MVN: Most Valuable Network

The Sixers have an off-day Monday before traveling to Dallas for a 8:30pm Eastern tip off on Tuesday.  Wednesday night's game is in New Orleans for a rematch with the Hornets.  This recap of Sunday's debacle gives a rundown of what is working and what isn't working.  It left an uncomfortable probing sensation to watch this, by the way (thanks, Ryan!).

It might have been Autism Awareness Night, but Mo Cheeks appeared to commemorate the evening with his brand of coaching.  The Sixers had no answers to whatever the Hornets threw at them.  It seemed like the Sixers plan was to ride the two inch size advantage that Andre Miller had over Chris Paul.

To be fair, the Hornets are a tough matchup for anyone.  They have one of the game's most versatile and long forwards in David West.  He creates all types of matchup problems and should have given Mo second thoughts about going to a small lineup of Iguodala and Korver at forward.  Iguodala actually played West the best, while Evans did what he does to offer resistance.  As if they didn't have their hands full with West, Peja Stojakovic presents matchup problems of his own with his height at the 3.  Iguodala can't guard them both at the same time.

Not only did Mo employ a small lineup when he went to the bench, but he got burned with it as well.  Korver left Peja open on the perimeter to help out down low and when Chris Paul kicked it out, Peja was wide open to drain a three.  This all came during the decisive run in the third quarter.  Korver had no business leaving Peja and the sharpshooter made him pay.

Despite the disadvantage they had guarding the opposing forwards, the Sixers could have overcome that if they exposed Peja as the defensive liability he is.  On a few occasions, Iguodala drove the lane and penetrated all the way to the hoop.  The Sixers started out the second half with Iguodala facilatating the offense from the perimeter while trying to create opportunities for Miller off the ball, but they squandered those opportunities with Miller getting trapped out on the high wing and not giving him the passing lanes to operate.  The better option would've been to let Iguodala break down the defense by himself and create opportunites for his teammates in the process.

On the positive side, Sam Dalembert continues to play well and shows no ill affects of the stress fracture he suffered to his left foot this summer.  He outplayed Hornets' pivot Tyson Chandler, who also played this summer for Team USA.  Sammy had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks on Sunday and is getting better with each game.  He also had the best +/- of every Sixers player with a minus 2 in a 21 point loss.

Also on the bright side, Thaddeus Young got some burn and cracked open his virgin lungs.  He had four rebounds in four minutes, missed both free throws and scored his only basket on a putback where nobody was boxing out.  I guess that means he's already ahead of where Rodney Carney was this time last year.

Looking ahead, the Sixers get the Mavericks at the right time.  They lost by 9 to the Blazers last Saturday.  They also struggled to clear the Warriors by 5 last Thursday, while Dubs were missing Mickael Pietrus and Stephen Jackson. 

Don't think that this will be a blowout by the Mavs.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Sixers made the adjustments to knock them off.  The key is going in with a plan to win.  That just wasn't the case against the Hornets on Sunday. 

They will need Korver to be on his game against the Mavs soft zone.  I'm going to call this one.  Sixers win by two.  Sam Dalembert, Andre Iguodala, Kyle Korver and Andre Miller have big games.  Look for Lou Williams to pull off another fourth quarter frenzy and keep the buzz going that he should be a starter sooner rather than later.

Check out MVN's Showboating to read up on Matt Carter's analysis of what's wrong with the Mavericks.  Will the Sixers take advantage?  Tune in Tuesday night and find out!