Dalembert's Diary Jan. 29, 2005 Tonight is our last game of this trip. We lost a tough game last night in New Orleans … there were so many highs and lows last night. I thought we had lost, then Kyle hits that shot. We go into overtime and just couldn’t seem to get things going. It felt like we lost twice! I have been giving up too many easy baskets underneath, not defending the ball well the last few games. Tonight we have been another tough team and have to go out there and play better team defense and not get behind early. We need to play well from the start and not get in a hole. As for today, I am about to walk into our morning meeting and breakfast. After this, I will take a look at our scouting report and take my normal nap. Then, I will shower before I get on the bus for the game. Thanks for coming along with me on this trip, see you in Philly!! Jan. 28, 2005 What's up everybody! It's me back again. Last night we went to Best Buy to purchase some movies and to walk around Bourbon Street a little bit. After that we went out to get a bite to eat and then returned to the hotel to watch the movies. I got animation. It was me and 'Dre, so he bought a bunch of different movies and I got like Japanese animation. We went to eat at Bergan Street Restaurant. I had fish for dinner and it was good. It was really nice, sort of casual, Italian food. Tonight is going to be an exciting game. If we get this win tonight, and Boston has a loss we'll be back in first place. It would be good for us, we need to get back into first. We're crossing our fingers that the Celtics lose and that we take care of business here tonight. Jan. 27, 2005 - It's going to be our rookie Andre Iguodala's birthday tonight and we're going to make him sing for his own birthday, just kidding. We don't know exactly what we're going to do for him, but we're probably going to enjoy the night and have a little fun. Myself, I'm going to go back to the hotel and do a little workout for my legs. Then I'm going to take a shower, relax, and go out to eat at a nice restaurant. It's a great thing, an honor for Kyle and Andre to be selected for the Rookie/Sophomore game. Last year, Kyle Korver represented us in the three-point shootout and did very well, especially with it being his first time. So hopefully, Kyle who has had the experience and Andre's who's getting more confident, both will enjoy the experience. It's an honor, so we're going to encourage and cheer for them. Jan. 26, 2005 - This is day one of our road trip. We play the Wizards tonight here is Washington. We are coming off a good win against Miami, but we have to get over that and get ready for tonight. The Wizards have a lot of height inside. We are going to have to use our quickness and be physical with their big man … we can’t let the entry passes get in easily or else we will get in foul trouble. They are going to come out and play hard, we need to match their intensity and be ready to go. Monday versus Miami was such a great game for us. It is great anytime you win as a team, and a good test for us. But we have to concentrated on this game and take this trip game-by-game. We can not get ahead of ourselves. Tonight, we play the Wizards. We have to get ready to go. Myself, personally, I am ready and excited to get on the court and play. Talk to you from New Orleans!

In all walks of life, some days are harder than others. Whether you’re an accountant, a salesman, or a professional basketball player, there are going to be times when things are crazy at the office and your job is more taxing than normal.

Samuel Dalembert arrived at the office on Jan. 24 to face a rather heavy workload. It came in the form of Shaquille O’Neal, who was making his first appearance at the Wachovia Center as a member of the Miami Heat, and Dalembert’s agenda for the day was to make O’Neal as little of a factor as possible.

The height difference wasn’t the main issue. At 6-foot-11, Dalembert only gives up two inches to the 7-foot-1 O’Neal - a disadvantage, but not a huge one. Rather, Dalembert’s problem was going to be one of mass. At 250 pounds, Dalembert is a full 75 pounds lighter than the 325-pound O’Neal. The potential was there for Dalembert to spend the evening getting tossed around like a sailboat caught on the water during a storm. But as it turned out, that wasn’t the case.

Instead, Dalembert turned in his second-consecutive double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while limiting O’Neal’s damage to 24 points and a mere five rebounds. Consider also that Dalembert only had three fouls on the evening, and it adds up to a pretty good day’s work against a player many say is the most dominant in the NBA.

“I thought he did a nice job of keeping his body away from Shaq,” said Head Coach Jim O’Brien. “We talked beforehand. You can’t let Shaq get behind you, and I thought Sammy really moved his feet.”

There were times, however, when Dalembert’s leaner frame was an advantage. His athleticism allowed him to get to the other end of the court more quickly, and O’Brien felt that took its toll on O’Neal.

“He made sure Shaq had to run on defense because Sammy was beating him up court and it really forced Shaq to run,” O’Brien said.

Dalembert’s approach to the game was rather similar to the way most people would tackle a large task - make a plan and go through it step-by-step.

“[We wanted to] just basically limit his touches inside and try to limit him to the point that he’s out of the game,” Dalembert said. “We tried to not let him touch the ball too much inside.”

At one point, Dalembert drew cheers from the fans when he blocked one of O’Neal’s shots.

“It’s a big deal if it makes a difference in the game,” Dalembert said. “That was a quick one. I didn’t even know it was him until after I did it.”

Dalembert certainly made a difference in this contest, and did the same on Jan. 22 in Orlando. Even though the Sixers lost the game 115-111, they never would have been in a position to win it if not for Dalembert’s 24 points and 16 rebounds.

“He had a great game,” O’Brien said of the Orlando contest. “We need to have a number of games where Sammy gets that many rebounds and where we find him around the basket. It’s what we’ve been hoping for all year.”

Despite the loss, Dalembert’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates - nor did the fact that Dalembert did a lot of his damage in the last 20 minutes of the game, during which time he was playing with five fouls.

“He played great,” said Sixers forward Kyle Korver. “We need him to set up like that all the time. If he does that, then he changes the whole game for us. He was doing all that and he had five fouls.”

The aspect that Dalembert has perhaps appreciated the most is the number of minutes that he played late into the games.

“It’s been great,” Dalembert said. “It makes me feel like Coach [O’Brien] has more confidence in me. I go out there and keep building on it and keep proving myself to my teammates and coaches that I can get the job done.”

Because Dalembert is only in his seventh year of organized basketball, he has faced criticism on whether he can be a legitimate force in the NBA. He has also had to adapt to the new defensive schemes installed by O’Brien, and struggled with them at times earlier this year. Those struggles and a hamstring injury combined to limit his playing time over the opening weeks of the season. But his performance in the Orlando and Miami games seem to indicate that he’s made a lot of progress, and have done a lot to show how much of an effect Dalembert can have on the Sixers fortunes.

“He’s so long and so important on the standpoint of blocking shots,” O’Brien said. “Sam’s game will blossom as the years go along. He’ll become a much more effective low-post threat when he starts to exclusively to go to his right and his left hand for jump hooks, which he’s very capable of doing. He just doesn’t do it. He dunks well, but he needs to really have confidence to be able to shoot the short jumper and to be able to shoot jump hooks, which he can do with considerable length. We know we can defend, and the more he understands our system, the more complete of a player he’ll become.”