Philadelphia 76ers Are a Real Contender in the Eastern Conference

The Philadelphia 76ers are off to their hottest start in over a decade, currently holding a vice-grip atop the Atlantic Division with an 18-7 record. Boston trails by three-and-a-half games.

They recently beat the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night in a thriller, their first victory over them in nearly three years (The Iggy Buzzer Beater game back in Lakerland in 2009).

The Sixers have been doing it with team ball and defense. Their leading scorer is their sixth man, Louis Williams, who has 15.5 points per game. Himself included, that makes six players on the team with double digit scoring averages.

They have playing stifling defense as well, second in the league in terms of points allowed.

They have also protected the ball well, committing the fewest turnovers in the league at 10 (the second closest team has 13, almost a three turnover differential). Their ball protection was on display Monday night as they had only four lost balls in the win against Los Angeles.

Critics early in the season questioned if they were only fool's gold, merely an average team that was winning against bad ones. That is until they started beating good teams. They have beaten Atlanta twice, Indiana, Chicago and now Los Angeles. They are 13-3 at home, their only losses coming to close overtime games against the Nets and Thunder and a blowout loss to the Heat last Friday.

They will have a chance to prove that they can play against the best when San Antonio comes into town tonight and the Clippers Friday, both of whom lead their respective divisions.

At 18-7, the Sixers have the lead in the Atlantic Division and are currently the No. 3 seed overall behind Miami and Chicago.

Miami seems to have the upper hand on them as the games are close until the fourth quarter, where the superstars take over and the Sixers lose bad. It happened twice this season and hopefully they will figure out an answer if they need to play them in a seven game series in the playoffs. It could simply be a mental issue, or a confidence thing, that can be fixed. Doug Collins has coached Michael Jordan and has been around the NBA for over 30 years, he will surely find a solution.

Chicago, the other top team in the East, however, has fallen prone to the Sixers' spell, losing their only matchup against them this season and once at their place last year. The Sixers look like they know how to play their "A" game against these Derrick Rose-led Bulls.

In reality, no other team other than Miami proves to be a huge threat to the Sixers this season in the Eastern Conference.

Boston looks like a team on the decline, and the recently Jeremy Lin-led Knicks have played surprisingly well, but could they hold their own against the Sixers? We probably won't get the answer to that until the end of the season.

But other than the Heat, the Sixers have shown that they can play with anyone. Even though they have eight losses on their record, the only bad losses have come to Miami as they have contended in every game. The defense has not let up and they are playing some great team basketball. This looks like this could be a very special year for the pro basketball club in Philly.