Philadelphia 76ers Rising to New Heights

Let's take a look at the stat line for the Pistons and 76ers in this series up to this point.

             DET                          PHI

            95.5           PPG         89.0

            42.5           RPG         39.5

            21.0           APG         14.0

            0.470         FG%        0.414

            0.763         FT%        0.677

            0.333         3P%         0.182

It's obvious who's winning this series, isn't it?  It's the Pistons 3-0 in a normal first-round romp of the Sixers. It's gotta be. They are over the Sixers in every category.

WRONG.

The Sixers, after a 90-86 victory tonight, lead the Pistons 2-1 in a possible upset of epic proportions.

If the Sixers win, it would completely mess up everybody who tried to predict the East through the Finals.

The Magic have a pretty tight handle on the Raptors, but everybody expected them to get knocked out once they met the mighty Pistons in the second round.

If this series goes the way it possibly could, we could see a Sixers-Magic matchup.  This also means that either the Sixers or Magic would be in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Suddenly, I don't seem so stupid for saying the Magic can make some playoff noise.

But I digress. 

The 76ers don't really have one person who jumps out in any category other than Reggie Evans, who has 12.5 rebounds and 12 points per game.  They are just a bunch of guys playing fundamentally sound basketball.

Who knows? The Pistons might go back to the team-first format that has worked in the past and completely dismantle the 76ers throughout the rest of the series.

But wouldn't it be great to watch another underdog come up and bite the top dog right on the booty, like last year's Golden State shocker?

I know I would enjoy it.

I'm Joe W.