I was wrong, Steimsma stepped up and played a great game today. I'm very glad he did and I give him credit, and admit I was wrong to say Doc should sit him.
He made it a point to be an offensive threat, that meant Doc could actually put up with his inconsistent ability to keep up with the smaller Philly players.
His board work was frustrating, he'd get good position but wouldn't finish it off with the board a couple of times. Nice to see KG get some serious help from the rest of the PF/Cs for a game.
Stiemer was boarding like crazy through the Atlanta series and all it got him was his usual minutes given to Hollins, who was hardly rebounding at all.
Stiemer to me looks like he can actually do a surprising number of things well on the NBA level--with blocks, rebounds, shooting, scoring, and even defensive rotations, assists and steals for a big man.
But he can't yet do them all at once, as he's still thinking too many of the pieces rather than reacting instinctively. He landed here without a preseason to speak of, then has been playing hurt without the ability to practice for the better part of the year. Clearly he's been humbly trying to learn and get better. Sure he had some tough match ups and missed some things defensively at the start of the playoffs--when none of the team was playing well--and then it snowballed a little bit as he knew he'd get yanked by Doc for slight provocation.
So getting those early scores and buying himself some breathing room last night was big. Let's hope he's going to ride a swing of relative confidence and good play now just as he did in the second half of the season.