Basketball in Philadelphia is back. Philly fans have been lobbying for some national respect for their 15-6 start to the 2011-2012 season, and their wishes may have been granted with Wednesday night’s thrashing of the Eastern Conference leading Chicago Bulls, 98-82.

As impressive as the 76ers run has been, their only “quality” wins came against a Danny Granger-less Indiana Pacers and an Al Horford-less Atlanta Hawks. While some may continue the trend with tonight’s win being against a Bulls team missing key contributors in Luol Deng and Rip Hamilton, this one should leave a resounding impression across the NBA that the 76ers are for real.

The Bulls came out of the gate looking like the team that is leading the Eastern Conference and in the elite class of the NBA with reigning Most Valuable Player of the NBA Derrick Rose scoring seven of his 15 first-half points in the first quarter. However, it was the 76ers who led after the first frame, mainly due to the play of Andre Iguodala.

Iguodala, often scorned in Philadelphia for his massive, $80 million contract, led the 76ers with 19 points and nine rebounds, including a couple of crowd-pleasing dunks and passes. Iggy got a lot of help from his supporting cast with three of the five 76ers’ double-figure scorers coming off the bench.

Thaddeus Young scored 19 points along with eight boards of his own, and Lou Williams once again added 14 points. With Spencer Hawes and Nik Vucevic still out with injuries, Lavoy Allen continued to impress with a career-high 15 points.

With the number one (Chicago) and number two (Philadelphia) defensive teams in the NBA facing off, mistakes would go a long way in deciding the victor of the matchup and it proved true tonight.

The harassing defense of the 76ers caused the Bulls to turn the ball over 17 times, leading to 29 points. Known as a team that likes to run the court, the 76ers had 21 fast break points to just four for the Bulls. Secondary stat categories like fast break points and points off turnovers are vital for teams like the 76ers who aren’t built to be stat stuffers.

Rose finished with 18 points and C.J. Watson added 20 points off the bench. The Bulls did not feature another scorer over nine points. This is twice the Bulls have experienced 16-point defeats this season with the first coming in Memphis last month. Chicago followed that game with a 23-point beat down against the Phoenix Suns. Philadelphia is hopeful history repeats itself as the Bulls travel to New York to face the Knicks tomorrow night.

This one was over shortly after the opening tip, and the Philadelphia 76ers coasted to a 89-72 victory over the lowly Charlotte Bobcats.

The 76ers, now 13-6, have not lost two games in a row this season and bounced back from Wednesday’s overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets with a dominating first quarter in which they only allowed the Bobcats to score ten points.

Philadelphia jumped out to a quick start with Jrue Holiday scoring seven of his 15 points in the first frame.  Holiday could have been a little more motivated with over 16,000 fans, including new part-owner Will Smith and his family, coming out to the Wells Fargo Center for a Jrue Holiday bobblehead giveaway.

Lou Williams led the 76ers with 17 points off the bench and Jodie Meeks added all 14 of his points in the first half that saw the 76ers take score 59 points and shoot over 57% from three point range. With a big halftime lead, the 76ers were able to play a lot of their reserves in the second half and give some players a much earned break. In such a season where there are only 66 games and teams are playing almost every other night, finding time to give players like Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala a rest might be just as valuable as their contributions on the court.

Brand is averaging a career-low 28 minutes per game, as well as points per game at just over 11 PPG, but the veteran knows his presence on this team means more than how many points he scores and will surely see his minutes increase when the 76ers start facing some better competition. With quality minutes from rookie big men Lavoy Allen and Nikola Vucevic early in the season, the 76ers are able to get their young players acclimated to the NBA while not losing a beat as a team.

Though the 76ers are thrilled with the minutes Allen has been able to give them, they know their depth in the frontcourt is thin with Spencer Hawes and Vucevic nursing injuries. Addressing that, the 76ers brought in journeyman Francisco Elson for his second stint with the team and while not much is expected out of Elson, he will be able to help out the 13-year veteran Tony Battie until Hawes or Vucevic return (hopefully next week).

It would’ve been nice to have an extra big man around during the Nets’ game when the 76ers were being man-handled by Dwight Howard Kris Humphries.

