We here at A Wolf Among Wolves don’t usually go in for the game preview thing. But we had the day off of work today (sweet! I’m partying so hard, dude!) and so got to chatting about tonight’s Wolves/Sixers game with Carey Smith of Philadunkia. He first asked what, in particular, the Wolves would be doing defensively against Philly. My message to him was what it is to almost everybody who asks that question: the Wolves can do all the defensive game planning they want, but none of it is as important as the team actually executing (with real energy!) whatever plan the coaches come up with. Check out his questions and my answers, right here.
I also had some questions for Carey. Here we go.
Is there anyone on the Wolves or anything about the Wolves that really worries you? If so, what do the Sixers do to counter that?
Obviously Kevin Love scares the daylights out of me. Love has been tearing the League apart and the Sixers are especially weak on the defensive interior. Opposing bigs have feasted on the Sixers this year and despite our repeated requests to address the issue through a trade or a waiver / free agent signing Rod Thorn has yet to do anything.
Love will likely go for 30 & 20 tonight and it will be yet another game where the Sixers have to overcome an all-star performance by an opposing post player to get the win.
What should we be looking for as we watch the Sixers tonight?
You should look for Doug Collins to try and get Louis Williams going. Collins loves him some Louis, but Williams has struggled mightily in the last 3 of the last 4 games. He hit rock bottom against the Mavs the other night when he went 1-8 and tallied 5 pts. He also got abused by Jason Terry on the other end of the floor.
Louis and his scoring punch off the bench have been a huge part of the Sixers success this season and if we want to stay above .500, then he’s going to have to get rolling again. Collins does a great job of recognizing when a player needs a confidence boost and then calling that guy’s number until he’s back on track. So look for the Wolves to get a heavy dose of Louis Williams tonight.
Will do, Carey. (By the way, isn’t it nice to know that other teams actually worry about Love? That the great things he does aren’t just figments of our backwater imaginations?)
