Video: Sixers Evan Turner With A Nasty Crossover On Miami's Dwayne Wade

Sixers rookie, and #2 overall pick in the NBA Draft, Evan Turner shook off a tough preseason and had himself a pretty impressive NBA debut. He had 16 points on 7-10 shooting, 7 boards, and dished out 4 assists. But perhaps his most impressive moment was this one below, where freezes Dwyane Wade with a nasty crossover and pulls up for 17-foot jumper.

Sixers lose on their opening night, Heat win 97-87

The 76ers managed to put up a pretty good fight against the overpowering Heat. They played solid defense, holding them under 100 points and forcing 16 turnovers. What killed them, as it always does, was three-point defense. Miami knocked down eight threes on sixteen attempts, six of which came from the out-of-nowhere James Jones. A few of them were very contested, but the perimeter defense has been awful for as long as I can remember and I have no idea how to fix it.

Offensively, things were a bit choppy early on. Spencer Hawes and Jrue Holiday each had awful games (although Jrue hit a few threes to cut the deficit towards the end) and they got most of their points in transition. Evan Turner had a great first game, bitch-slapping a few of his doubters with 16 points on ten shots with seven rebounds and four assists. Really well-rounded, very similar to the games he had at OSU. Andres Nocioni and Louis Williams also performed well. I sincerely hope Jrue’s poor start doesn’t trigger Collins to start Lou quickly.

Speights did nothing, Kapono did nothing, Iguodala and Brand were mediocre, and Thaddeus Young had a typical Thad game — points and nothing else. He’s a bench scorer at this point.

Good first game from the Sixers and from the big community participating in the game thread at Liberty Ballers, people were pleased with the effort (save for the third quarter collapse) and expected the result.

Sixers go at it again Friday against Atlanta.

Sixers Starting Lineup Set, Turner on the Bench

According to Derek Bodner of Liberty Ballers, Doug Collins has opted to keep number two draft pick Evan Turner on the bench for the start of the season (and on his 22nd birthday, no less!). Here’s how the lineup figures to shake out:

PG – Jrue Holiday covering Dwyane Wade
SG – Andre Iguodala covering LeBron James
SF – Jason Kapono “covering” no one Carlos Arroyo
PF – Elton Brand covering Chris Bosh
C – Spencer Hawes covering Joel Anthony

While having a shooter like Kapono will spread the floor for Jrue and Andre, it’s hard to believe a defensive-minded coach like Collins would trust Kapono to D up on anybody on the Heat, much less a quick point guard. He’s certainly not covering LeBron.

I’m anxious to see how soon Turner gets into the lineup. Against this team, I’m betting Louis Williams is the first one off the bench. The smallish guards of the Heat will dictate how the Sixers play against them. While a win is unlikely (get used to that), I want to see the team play 48 minutes of solid basketball against a better team.

If Turner gets a DNP-CD though, I’ll gut somebody.

Sixers Tip Off Their 2010 NBA Season Tonight Against LeBron James And The Miami Heat

(Sports Network) - The NBA's version of The Beatles invades the City of Brotherly Love Wednesday night after a bad opening night performance in Beantown.

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, as the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics held off the new-look Miami Heat, 88-80, in arguably the most anticipated regular season opener in NBA history.

The Heat, of course, grabbed everyone's attention in the offseason by acquiring two of the highest profile free agent acquisitions in NBA history. Reigning two-time NBA MVP LeBron James, who fled Cleveland after seven seasons, and former Toronto All-Star power forward Chris Bosh joined forces with Dwyane Wade.

The blockbuster moves by Miami gave them three players with 17 All-Star appearances between them and tons of championship expectations. James and Bosh both signed six-year, $110.1 million contracts, and Wade was re-signed by the Heat for $107.5 million over six years.

Miami's "Big Three" was not good enough to get past a tough Boston team on Tuesday night. James led the way with 31 points on 10-of-21 shooting. Wade and Bosh added 13 and 8 points, respectively, and shot a combined 7-of-27 from the field.

"We all know Rome wasn't built in one day. We understand that," James said. "We just need to continue to get better."

"A little bit out of rhythm, of course. This is my first -- LeBron's and my first preseason game," Wade added. "Just getting a little bit out of rhythm and continuity is still -- with me being out, the continuity is still not there yet. But I thought defensively we played well. We did a good job of holding this team to 88 points, and we've still got a lot of things we can work on."

Tonight the Heat try and get back on track against the Philadelphia 76ers and their new coach, Doug Collins.

The 76ers, once one of the NBA's marquee franchises thanks to legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson, have not been a part of the recent Philadelphia sports revival.

In fact attending a Sixers game last year at the Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) Center was a bit depressing. Poor decisions by the front office hampered the team's development culminating in an awful 27-55 ledger last season in which head coach Eddie Jordan lost his team by Christmas.

To be blunt, then-Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski probably should have joined his hand-picked coach and friend on the unemployment line after last year's disastrous run. But, the Comcast-Spectacor braintrust of Ed Snider and Peter Luukko, loathe to admit another in a long line of mistakes, gave the embattled Philadelphia basketball chief one more chance.

This time, with the leash pulled tight in the form of assistant general manager Tony DiLeo and consultant Gene Shue watching over his shoulder, Stefanski made a prudent decision and inked the highly regarded Doug Collins to be the team's mentor in 2010-11.

The hire happened a year after it should have and cost the Sixers dearly in the crowded, very competitive Philly sports market, but Stefanski was finally moving the team in the right direction again.

Dealing underachieving center Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento for Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni, and landing Evan Turner after lucking out a bit in the NBA Draft Lottery also were regarded as feathers in Stefanski's cap.

That said, you could still sense the Sixers' brass wasn't all that comfortable with Stefanski leading the organization and that sentiment came into focus in August when Snider and Luukko demoted him and named his old boss in New Jersey, Rod Thorn, as the team's new president.

Thorn, an NBA veteran of more than four decades, is one of the league's most highly-regarded executives, while Collins' basketball knowledge is without peer, almost encyclopedic.

If winning truly starts at the top, the Sixers are about to arrive fashionably late to Philadelphia's sports revival.

"I know the pulse of this city," said Collins, who will be on the sidelines despite being diagnosed with vertigo last week. "I've had a chance to live it. I'm blessed to be the coach here and I don't take that responsibility lightly."

Miami swept the four-game season series between the two clubs a year ago.