Kemba Walker led the 3-17 Bobcats with 14 points and 8 rebounds, but the Bobcats stood no chance at threatening the 76ers’ lead at any point in this game. The Bobcats returned two Philadelphia area players in Episcopal Academy’s Gerald Henderson and Hatboro-Horsham’s Matt Carroll. While Henderson starred at Duke University, his game is still evolving in the NBA and this season is his first as a regular starter for the Bobcats. Averaging over 15 PPG so far this season, Henderson had one of his worst games of the year in Friday night’s homecoming with just 2-of-10 shooting from the field. Carroll, a deep reserve for the Bobcats, made the most of his playing time with 11 points.

Across sports, there are many reasons why rivalries begin. Some rivalries are derived from frequent “big-game” match-ups or playoff series, and some stem simply from geographical proximity. Using that logic, it wouldn’t be a crime to call the Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Wizards a rivalry; however, this match-up has been all one-sided as of late.

For the third time in less than two weeks, the 76ers (12-5) beat the Wizards (2-15), 103-83. So far, the average margin of victory in these match ups has been a laughable 21.3 points. Luckily for the Wizards, they won’t have to face the 76ers again until the end of March.

Thin in the front court because of injuries to Spencer Hawes and rookie Nikola Vucevic, it would be Elton Brand the 76ers called upon for a big game, and he delivered.

In just over 29 minutes, Brand was able to put in 17 points and was just a rebound shy of his fifth double-double of the season.

Staying true to form, the 76ers featured six players scoring in double figures. Jrue Holiday had 17 points, while Jodie Meeks added 15 as well. Though Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams each scored 14 points off the bench, that has become expected and the real surprise came from rookie big-man Lavoy Allen.

The Temple University product hasn’t had much of a chance to make an impact on the team he grew up rooting for, but made the most of his playing time against the Wizards. Allen went 5-for-5 from the field for 10 points and added six rebounds in just 18 minutes.

Despite 17 points from Jordan Crawford and four other players scoring in double figures, the Wizards seemed lifeless and disinterested in playing the 76ers again. After the first half, the Wizards just had 32 points and were in a 30-point hole. They did not have a single three-point field goal and committed nine turnovers to just 15 assists. To put that in perspective, the 76ers only turned the ball over six times while registering 30 assists, including 11 from Andre Iguodala.

Once again, total domination by the 76ers.

For the first time in a long time, I am able to catch the 76ers game live tonight so I am going to break this game down with first and second half recaps.

First Half Analysis:

After 24 minutes of play, the same old tune is being played in Philadelphia tonight. While as impressive as the 76ers start to the season has been, once again they are struggling with a playoff caliber team. I will not hesitate to say the Atlanta Hawks have clearly outplayed the 76ers so far tonight.

Separated by just two picks in the 2009 NBA Draft, Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague were part of an extremely deep point guard class that included names like Ricky Rubio, Steph Curry, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, and Eric Maynor. While Holiday has been playing regularly and already has a full year of starting point guard duties under his belt, Teague is finally getting a chance to start this year, and so far tonight he is making Atlanta look pretty smart for letting go of veteran Mike Bibby this off-season (as if Mike Bibby’s play hasn’t made that clear already). After two quarters, Teague leads the Hawks with nine points, four assists, and five steals. Holiday has been no slouch either and leads all scorers with 10 points at the break.

The story of this game definitely lies in how both teams are shooting from the field. The Hawks finished the half shooting 50% including 2 of 5 from downtown; meanwhile, the 76ers are having one of their worst shooting performances of the year at 34.1% and have just made one of their seven three point attempts.

Another storyline to follow the rest of the game is the bench play for both teams. While the 76ers’ strong point lies in their assets off the bench, the Hawks have the edge in bench points 20-15.

While the Hawks do not appear to be missing Al Horford too much (4-0 without him), the 76ers are already 0-2 without Spencer Hawes in the middle and are in jeopardy of being handed a third loss.

Hawks lead 47-39. Check back later for an update with a final recap.

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Talk about a tale of two halves. I will not hesitate to say the Atlanta Hawks Philadelphia 76ers have clearly outplayed the 76ers Hawks so far tonight. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t copy and paste that from my above commentary about tonight’s first half.

