Golf Tee Times Now Being Taken

Tonight in Toronto, the playoff-bound Sixers dropped their fifth in a row, this one to the going nowhere Raptors. Toronto led for most of this one, despite playing people like Quincy Douby (he wasn't good enough to stay with Sacramento), Patrick O'Bryant (wasn't good enough for the, um, Warriors) Joey Graham and Anthony Parker. And it's not like the Sixers had nothing to play for, either, as the entire second tier of the Eastern Conference has been stumbling to the finish, and more than giving everyone repeated opportunities to avoid the Big Three of Cleveland, Orlando and Boston in the first round. The loss cements the 5 spot for the Heat, who will enjoy the Hawks like nobody's business.

I get that teams get tired in April, and that guys on 10-day contracts (like, well, Douby) can seem like world beaters. However, this Sixers team is a flat-out terrible matchup for the Cavs, don't fare much better against the Magic, and won't show up on the road in Boston, either. Their best and only chance to get to the Final 8, which matters on some level, just because plane crashes do happen, was to draw the Hawks in Round 1, and have Andre Miller wear Mike Bibby like a cheap suit.

Instead, Miller threw enough bricks to open a warehouse (he started 2 for 14), the team continued to look like it had no clue what to do without Thaddeus Young on the floor, and the age-old bugaboos -- three point shooting and from the line -- overwhelmed one of those periodic Samuel Dalembert Cares games. I love Lou Williams, and he might be the best bench guard in the league this year, but when he's your best guard, it's not going to end well. For a team that gets to the free throw line with strong penetration, you just wish they'd, well, make more of them. They made a late run, as they almost always do because they do have heart, to cut a 14-point fourth quarter lead to 4, but didn't make the plays in the last two minutes to avoid their fifth straight loss.

I'm not really all that bent out of shape, though. Without Elton Brand doing much of anything this year, and after a coach firing, the home town team will still make the playoffs and presumably care enough to make someone break a sweat. With Young back next year, and Marrese Speights a year older, they should be better again. Coach Tom DiLeo might be more effective with a training camp. Of the principals, only Miller appears to be in any danger of being on the downside of his career.

And yet, well, there's just no excuse for losing to a kitten-soft team like the Raps, even on the road, when you need the game and they don't. When they find themselves losing in the first round when this could have easily been the year when they made a small step forward... well, it matters. If, for no other reason, than what it says about their prospects in 2010 and beyond. Losing five in a row to equal your worst stretch of the season in April... well, don't give Philly Fan much grief for not selling out the building in Game Three of their playoff series, OK?