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Monday, December 4

Time for Philly to meet some real teams

By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- OK, Allen and Larry, let's see how you do against the varsity now.

Shaq
Shaq

Iverson
Iverson

The Sixers have been beating up on the JV, winning 13 of 14 against the Eastern Conference's Sisters of the Poor and posting a 14-2 mark overall. But Tuesday, the fun and games end when they play the Lakers in L.A. The next game isn't easy, either, with a date Friday in Portland against the Blazers.

If the Sixers get deep-sixed in either place, even with the Lakers and Portland not exactly playing at the tops of their games, no one will be shocked.

The East is that bad.

Philly's big men figure to get manhandled by Shaquille O'Neal -- if Kobe Bryant ever wants to pass the reigning MVP the ball.

"This will be a good gauge of how good Philly really is," said one Eastern Conference VP. "They've been killing the rest of our conference. But are they any better than Dallas? Probably not. And you have to look at what happened when they played the Spurs."

Do we have really to? That's like gawking at a train wreck. The Sixers got crushed on Nov. 25 at San Antonio 96-76. In their only other game against a Western Conference team, they nipped the T-Wolves. At least their 1-1 record against the West is better than the rest of the East.

Going into the week, the West had won 47 of 73 games against the East. Can you say, total domination?

"They'd be in the middle of the pack if they were in the West," Minnesota's Chauncey Billups said. "And we'd probably be one of the top teams in the East. That's just the way it is."

It's called total disparity.

How bad is it? At the start of the week, the Midwest Division had more teams with winning records than the entire Eastern Conference. But what's Philly gonna do, apologize for its schedule? Before playing Monday in Denver, they still were one of the top defensive teams around, giving up the second-fewest points in the NBA (83.9), while holding opponents to 39.8 percent shooting -- the best of any team. And they were 3-0 in games decided by three points or less. So far, Allen Iverson and Larry Brown haven't had any major run-ins, either.

All's been well in the City of Brotherly Love.

"They're like the Knicks of the mid-90's," Charles Oakley said recently. "They don't have a lot of talent. But they've got guys who play defense, hustle for loose balls, rebound and play well together. And other than Charlotte, they're the only team in the East with any kind of size. The West has all the size and all the big guys. The East is like the Rucker League. Just a bunch of guys running around putting up shots."

Tuesday in Staples Center, the Sixers get to play against the real NBA.

Rim Shots

George Karl thinks Gary Payton will be on his best behavior with Nate McMillan the rest of the season.

Payton
Payton

"That's because Gary is on trial for the rest of the season, and he knows it," said Karl, the ex-Sonics coach. "After this year, who knows if it will work. But the thing about Gary is, you get him behind closed doors, get him face-to-face, you tell him what you want him to do, and he'll go out and do it. When it's one on one, there's a lot of pussycat in Gary."

But Paul Westphal only saw the tiger. Speaking of the ex-Sonics coach, he left town confiding that he had no idea that Patrick Ewing had lost so much. Didn't they check the tapes before making that deal?

Rice
Rice

The way the Ewing trade shapes up now, one month into the season, it's the first one in history that hasn't helped any of the teams involved. Glen Rice's four-year, $36 million deal is the biggest golden parachute handed out by the Knicks since Don Nelson was last seen floating past the Statue of Liberty on his way to Maui. Rice has shot below 50 percent in 13 of the first 17 games, and in 12 games he's failed to hit a three. Yet, he's complained about his lack of playing time in fourth quarters.

"You know what, their job is to play and mine is to coach," said Jeff Van Gundy, not at all happy about Rice's comments. "I'll make the decisions."

While Rony Seikaly is wriggling his way out of his European contract -- and everyone thinks he'll end up in Miami -- one overseas scout called his recent play "awful."

The Joe Smith case isn't done yet. Next week arbitrator Kenneth Dam determines what Minnesota execs were involved in arranging the secret agreement. The maximum penalties -- to be handed out by David Stern -- are suspensions lasting up to one year. Owner Glen Taylor is almost guaranteed to get the max. GM Kevin McHale, who wasn't directly involved in the negotiations but signed off late on the deal, is also facing a year. As far as McHale goes, he just might quit. He's been bitter about agent dealings ever since Kevin Garnett got his record $126 million extension. That was back in 1997.

Geiger
Geiger

Rim Shots II

Dikembe Mutombo to the Sixers? The latest rumor floating around is Mutombo to Philly for Matt Geiger and Toni Kukoc. Don't bet on it. The Hawks are rebuilding. They don't want Geiger, who's always hurt, or Kukoc, who's 32. But anyway, does Philly want to give up its only other scoring option after Iverson?

The Knicks are looking to the Western Conference to find a third team who can help them do a three-way deal for Mutombo. The Clippers fill the bill, being under the cap and with such young players Atlanta could be interested in as Keyon Dooling and Quentin Richardson. The Clips also have a number of No. 1 picks, some of which originally belonged to the Magic. Clips have been shopping Eric Piatkowski and Corey Maggette.

Phil Jackson got on Shaq about his free throw shooting in preseason, but has said next to nothing on Kobe's constant one-on-one play, an obvious ploy to win the MVP. You notice a double standard here? The Big Unhappy Camper has. Shaq thinks if the Lakers had to trade him or Kobe, Shaq would be the one packing his bags. Makes no sense.

Charles Oakley told friends after he punched out Jeff McInnis that the Clippers' guard threatened him. Oak, who's been in feud with McInnis since last summer over a woman, doesn't take threats well. He also doesn't believe in settling his disputes in private. He attacked Tyrone Hill on the floor before a preseason game, in full view of both teams, and earlier punched out Charles Barkley in front of all the players when they assembled to vote on the latest collective bargaining agreement.

George Karl having problems with all his "stars?" Karl would beg to differ with that description. "They're pseudo stars," he said.

The T-Wolves are remembering the late Malik Sealy by posting a placard with his name and number on locker when they're on the road. At home, they've glassed off his locker permanently, with his uniform inside. "We don't do that just for show," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said of the locker tribute. "Guys still think about him a lot. We all do. There are a few who go over and touch his locker before every game. He meant that much to us."

Sprewell
Sprewell

Latrell Sprewell is taking over the Knicks' leadership role. Just one question: Does this mean Sprewell takes this leadership role all the way? He can't be ripping teammates for laughing off losses when he's been known to saunter into the locker room late for games. More than just a few times, too. If Sprewell wants to be the leader the Knicks have sorely lacked over the years, that means he has to accept the whole bundle of responsibilities. That's everything from showing up on time, to putting in the extra time on the practice floor. This also means that Sprewell can't be about anything but winning. Remember, he's the same player who a couple of seasons back remarked of his losing record as a Warrior and Knick, "that's only a stat." Said Spree: "I am taking it more personal. I'm tired of coming close."

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.

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