Maurice Cheeks kept using the term "learning experience" about his 76ers' team. Everything was a learning experience for young players like Lou Williams, Rodney Carney and rookies Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith: handling expanded roles, pressure situations, trying to make the playoffs, dealing with an experienced team like the Pistons and trying to avoid elimination Thursday night.
Although they were blown out by 23 points in Game 6, the young Sixers responded reasonably well to most of the obstacles in their path. With all four earning minutes, the Sixers made the playoffs for the first time in three years with a strong final two-and-a-half months of the regular season, stunned the Pistons in Game 1, rolled by 20 in Game 3 and seemed on the verge of taking a 3-1 lead in Game 4 before Detroit answered with a furious third-quarter rally. The trick is for the Sixers is to use what they've learned to take another step next year. The party line was the same three years ago with a nucleus that featured Samuel Dalembert, Willie Green, Kyle Korver and rookie Andre Iguodala, but the Sixers missed the playoffs in each of the next two seasons.
With an estimated $11 million to spend or use in a trade for a power forward and the 16th pick in June's draft, president and general manager Ed Stefanski should be able to add at least two contributing players to the roster. But he needs to be careful to avoid a star or attitude problem because the current group has no ego problems or different sets of rules for some than others, as there was for 10-and-a-half years when Allen Iverson played here.
And then there's the matter of Iguodala and Lou Williams becoming restricted free agents. Iguodala inexplicably turned down a five-year, $57 million extension Oct. 31. With the struggles he had in the playoffs, it's hard to imagine Stefanski offering more now. Iguodala could sign a one-year, $3.8 million tender and become unrestricted in July 2009. Williams comes off the bench but plays the fourth quarter in place of starter Green, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of money he's seeking.
PISTONS 100, SIXERS 77: Detroit eliminated Philly in six games.
The seventh-seeded Sixers dropped the last three games to the seventh-seeded Pistons after taking a 2-1 lead in the series. Detroit outscored the Sixers by 63 points over the last 10 quarters.
"We were a half away from going up 3-1," said guard Andre Miller. "Things kind of fell apart after that."
The Pistons, who led by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter, scored the game's first 10 points and were ahead by double digits all but 17 seconds the rest of the way.
Detroit shot .582 from the field to the Sixers' .338 and made .563 of its three-pointers to the Sixers' .231. The Pistons' Rasheed Wallace had 13 three-pointers in the series to 11 for all of the Sixers. Opportunistic Detroit scored of each of the Sixers' 10 turnovers (22 points) through three quarters.
"I didn't think they could continue to make the shots they made, but they did," said Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks. "Their defense was suffocating -- we never got on a run."
Andre Iguodala paced the Sixers with 16 points. Lou Williams and Miller each added 11.
"That's probably one of the top five teams in the league," said Miller of the Pistons. "Everybody knows their roles. It takes a lot of effort to beat a team like that."
