Philadelphia (18-64) has run into a few more snags during its restoration attempt, with Joel Embiid’s ongoing foot problems that will sideline the 2014 third overall pick for a second straight season the most troubling hurdle.
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“Law of averages”, he added wryly.
JaKarr Sampson #9 of the Philadelphia 76ers shoots the ball against the Boston Celtics on October 23, 2015 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire. Zeller was put in the torture chamber by Okafor in the first quarter.
Stevens had no doubts about what was coming next. With 19 shots in 29 minutes, Thomas had a 35.1 usage percentage, a rate * a href=”http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/advanced/?CF=MIN*E*&Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&sort=USG_PCT&dir=1″ target=”_blank” *usually reserved for the NBA’s superstars. His 6-foot runner 3:23 into the second quarter tied the game at 28. Nerlens being Nerlens next to Jah, on the other hand, now that’s something to get excited about.
And once the C’s saw that trap working, they went with it for the remainder of the game.
Stevens echoed those sentiments after the game about Thomas. “He has a basketball mind, a basketball feel, and that makes a lot of things a lot easier when you’re playing with a guy like that”. I never really think about it. When I took this job and we came back, my wife wondered how long we would do it, but we really didn’t know. The coach has confidence in me. “I don’t know how much they’ll let me, though”. “When I went through my pregame routine, I felt great knocking down shots and dunking”.
“I work on [my shot] – each and every day”, Thomas explained. “I ended up turning it into posting our bigs and go vanilla”. He’s had an up-and-down preseason, and there’s no telling what role he could play this year. The last time I talked to Flip… he was telling me how he was proud how I grew up as a player. After missing his first four shots, Thomas scored 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting over the final three quarters. “My teammates give me a lot of confidence to continue to keep shooting and to continue being aggressive”.
Brown and the 76ers did what they could.
CSN commentator Alaa Abdelnaby put it best when he said that this team isn’t looking for actual wins, they’re looking for individual wins in achievements.
“You remind the marketplace, you remind the journalists, you remind the coach and, most importantly, you remind him that you are 19 and this is going to take time”, Brown said. “It’s not hard seeing him playing 20-25 minutes per game by the end of the season considering he can play both forward positions”. But it didn’t work real well. “This is my first, so I want to experience what a big city is like”, he said. “I just try to use my speed and quickness against those type of guys”.
The Celtics are a heavy nine-point favorite at home and the Over/Under (O/U) for this matchup is set at 201 points. The head coach Stevens also loves the creative approach of Thomas in the court. He said he spent time learning about all three during the Celtics’ preseason trips to Milan, where he attended an A.C. Milan soccer game and sat next to Mario Balotelli, and Madrid. After that era Ainge once again tore the whole thing down and is now in the process of building it back up as he is stockpiling assets and trying to get the right combination of players to make the Celtics a perennial contender.
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And what percentage of that is, you know, cojones?
