Game Day (No Relation to Todd): Dec. 23—Philadelphia 76ers

	Rich Levine

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By Rich Levine

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 1:45 pm ET

Tuesday, December 23: Philadelphia 76es

What it means: Do you think there’s any part of Doc Rivers that maybe wishes Elton Brand never got hurt?

With Brand, the 76ers were predictable, rigid, and just overall out of sync. They were a running team living in a half-court world, focused around an unfamiliar, not-quite-100%-big man. With Brand on the floor tonight, the Celtics would feel threatened.

"So they hired this guy to beat our asses, and now he’s gonna come into OUR house and act like he’s worthy of stealing our crown?!?!?!"

That’s what we call an Automatic Gino Game. But tonight… who knows? The Sixers have absolutely nothing to lose. With the absence of Brand, they’ve gone back to that brand (yeah, haha) of basketball that nearly slayed Pistons in last year’s playoffs.

Do we expect to win? Of course, and win big, but if there was ever going to be a trap game…

(By the way, I wouldn’t tolerate this, and actually feel like an ass even bringing it up, BUT if the 76ers somehow found a way to win this game—and assuming there’s some Sixer fan representation in the stands—an "18-1!" chant would be pretty deadly. You’d have to respect it, if not just a little. But then again, if I hear any of that tonight, it was most definitely stolen from here—I’m huge in Sixer Nation—and thus lame. Check and Mate.)

Player to Watch: Louis Williams

After a god awful start to the season, Williams has come back to average 18 points a night—off the bench—over his last eight games. With the Celtics second unit continuing to struggle at times, Sweet Lou could be the kind of tempo guy that keeps the 76ers a float.

Match-Up to Watch: The Starting Fives

Outside of 6-11 center Samuel Dalembert, the Sixers don’t start a guy taller than 6-8. In fact they start only one 6-8er, Thaddeus Young, and then it’s 6-6 Andre Iguodala, 6-3 Willie Green and 6-2 Andre Miller. This is going to be fun.

If you don’t think Rondo’s finishing with at least 12 assists then you’re out of your mind.

Fun Fact: Here’s a fun game to play if you’re a humungous loser like me. Pick any two former or current NBA players and then go to Basketball Reference and see how long it takes you to connect them Kevin Bacon-style. For instance, let’s take Greg Oden and Sam Bowie. It wasn’t as hard as I thought:

Sam Bowie played on the Lakers Anthony Peeler in 1995, who played with Steve Blake on the Wizards in 2005 with Steve Blake, who currently plays with Oden on the Blazers.

Anyway, if you’re looking to kill some time, knock yourself out.

(I decided to write about it because I was on BJ Armstrong’s page for some reason and needed only one player connection to get to Samuel Dalembert. Both guys have played with Elton Brand.)

Random Old Celtics/76ers Box Score: December 9, 1988—Charles Barkley works the Celtics over for 35 points and 13 boards, but Sir Charles didn’t count on Danny Ainge and his 45-point explosion! The craziest thing about Ainge’s night—which helped the C’s to a 121-107 win— was that he only hit three foul shots and two 3-pointers. That’s 18 morally sound two-point field goals. That’s old school dominance, even for 1988! In other news, with Larry Bird on the shelf, Parish and McHale combined for 35 points and 26 boards, and Mike "Silk" Gminski added 14 and 10 for Philly.

p.s. This is pretty hilarious. Don’t forget to check out the G-Man’s blog.

Prop Bet: Donyell Marshall Points (-5.4) vs. Donny Marshall Points

Headline You Won’t Read Tomorrow: 18, Again: Another Boston Win Streak Ends at 18.

Headline You Might Read Tomorrow: Help!: Can Anyone Think Of A Catchy Headline That Works With The No. 19?