Whatever was said at halftime and whatever adjustments the 76ers made definitely threw the Hawks for a loop in the second half and preceded to a 90-76 blowout. A quick 76ers’ flurry of three pointers and highlight reel dunks in the third and a complete role reversal took place.  All of a sudden, the 76ers were the team making all the big plays and the Hawks looked like a deer caught in headlights.

The 76ers outscored the Hawks 25-10 in the third quarter and it could’ve been worse if it weren’t for a Willie Green buzzer-beating three pointer to end the frame.

While I can sit here and try to figure out what went wrong for the Hawks and what the 76ers did right, I will sum it up with this:  I was clearly wrong when I said the Hawks weren’t missing big-man Al Horford.

The 76ers emphatically outrebounded the Hawks 51-32, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds to the Hawks’ three.

Thad Young led the 76ers with 20 points off the bench and both Holiday (16 points, 11 assists) and Elton Brand (10 points, 16 rebounds) finished with double-doubles.  The 76ers have had at least five players score in double figures in 13 of their 15 games this season and have seven players averaging double-digit points.  What makes this even more impressive is that the 76ers do not have a single player averaging more than 16 PPG and have not had a 30-point scorer yet this season.

Tomorrow, however, will be the big test with a showdown and rematch of last year’s first round of the playoffs with the Miami Heat in Miami.  No word on whether Dwyane Wade will suit up.

Worth Mentioning: Andre Iguodala picked up his 1000^th steal of his career and now is fifth all-time in the history of the 76ers.

Andre Miller scored 28 points and added 8 rebounds and 10 assists off the bench for the Denver Nuggets to end the Philadelphia 76ers 3 game win streak. Miller hit clutch shots down the stretch and eventually the game winner in overtime to put the Sixers away. Once again, the Sixers bench shined which has become a recurring theme this season, as Thaddeus Young scored 22 and Evan Turner added 20 points and 11 rebounds

The Sixers got off to a hot start in the 1st quarter outscoring the Nuggets 28-19, but struggled to score in the 2nd and found themselves in a 6 point hole going into halftime. The 2nd half was pretty even until about halfway through the 4th where the Sixers defense came up with key turnovers and transitioned those into points. Andre Iguodala had a chance to put the Sixers ahead with 4 seconds left in the fourth quarter but only converted one of two free throws which sent the game to overtime.

Overtime was headlined by an absolutely awful call on Evan Turner. Turner was driving with the game tied 104-104 and Nene stepped in front of Turner, clearly shuffling his feet and was called fo the offensive foul. There was no debating whether it was an offensive or defensive foul and the refs just missed that one which led to the Sixers downfall. On the bright side, the Sixers showed they could hang with a tough team, even without starting center Spencer Hawes who the Sixers could have used to defend Nene who seemed to be scoring at will in the 2nd half. The Sixers will hope to turn it around on Friday when they host another good team in the Atlanta Hawks.

We are now a few weeks into the NBA season, and the 76ers are the surprise of the league, starting the season 10-3 and unbeaten at home. The question remains, can the Sixers keep it up? The schedule for the 76ers has been very friendly so far this season, with their highlight win of the season coming against the Indiana Pacers who were missing Danny Grainger. Their 7 game win streak ended last week at the hands of the New York Knicks, but it was the 3rd game in as many nights for the Sixers.

The Sixers hold the best point differential in the league with a +14.9 which is absolutely ridiculous seeing as the closest to them is at +8.5. The Sixers may be benefactors of an easy schedule so far, but they are taking it to these teams, winning by double digits in 9 of their 10 victories this year. They have one of the deepest, if not the deepest bench in the league, with Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner tearing it up this season. It is very refreshing watching this team play, and their success has come from their ability to play like a team in an age where the NBA is dominated by 1 on 1 performances. This Sixers team is fast and young, and they are blowing teams out in the 2nd half of games because of their bench.

