76ers set for playoffs
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 18, 2008 Iguodala recalled how the extra hustle, like diving for loose
balls, or even taking a charge can win a postseason game. A series
is won not by individuals taking over the game and trying to win it
alone, but by five players working unselfishly as a unit. The games
mean more, intensity is raised, every possession counts.
Iguodala knows all this because he is a true 76ers playoff
veteran.
All of five games.
Three years ago.
While the veteran Pistons couldn't be blamed for treating this
series as a warmup toward more loftier goals, like another trip to
the Eastern Conference finals, the Sixers have a roster stacked of
wide-eyed kids who have never played in a game that means as much
as Sunday's Game 1.
"We can't make up for the experience," 76ers coach Maurice
Cheeks said on Friday.
Their playoff series against Detroit hasn't even started yet and
already the 76ers are getting crushed.
The Pistons have 10 players on their roster with a combined 678
games of postseason experience. The Pistons won the NBA title in
2004 and returned to the Finals the next year, with a five-game
first-round win over Iguodala and the Sixers nothing more than a
speed bump.
Rasheed Wallace (132) and Lindsey Hunter (132) lead the way, and
Chauncey Billups is at 102. Richard Hamilton (99) and Tayshaun
Prince (97) will all crack triple digits in this series.
Guard Kevin Ollie is Philadelphia's most playoff-tested player
with 38 games, only two fewer than he played this season so he
likely won't be much of a factor.
The Sixers only have seven players with previous playoff
experience for a combined 95 games. Iguodala, Wilile Green and
Samuel Dalembert have only those five games against the Pistons in
2005; Andre Miller played in 15 games with Denver (never past the
first round); Reggie Evans played in 16 playoff games; and Calvin
Booth 11.
Booth, Miller and Ollie are the only players 28 or older.
Lou Williams, Rodney Carney, Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith are
among Philadelphia's key rotation players who never played a
postseason game. Even fourth-year vet Iguodala feels a bit like a
playoff rookie again.
"It feels new again, just because we have a different team and
I have a different role," Iguodala said.
No wonder the Pistons are favored.
"No one probably should think we should win it," Cheeks said.
"We have to believe we can win it."
The 76ers were optimistic Friday in their first practice since
the regular season ended that they could beat the Pistons, or least
give them a serious scare. Their confidence is bolstered by two
wins in their last two games against Detroit that tied the season
series at 2-2.
The 76ers won in Detroit 83-82 on March 12 and again in
Philadelphia 101-94 on April 9. That victory put the Sixers two
games over .500, yet they haven't won again. The enthusiasm of a
torrid 11-4 March that made them one of the NBA's biggest surprises
has faded with a four-game losing streak entering the postseason.
"It matters because it messes with your psyche," Miller said.
"We didn't play that well toward the end of the season and we made
it hard on ourselves."
Billups said Philadelphia showed what it was capable of over the
last 30 games of the season.
"They're capable of beating us," Billups said. "We have to
play every game with a sense of urgency."
That's what coach Flip Saunders wants to hear from the Pistons,
who have developed a reputation for only playing up to its
potential when they're down in a game or doubted in a series.
"In the four games we played them, I don't think we had a lot
of energy," Saunders said. "We have to play with our best effort
in the playoffs."
The Sixers plan to make up for the experience gap by running,
the strategy that took them from 18-30 on Feb. 4 all the way to
40-38 on April 9.
The up-tempo Sixers thrived in transition this year, running all
over the court for easy baskets. Cheeks wants the Pistons to try
and keep pace with them, rather than have the 76ers play at
Detroit's methodical halfcourt pace in a game with the score in the
80s.
"We've got to try and run as much as we can," Cheeks said. "I
know it's the playoffs, they say you can't run as much, it's
usually halfcourt basketball, but our chance of winning this series
is still getting out and running."
---
AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Auburn Hills, Mich., contributed
to this report.