The Mavs will travel less than 100 miles south to Philadelphia to play the Sixers for the second to last road game against the East this season. The Mavs have won four straight against Philadelphia, including an easy 99-84 win in early November (or as I refer to it, the day the dream died).
Everybody gets hot sometimes
Despite being 21-30, the Sixers are winners of three straight by an average of 14.3 points. That fact would not be complete if it wasn't pointed out that one of those wins was against the Wizards by five points, and the other two were blowouts against the Heat and Clippers. So don't go crowning the Sixers as being on a big hot streak just yet. Still, in that excuse for a conference in the East, the Sixers are a mere 2.5 games out of the final playoff spot. By comparison, if they had that record in the West, they would be 9.5 games out of the last playoff spot, and probably would have zero chance of getting there.
A sort-of Big Three
Andre Iguodala stands tall as the Sixers best player, but he has some help along the way. Samuel Dalembert is quietly becoming one of the most consistent big men in the league and has become a force in blocking shots and rebounding. To balance that out, point guard Andre Miller is having a fine season and shooting a career high percentage from the floor to boot. The biggest problem for the Sixers hasn't been these guys, but rather a lack of depth and the worst outside shooting in the league are the main culprits that doom them much of the time.
Young Young getting going
Rookie Thaddeus Young is starting to flourish from added minutes after Kyle Korver was traded away around the New Year. In his last five games, he's averaging 12.6 points, 6 rebounds and is shooting 58.7 percent from the floor. He was the 12th overall pick in last year's draft, and is only 19 years old. The Sixers like to have what they've seen so far, and might have grabbed a real bargain.
Random useless fact
Erick Dampier grabbed a career-high 26 rebounds against the Sixers in 2005.
Burning question
Are the Sixers really unwilling to trade Andre Miller or have they just not received the right offer?
-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd
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