Iguodala, You’re On An 8 Seed Now!
That’s just one of the many things I heard being yelled at Andre Iguodala last Wednesday during the 76ers home opener versus the Nuggets. Yes, Iggy was in town, fresh from his departure after 8 years of being a Sixer, and fans let him have it.
When Matt Cord gave Iguodala his introduction, the crowd response was pretty mixed. Half boos, half clapping. If Iguodala never made the statements about hating the criticism in Philadelphia during his tenure, I wonder what the overall feeling would be. I mean, there’s no reason to really boo him is there? He did play with a lot of effort for 8 years. Is it his fault we over paid him? Why does no one get mad at Elton Brand? He got paid more and delivered even less.
Iguodala did get a standing ovation during the first quarter when Wells Fargo ran a montage of his highlights on the big screen. The rest of the night… however… was 90% boos. I sat about 2 rows behind Iguodala, and the fans around me were yelling all sorts of things at him.
It’s Philadephia. It’s expected. But damn, it’s cold. I felt bad for him. Nuggets teammates were turning around, making weird faces, but Iguodala never acknowledged the crowd.
I gained a little more respect for him after witnessing that. Let’s be honest, Philadelphia fans, in large groups, are absolute idiots. I say that as a Philadelphia fan. On a night where Spencer Hawes scored 16 points and the crowd, ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, chanted “M-V-P!!”, I can’t really take their opinion seriously anymore.
The good news is we won that night. We have a solid team, and we haven’t even unleashed our best player yet. Spencer Hawes IS going to be a better player in the role he has now. Jrue Holiday did a pretty good job of running the offense for a majority of the minutes.
With the Celtics on the decline and Derrick Rose’s return very uncertain, the 76ers have a great window this year of moving up in the standings. We ultimately finished as the 7th seed last year, but for a majority of the season, we stayed around the 4th seed. It’s not crazy to think that we can push past the Celtics, Hawks, and Bulls for a second seed. It’s really not.
NFL Picks are coming tomorrow!