reflections
December 22nd, 2006 Young Group Falls to Sixers

Andre Iguodala

The injury plagued Boston Celtics took a tough loss at home on Friday night to the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers, 98-83. There were, however, a lot of good things that came out of the this game. The team fought as hard as possible all night long, and they got some big-time contributions from some young players (Al Jefferson and Gerald Green).

Gerald Green started in place of the injured Paul Pierce, and he played very well. He played 38 minutes, scored 20 points (on 7-17 shooting, 3-6 from down town), grabbed 9 boards (ties his career high), and really made some excellent hustle plays. Green is going to be an excellent player in a couple years, and tonight (at age 20) he did an awesome job when the pressure was on.

Al Jefferson held down the middle, owned the boards, and played very effective offensive basketball. He had some trouble on the defensive end and he went for too many up-fakes, but his offensive production and rebounding production was outstanding. He finished with yet another double-double, and tied his career high in rebounds (14).

Also, some of the role players did a good job tonight as well. Delonte West played a good game off the bench. He finally seems to be finding a little bit of a rhythm with his shot, and he made some very nice passes. West finished with 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists on 5-9 shooting. Tony Allen also took it to the basket aggressively and played some nice defense in the first half. Allen finished with 12 points and 3 rebounds.

For Philadelphia, Andre Iguodala was really the man. He made some extremely clutch shots, and he had a stroke going all night long. Iguodala finished with 31 points, 4 rebounds, and 9 assists. Kevin Ollie played a great all around and efficient game, and really ran the offense well. Ollie finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Samuel Dalembert also had himself a solid night, going for 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He was excellent offensively in the first half.

Players of the Game: Al Jefferson & Gerald Green

Al Jefferson   Gerald Green

Jefferson: 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists

Green: 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3-6 3FG

I have never done multiple players of the game, but tonight was an exception due to both young studs stepping up in a big way when they needed to.

Next Game: Wednesday (12/26/06) @ Denver at 9:00 pm ET.

Posted in Uncategorized |

Leave a Reply