The Passing, Dunking & 3-Point Shooting Of Iggy Was A Tough Reminder For 76ers Fans

The Philadelphia 76ers were the darlings of the NBA’s first week. They finished 3-and-0 and defeated Eastern Conference bigwigs Chicago and Miami as Michael Carter-Williams became the most famous hyphenated NBA player since Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Former Sixer and current Warrior, Andre Iguodala, spoiled all that today in a blowout Warriors win.

Iguodala’s game was nothing short of the biggest payback since Philip Stark’s Parker character hit the big screen. Iggy was a part of the mega-trade sending Andrew Bynum to Philly, Iggy to Denver and Dwight Howard to the Lakers. None of those moves really paid off since all three are with different teams (but Arron Afflalo is still with the Magic!)

While it’s hard to point to a specific play Iguodala was involved in today that warrants further mentioning when his entire games, this is easily our favorite because it’s a behind-the-back pass that’s more utility than beauty. We’ve watched the whole sequence a few times now.

The 3/4 – court alley-oop from Stephen Curry — second career triple-double tonight with 18 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds — to Iggy, wasn’t bad. The oop made the game 28-12, which was actually a lot closer than it got during the third quarter on the way to a 110-90 Warriors win that’s actually even closer than it was after the Sixers outscored Golden State by 13 in the fourth.

Iguodala finished with 32 points and three rebounds, assists and steals, but — as Iggy mentioned while talking court-side after the game — he was wide-open for most of his 11 field goals (11-for-18 on the game and 7-for-11 from deep). For the Sixers fans in attendance, it was a reminder of a fantastic player, though one that cannot be in the driver’s seat for a team’s offense if they dream of rings.

Despite that fact, today Iggy played that primary offensive role for Golden State. The team and player seem like a perfect fit so far. The Dubs get the benefits of Iguodala’s long-armed perimeter D — something Curry and the rest of the backcourt can struggle with — and he gets the benefit of never stressing too much on offense. Steph and Klay Thompson take care of that.

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Except not today when Iggy returned to the City of Brotherly Love. He had a great game, even for such a great player, and now we can ease off the all the overblown reaction to this Sixers team. They’re still going to be bad, and they’ll only go as far as their young guns. When MCW goes 4-of-17 from the field with 6 turnovers, they’re gonna get blown out by a team as talented as Golden State and with a player as motivated as Iggy.

What do you think?

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