While their bench is playing outstanding, their starters aren’t doing too bad either. Elton Brand looks like he is 20 again which is what Sixers fans have been waiting for, and saw a little bit of near the end of last year. Spencer Hawes has come out and shown his ability to score so far this year, and he will be a huge factor in this teams success if he can stay healthy. Andre Iguodala looks more relaxed than he has been in his entire career, and it is showing on the stats sheets. He is explosive, can hit the outside shot, and can dunk over any teams biggest guy. Jodie Meeks got off to a slow start and is still playing pretty inconsistent, but when this guy is on he is on. This entire team for that matter can shoot the 3 ball making them that much dangerous. Lastly, Jrue Holiday is just clutch. Whenever this team needs a basket, he is the guy they look to. It will be exciting to watch this kid grow into an NBA star, and this year he looks much improved.

So the pieces are all there, and Sixers management’s move to keep the same team as last year and work with them is looking like it’s paying off right now. Doug Collins has done a spectacular job, and is possibly the most underrated coach in the NBA right now. I thought his name should have been in for Coach of the Year last year, leading that team on a hot streak after getting off to an awful start. This week we will see if the Sixers are for real or not. They play the Nuggets tomorrow, the Hawks on Friday and the Heat on Saturday. These are by far their biggest games so far in this young season, and now is the time to show the league that they are here to stay.

While it wasn’t as emphatic as Friday night’s blowout in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia 76ers took down the Washington Wizards once again 103-90 on Saturday night. With help from Oklahoma City, who beat the ‘Melo-less New York Knicks 104-92, the 76ers now find themselves up by three games in the Atlantic Division. The 76ers have now won eight out of nine and post an impressive 9-3 record.

Lou Williams led the 76ers’ balanced attack with 24 points and Andre Iguodala chipped in a season-high 23 points. Williams and Iguodala were joined by three others in double figures: Thaddeus Young (18), Jrue Holiday (13), and Elton Brand (12).

While the 76ers dominated Friday night, Saturday night’s victory may have been due more to how bad the Wizards struggled.  John Wall was only a rebound and assist shy of a triple-double, but also committed 8 of the Wizards’ 18 turnovers.  To put that in perspective, the 76ers only turned the ball over seven times.  One aspect of the game in which the 1-11 Wizards dominated the 76ers in was on the boards.  The Wiz outrebounded Philadelphia 53-37, including 18 from JaVale McGee.  McGee also added 23 points, which along with Nick  Young’s 27 points led the way for Washington.

The 76ers and Wizards will reconvene again for their third meeting of the season in just eight days.  Up next for the 76ers is a young, Milwaukee Bucks on Martin Luther King Day.

In the NBA, to be considered one of the best you have to beat the best. While that saying definitely holds true, the great teams also need to know how to impose their will against teams stuck in the NBA cellar. It took some time, but the Philadelphia 76ers took care of business Friday night by beating the Washington Wizards 120-89.

Everyone probably put a tally in the win column for the 76ers before the game began, but Doug Collins didn’t waste any time in proving to his young team that if they played lethargic and without discipline, they’d even the playing ground with the Wizards.

Just 1:44 into the game, Collins subbed out starting point guard Jrue Holiday after he began the game with two turnovers in the 76ers’ first four possessions. Though you want one of your core players out on the court, Collins quickly called Holiday over to the seat next to him and could be seen talking to Holiday and possibly giving him a teaching lesson on protecting the ball. Whatever it was that Collins said, Holiday listened and did not commit a single turnover the rest of the game.

Wins also are a little easier to come by when your team scores 38 points in a single quarter.

While the Wizards are not exactly a defensive powerhouse, the 38 points scored by the 76ers in the third quarter and 120 points overall were both season highs. At one point, the Wiz found themselves down by as many as 34.

Who was the spark tonight? Lou Williams led the 76ers early with 19 points off the bench, but like always, everyone played their part and found ways to contribute. Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand each had 13 points and Spencer Hawes returned from his one game absence to post his fifth double-double of the season in just 19 minutes. The hottest of hands belonged to sharpshooting Jodie Meeks, who made 6 of 7 from downtown and tied a career-high with 26 points. The 76ers as a team made 12 of 18 from beyond.

It was a Meeks’ 3-pointer that put the 76ers over the century mark of 100 points with just under seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter, and the crowd came to their feet as the team turned their game tickets into free Big Mac coupons to be used at McDonalds.

