76ers pleased with Dalembert
By Joe Juliano
Inquirer Staff Writer
The 76ers had plenty of reasons to feel disappointed yesterday as they left snow-starved central Florida to return home, having blown a six-point lead in the final two minutes to lose to an Orlando Magic team playing without injured all-star Grant Hill.
But the Sixers took some consolation from Saturday night's performance by 6-foot-11 center Samuel Dalembert, who had his best game of the season in a 115-111 loss at the T.D. Waterhouse Centre that further tightened the standings in the mediocre Atlantic Division.
Dalembert established season highs with 24 points and 16 rebounds to go with four blocked shots. He made 11 of his 13 field-goal attempts. He played 35 minutes, only the third time this season he has played that many.
More important, Sixers coach Jim O'Brien left him on the court even though the third-year center had picked up his fifth personal foul with 7 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the third quarter. In the final 19:56 of the game, Dalembert played all but 38 seconds, when O'Brien brought him to the bench for a breather.
"We just needed to let him play, try to let him get in a rhythm after being banged up a little bit," O'Brien said. "I thought he was our best chance against their length. He's by far our best rebound-per-minute player, and we're going to need every one of his rebounds."
It certainly was a change for Dalembert, who usually rides the bench in the fourth quarter. On Friday, O'Brien explained that he would feel more confident with Dalembert in the fourth if he were a better free-throw shooter and less foul-prone.
"Yes, that is our hope, that he'll be able to play a lot of the fourth quarter," O'Brien said then.
On Saturday night, the third quarter belonged to Dalembert, who posted 16 points and seven rebounds in the period. But he stayed on in the fourth quarter, too, to match up with talented 6-11 rookie Dwight Howard in the middle.
"You just have to be ready in this system," Dalembert said. "The coach might try something different. In the last six or seven games, he hasn't been playing me in the fourth quarter. But I was ready in case anything happened. You have to step up."
O'Brien said Friday that Dalembert had shown "drastic improvement" in his understanding of the defense and his ability to communicate at the defensive end. He did take a step back after going down with a strained left hip, and missing four games with the injury and the flu.
Saturday night's game was only his second one back in the lineup, and O'Brien hopes his achievements in that contest were a sign of things to come.
"I think we need to have a number of games where Sammy gets that many rebounds, where we find him around the basket," he said. "That's what we've been hoping for all year."
For his part, Dalembert appreciated being out there for more than his average of 21 minutes, and being able to help the team come back from what had been a 15-point second-quarter deficit against the Magic.
"Guys like me need to be out there in the flow," he said. "It's tough sometimes when you don't get to do it and play that much time. I was very fortunate [Saturday] to have that nice feeling, and be in there with five fouls and still be able to help out."
"He played great," teammate Kyle Korver said. "We need him to step up like that all the time. If he does that, then he changes the whole game for us. He was doing all that [Saturday night] and he had five fouls."
Also, dass Gerücht, dass die Suns Joe Johnson für Dalembert traden werden, ist wohl endgültig vom Tisch. Bryan Colangelo hat vor 2 Tagen schon gesagt, dass dieser Trade nicht der Realität entspricht, und wie es momentan aussieht, sind auch die Sixers mit Dalembert's Leistung zufrieden.
Kenny Thomas und AI sind für das heutige Spiel fraglich. Ersterer hat sich eine Verletzung am Auge eingehandelt und AI hat weiterhin seine Hüftprobleme.
