Sixers rout Knicks; No trades

Very rarely is a 40-point win not flattering to the team that comes out on top. However, watching last night's Sixers-Knicks contest at work, I felt like a 60-point win would have been more reflective of the Sixers dominance. That might be more of a reflection of just how poor the Knicks are, but in any case, watching the Sixers win comfortably, 124-84, for a change was pretty damn enjoyable, I must say.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Willie Green score 21, and an even more pleasant surprise to see Thaddeus Young continue to play so well. Another 20 points (on 8-of-11, no less) and eight boards for Thad, who actually came off the bench for the first time in a little while. But everybody chipped in. Iggy had 19 points, Andre Miller had 12 and 10 assists, Louis Williams had 13 ... good stuff all around. Of course, the Knicks are perhaps the most awfully-constructed, wretched looking franchise in recent memory, but hey, you take what you can get.

It also merits mention that the trade deadline came and past today and the Sixers made no deals, which shouldn't really surprise anybody. Hopefully this means the team (read: Andre Miller) can focus on just playing basketball for the rest of the season. I'm not sure there was a trade out there that could make this better right now (which, to be fair, a lot of fans don't care about). In any event, I think it was the right move to stand pat and, if Lou Will shows he's capable or if they draft a PG, Andre will be just as valuable come this offseason.

One last thing I haven't mentioned yet, and that's the mini-extension for Mo Cheeks. I find it hard to argue with. Mo hasn't had a lot to work with here, and this team has vastly improved throughout this season. Overall I would have to grade him a B so far this year, and that's enough to earn him another year to see what he can do with this team. And it'll also give Easy Ed Stefanski a better opportunity to evaluate whether this is the coach he wants to build his team around.

So basically, everything is nice and rosy right now. Or at least as nice as things can get for a 24-31 team. We'll see if that changes tomorrow night when the Sixers travel to Orlando. Until then, have a good one.