start in his much anticipated debut. The five time All-Star hit his first two shots as the Sixers exploded for an 11-2 lead. He finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Unofficially, thanks in large part to the sold-out Wachovia Center crowd, Webber managed to give Iverson, T.O. and Smarty Jones a run for their money as the most popular Philly athlete of the year.
In the end, the new dynamic duo, Webber and Iverson, left plenty of room for improvement. They combined to shoot just 17 for 46; barely 37 percent. There probably won’t be too many nights in the future where at least one of the two fails to dominate. In their first game together, neither seemed to be able get completely on track though.
Iverson once again showed his ability to be a lethal weapon at point guard, only now it’s for a team with another bona fide super star. With Webber on his side he must have felt like All-Star Weekend never ended. The only highlight of an otherwise unspectacular box score was Iverson’s 14 assists, at least half of which, it felt, were alley oops to Iguodala and Dalembert, while everyone on the Kings was busy paying too much attention to Webber and him.
No doubt the attention paid to Iverson and Webber left the rest of the Sixers with plenty of room to roam, both inside and out. None benefited more than Andre Iguodala who more than doubled his season average with 18 points. Before Kyle Korver fell victim to foul trouble from trying to bang against Williamson down low he got open for a trio of three balls.
With All-Star small forward Peja Stojakovic resting a strained hamstring and wearing a strange looking Euro suit on the sideline, Kings coach Rick Adelman chose to replace him in the starting lineup with Corliss Williamson. That left Korver with a major size disadvantage to deal with. Basically, Williamson played his typical physical, bruiser style and Korver ended up getting a lot more personal attention from the baseline ref than he ever wanted. The refs didn’t really seem to care that Korver was giving away more than 35 pounds to Williamson; they just kept blowing the whistle anyway.
The new starting lineup is both highly skilled and athletic with the addition of Webber. Before Webber it was just athletic. The fast pace style that worked so well in the first half appeared to get lost in the shuffle every time O’Brien went to his bench. Marc Jackson, Rodney Rogers and Aaron McKie were expected to complete the Sixers eight man rotation, and indeed they did. Unfortunately, whenever the starters left the court for a breather, the speed of the Sixers offense went from Ferrari to School Bus. It will be interesting to see whether John Salmons and/or Willie Green earn a spot in the regular rotation. Their speed and athleticism on the perimeter are definitely missing with both guys stuck on the injured list.
In ending, a few words on the triumphant return of Kenny Thomas. First of all, he ruined the night of many Sixers fans by playing his tail off and matching Webber with a double-double of his own- 16 points and 10 boards in 30 minutes off the bench. Second and even more annoying was the fact that Thomas had to hear so much hate from Sixers fans who seemingly couldn’t wait to pick on him. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t feel the need to build a candle light vigil when I heard he was traded for Webber. However, I also decided it wasn’t fair to be mad at him just because he never turned into the star compliment that Iverson and Sixers fans have restlessly been waiting nine years for. It also isn’t his fault that the Sixers tried to sell themselves as a contender this year, when in reality they were nothing more than a work in progress with a few more holes to fill. Thomas will probably get a lot more out of his abilities playing with Mike Bibby in Sacramento than he did playing with Iverson in Philly. And if his name ends up on a Western Conference All-Star roster in the next couple years, don’t be surprised when the same fans who booed him in his return are the ones complaining that Billy King chose to let him go.
Thoughts From The Clouds:
The entire pre-game scene looked like a big high school reunion as players from both teams crossed mid-court to give hugs to all their new ex-teammates. Thank god hockey season was cancelled. If anything like that had happened at a Flyers game, Brashear would’ve had a full-fledged bench clearing brawl started after the first high five.
Forgive Chris Webber if he was a little extra tired during the game. If he was, it wasn’t his fault. Not only was he trying to keep up with Iverson all night, but as soon as he hit the court for pre-game warm-ups he found out he would be required to give the High-Five-Handshake-and-Hug combo to every player on BOTH teams. That isn’t easy.
There are few things more comical than one particular little scene that took place during warm-ups. Webber’s ex-teammates each looked like a kid on Christmas as he went out of his way to find C-Webb and give him a big hug. Then, one by one, they would remember, just before returning to the Kings half of the court, to go back and give Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes the obligatory “courtesy hug.”
At one point during warm-ups, I think I actually checked the date on my watch to make sure it was still 2005. For some reason the Kings were all running up to Webber like it was the first time they had seen each other in years. By the way, just for the record, Webber was traded less than 72 hours before game time.
I couldn’t help but wonder during warm-ups if Bradley and Barnes actually thought they were getting off the bench in this game. So much for letting guys play against their old team for sentimental value. O’Brien couldn’t care less about that stuff. I thought Bradley might have sensed it was going to be a long, uneventful night when he went through the lay-up line looking like a J.V. kid who gets the “courtesy promotion” to varsity for the biggest game of the year.
Corliss Williamson heard nothing but cheers every time his name was announced to the Philly faithful. As for Brian Skinner, I don’t think many Sixers fans realize he was ever on their team in the first place. Kenny Thomas, on the other hand, heard so many jeers he must have felt like an Israeli in a room full of Palestinians.
Finally, now that Rodney Rogers is playing for Jim O’Brien again, can’t we just save time and refer to O’Brien as “Parcells” and to Rogers as “A Parcells Guy”?
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