The Sixers Went From Sad and Pathetic to “I’ll Take It”
Friday night in Cleveland was sad, pathetic basketball. The Sixers lost 119–95 in their second NBA Cup matchup, shot 36.5 percent from the floor and went 10-for-40 from three. Thirty missed threes. By the fourth quarter, I was hearing that rim clang in my kitchen. VJ Edgecombe gave me a reason to keep the damn thing on with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting. The rest of the night had me checking how much time was left like I was at work.
Sunday in Chicago was better, even if the Sixers made beating a one win team feel like parallel parking a trash truck on a South Philly side street. They eeked out a 127–121 win behind 29 from Jaylen Brown, 27 from Tyrese Maxey and a season-high 22 from LeBron James. The Bulls kept hanging around and got within three down the stretch before Maxey knocked down a stepback three with just over two minutes left, and Brown iced it at the free-throw line, to give everybody a little breathing room. The Sixers won the second-chance points battle 33–12, and they needed that work on the glass. They’re 9–2. I’ll take the win and put the blood pressure cuff away until next game.
The Sullivans Turned Decision Day Into a Family Cookout
The Union beat Toronto 4–1 at Subaru Park on Saturday and locked up the sixth seed in the East. Cavan Sullivan scored twice. Quinn buried a penalty kick and picked up an assist on his brother’s second-half goal, while Indiana Vassilev set up the opener.
Toronto got one back right before halftime and gave us about 15 minutes to sit there and think, “here we go.” Then, Cavan made it 3–1 in the 58th minute and Bruno Damiani put away a PK for the fourth tally. Four goals, playoff soccer in Chester and a Toronto defense that spent the afternoon looking for a Sullivan it could actually keep track of. Fuck yeah, I’ll DOOP to that.
New England Is Gonna Make Them Earn It
The third-seeded Revs took both regular-season meetings 2–1, so I want to see the Union go into Foxborough and make New England defend early. Get Cavan and Quinn on the ball with room to turn, give Damiani somebody to combine with, and keep somebody close enough to Carles Gil that he can’t stand there and pick his next pass like he’s ordering off a menu. I like Philly’s chances if they can bring that aggression from Saturday without leaving Gil a runway every time they lose the ball.
Game 1 is Saturday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium. Game 2 is Saturday, Nov. 28 at 4:30 p.m. ET at Subaru Park. If they need a third, it’s back to Gillette on Dec. 2, with kickoff still to be set. It’s first to two wins, and a tie after 90 minutes goes straight to penalties.
Go steal Game 1 and make Chester loud as hell for a chance to close it out.
The Phantoms’ Power Play Came with a Return Policy
Lehigh Valley lost 6–3 to Hamilton on Saturday to finish its Canadian road trip 1–2. Danila Klimovich opened the scoring on the power play with his first goal as a Phantom, and then Hamilton scored twice shorthanded in the same damn period. You spend all week working on what to do with an extra guy and somehow the other team gets a two-for-one. Alex Bump got his ninth of the season, Alex Ciernik also scored and the Phantoms put 36 shots on net. That’s plenty of rubber. The two goals going the wrong way with the extra man are what stick with me. Friday was a 3–1 loss at Belleville, where Jacob Gaucher tied it early in the third before the Senators scored twice in under a minute.
Flyers in Calgary: No Cigar
The Flyers had three leads Sunday night in Calgary and blew every damn one of them. Denver Barkey, Noel Acciari and Owen Tippett all scored, and Tippett’s power-play goal had them up 3–2 going into the third. Then former Flyer Joel Farabee tied it on a shorthanded breakaway because apparently one local hockey team getting burned on its own power play this weekend wasn’t enough. Matt Coronato finished it with 52 seconds left in overtime. Calgary 4, Flyers 3. The Flyers are 4–10–5 since Tocchet started looking like the Six Flags Guy, and still haven’t won a game that went past regulation.
And spare me the, “at least we got a point.” Every Flyers fan I know is tired of hearing that shit. We watched them take the lead three times. We watched them give up the tying goal while they had an extra skater. Then we watched Calgary skate off with the win. How many times am I supposed to turn off the TV and feel good about the point when the win was sitting right there?
Three leads, one point, no cigar.
The Eagles Wore Kelly Green, The Offense Wore Me Out
The Birds lost 19–11 to the Giants at the Linc on Sunday and limped into the bye at 2–7. Saquon Barkley scored from three yards out, Joe Milton ran in the two-point conversion and the Eagles led 8–6 at halftime. They managed a field goal the rest of the way. Braden Mann launched an 86-yard punt before halftime, and I’m pretty sure that was the most excited I got watching an Eagle move the ball all afternoon. It’s pretty bad when the Punter is the best player on your team this season.
Milton threw for 169 yards and ran for 64, which made him the Eagles’ leading rusher. He also got sacked seven times. Barkley had 22 yards on 13 carries, and the defense put up six sacks of its own just to watch Jameis Winston find Isaiah Likely for the go-ahead touchdown in the third. If you’re looking for one guy to blame, good luck. I’d start with how an offense makes a quarterback change and still has the same damn problems blocking and running the ball.
The Steelers come to town Nov. 22 after the bye. In the meantime, I get one Sunday where I can sit on my couch without yelling, “how the hell is it third-and-long again?”
I’ll take it.