Everyone in Philly seems to be having fun with these 76ers and the fun should continue tomorrow night in the DC leg of the home-and-home. The Seventy-Six, now 8-3, increased their Atlantic Division lead to two games over the idle New York Knicks and the Wizards find themselves looking for answers at 1-10.

Just weeks after the New York Rangers spoiled the Winter Classic for Philadelphia Flyers fans, the two cities took the hardwood for what would be an early test for both teams.

Once again, New York came away victorious.

From the get-go, the New York Knicks dominated and despite a late rally from the 76ers, held on for a 85-79 win.

The Knicks needed Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire to step up big and the two stars answered the call. Combining for 47 points, Carmelo scored 12 of his 27 points in the third quarter and Stoudemire registered his second straight double-double. Only two nights after their bench contributed just three points against the Bobcats, the Knicks were pleasantly surprised when the bench added 21 points tonight, including 13 from rookie Josh Harrellson.

After starting the season with a record of 7-2 and atop the Atlantic Division, the 76ers quite possibly had their worst performance of the 2011-12 campaign. Believe it or not, the main reason for the lowly performance may have been the tormenting defense of the Knicks. That is not a typo.

The 76ers shot just 39.5% from the field and looked absolutely flat in the first half in which they scored only 35 points.

Without starting big-man Spencer Hawes, the 76ers struggled to replace his 11.1 ppg and 9.1 rpg, as well as his simple presence in the paint. Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner added 16 points a piece, but poor shot selection coupled with the harassing defense of the Knicks caused team-leading scorer Lou Williams to add just two points.

Trailing by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter, the 76ers rode the hot hand of Thaddeus Young, who netted eight points in the quarter, to close within four in the final minute of play–but the Knicks proved to be just too much.

After playing back-to-back-to-back games, the 76ers are off tomorrow before hosting the Wizards in the first leg of a home and home series on Friday. The Knicks take their four-game win streak to Memphis to square off with the Grizz Thursday night.

I said before the series started that it would go 5, but I was pleasantly surprised how close it ended up being. The Sixers were in every game but one, and even stole a win, which heading toward the future is very promising. The two future franchise players were excellent in their first playoff series ever, Holiday and Turner. No Sixer fan should be disappointed with their effort, as they battled hard with a much more talented team, and it just feels good to be out of the Eddie Jordan years.

Elton Brand was awesome, battling inside, and doing all he could, even had a game winning block on LeBron one game. The Sixers showed a lot of promise and there are 4 crucial offseason moves they have to make.

1. Resign Thad Young. He is a key player for the 76ers, and really made a big stride offensively this year, causing many matchup problems. My fear is that a team that saw him will offer him big money to be a starter, something the Sixers can’t afford to do. Hopefully he has some loyalty and knows that he will get extended minutes next year.

2. Trade Andre Iguodala. It is time for the longest tenured Sixer to part ways. The city has turned on him because of his mediocre offensive game. He is a very good player but is being paid like a great one. Turner proved this playoff series that he can fill in immediately to replace Iggy. It will be sort of sad to see him go but it is definitely necessary, as Turner and Andre can’t coexist.  Not really sure what 76ers could get for him but he be great on a contender, hes like a better Ron Artest.

3 and 4. Get a center and pure scorer. Since the Sixers don’t have any superstars, although Jrue Holiday at 20 looks like he could be on his way. They need to shape their team like the 2000′s Detroit Pistons. All very good players, that played great defense, and had amazing chemisty. Right now Spencer Hawes isn’t the type of center that benefits the Sixers. They need someone like a Tyson Chandler/Ben Wallace type, that will rebound, shots and be happy with a few dunks here and there. The other thing they need is somebody that can score. Think Danny Granger, but he doesn’t necessarily have to be as good as DG because Holiday and Turner can create. The Pistons used Rip Hamilton to get them easy, automatic points, the Sixers need something like this. If they can address one of these two positions as well as the top 2 issues I mentioned then it will be a great offseason. With the 16th pick in the draft there won’t be amazing talent, so they have to get lucky and hope the pick pans out. Somebody like Tyler Honeycutt or Jordan Hamilton can be that scorer they could use. Both are big at 6’7 and can shoot. If the Sixers run Holiday one of those two, Turner, Brand, and find a center, with Young, Williams, and Meeks coming off the bench they could be dangerous.