by gordie | Apr 15, 2024 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
Just before the unveiling of the Allen Iverson statue last Friday in Camden, N.J., Sixers coach Nick Nurse stood at a lectern within the team’s practice facility and addressed Iverson and the large crowd that had gathered. “I’m gonna fight my ass off,” Nurse told the...
by gordie | Apr 13, 2024 | NBA
Allen Iverson’s statue was unveiled Friday afternoon, and right away there were those on the interwebs who decreed that the thing was not nearly grand enough, that it hardly does him justice. The truth is, it is of the same scale as the other nine statues on the...
by gordie | Apr 3, 2024 | NBA
Again and again Sixers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. found the mark in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s victory over Oklahoma City. Then he did it once more after the game, when asked what it was like to have Joel Embiid back after the reigning NBA MVP had missed two months...
by gordie | Feb 27, 2024 | NBA
Doc Rivers, back in Philadelphia as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks? Oooh, let’s trot out the Bill Hader gifs as we watch those Philly fans sink their fangs into the ex-Sixers coach! Let’s watch Rivers squirm! And, well, meh. The paying customers did in fact boo Rivers...
by gordie | Jan 23, 2024 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
Once again Joel Embiid walked with giants Monday. Those known by their first names (Wilt, Kobe). Those known by their initials (MJ, AI). Those who are members of a very exclusive club. This is no longer a surprise. This is the company Embiid has been keeping for a...
by gordie | Jan 14, 2024 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
Before the Sixers hosted Portland earlier this season, I asked Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups about the maturation process of young guards, two of whom – Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 overall pick by the Blazers last June, and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers’ budding star...
by gordie | Dec 23, 2023 | NBA
Wednesday night’s game was over. The 76ers had beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now the music was swelling in the Wells Fargo Center: Clap your hands, everybody … Etc., etc. T-Wolves coach Chris Finch rose from his seat on the team’s bench and headed toward...
by gordie | Nov 18, 2023 | Journalism
Many years ago I received a phone call from a high school basketball coach who claimed that while he was quoted in a game story that appeared in a publication competing with mine, the sportswriter covering the game never interviewed him. “I mean, it sounded like...
by gordie | Nov 10, 2023 | NBA
In an interesting bit of full-circle-ness, Robert Covington departed the 76ers in the trade that brought Jimmy Butler from Minnesota five years ago, and returned to Philadelphia in the trade that sent James Harden to the Clippers nine days ago. “I’m glad I’m...
by gordie | Oct 28, 2023 | NFL
For a decade he made his living crashing into NFL linebackers, which has left him at age 46 with aching joints, a surgically repaired neck and a firm understanding of the Faustian bargain players strike with the game. That bargain being this: Yeah, it can be fun to...
