If you attended the Philadelphia 76ers matchup against the Boston Celtics you got your money’s worth.  You witnessed one of the most entertaining games of the season and the best 76ers match in the early NBA year.  There were 14 lead changes in the fourth quarter, a game winning bucket that left only 1.4 seconds remaining and clutch shots hit by veteran stars.  One of the best NBA games you will watch during the regular season.

However, if you’re a faithful Philadelphia fanatic feeling heartbroken and devastated, it is understandable.  What occurred in the closing minutes of the ball game gave you hope that was quickly squandered by a team that has been there before — the Boston Celtics.  It was as Head Coach Doug Collins described it, like a “kicked to the gut”.  Only for us it was worse.  It was like getting kicked in the gut by an older sibling, a brother that has bullied you all your life and the moment you feel like you’ve accomplished anything, they put you right back into place.

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This very late, very brief edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features tonight’s opponent the aging and banged up, but still very good Boston Celtics. 

The 76ers are riding a 5-game home winning streak and have won 4 of their last 5 overall so they have some momentum going for the first time all year.  Still this sudden wave of good play and success will not be enough to carry the 7-6 past an injury riddled Boston squad.  Obviously we hope and pray that Sixers win tonight, but we just don’t see it happening.

Here’s the reason why…Even though the C’s appear ripe for the picking — they played last night while the Sixers are rested, they have a host of injuries that have put key players out and their starters are banged up, one thing is for certain — Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen will be on the floor tonight.  Shaq will most likely make a cameo as well.  Those facts give the C’s a distinct advantage over Philadunkia’s home team as we simply don’t have that kind of talent.  So even though the 7-6 went 1-3 vs. Boston last year and played them tough in several of those defeats (L’s by 3 and 10 points), we feel the Sixers will be over matched again tonight and suffer a close loss to their arch rivals.

For a little more insight into the Celtics team the Sixers face tonight, we turn to our man Ryan DeGama from celticshub.com to answer two questions on the Celtics from us here at Philadunkia as well as provide us with two points of analysis on this Boston squad from an insider’s perspective. 

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On Wednesday, 76ers Head Coach Doug Collins was a call-in guest for “The Mike Missanelli Show” on 950 “The Fanatic”.  Collins was very chipper and heaped praise on 7-6 for the way the team has been playing of late — a 5-game home winning streak will do that to a coach.

“Mikey Miss” and Collins discussed a variety of topics including the Sixers recent success, Thaddeus Young’s play, Evan Turner’s “demotion”, why the team struggled so badly out of the gate and his legendary teammate “Chocolate Thunder”. 

To be honest we couldn’t believe how straight forward Collins was in the interview.  Missanelli touched on numerous subjects we have been dying to ask Collins about and overall it was a very solid interview.

One of our favorite clips and the full interview with Collins after the jump.

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After the inevitable November 26^th Philadelphia 76er loss to the Miami Heat, I began drafting a piece for this website on the potential lottery picks we could scoop up in the top five of the upcoming draft.  After all, the Sixers had just dropped games in Washington and Toronto to worsen their record to an appalling 3-13.

But wait a minute, hold on just a second.  I can stop the presses now on an early NBA lottery preview because the Sixers (7-14) have won four out of their last five games, including their last five games at the Wells Fargo Center.

The striking thing about the Sixers last four wins is that the team has had a different leading scorer each night, and none of them have been named Andre Iguodala.

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It’s all good in Turkey. 

Well as good as it can be considering the rumors that Allen Iverson is not at all happy with the way he is being used by Besiktas and that he has alienated teammates. 

Despite all the rumors stateside (especially here in Philly) that things are not going smoothly in Turkey, Iverson had another decent outing today and Besiktas posted their first EuroCup win this season with an 80-74 victory over French club Asvel. 

Besiktas is now 1-2 in Eurocup play and 5-3 in Turkish League action.

As has become the norm since his arrival in Instanbul, Iverson started for the Black Eagles, but only hauled 24 minutes this time out.  His limited tick was a little surprising given that he played a season high 37 minutes this past weekend when Besiktas defeated TBL opponent Olin Edirne, 88-75.

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The Jodie Meeks love-fest has officially begun on Philadunkia nation.  Kate Fagan of philly.com lets us know that the Meeks bandwagon is rolling over at PCOM .  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but we may need to slow down just a bit.

There have been so many Phil Jasner tribute stories over the last few days and it has been amazing to see the outpouring of respect for one of the NBA’s best beat writers.  We thought we’d point out two of the better posts.

• Jack McCallum of SI.com regarded Jasner as a pro’s pro.
• In arguably the best piece we read, csnphilly.com’s Ray Didinger, a former Jasner colleague, remembers Phil’s love of the game. 

csnphilly.com’s Dei Lynam writes that Doug Collins and others think AI9 has suddenly developed an agressive streak and that’s why he playing so well.

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“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

- Ronald Reagan

While most historians argue that Reagan was referring to the Berlin Wall, not the rookie wall, when he issued this portentous edict, I think we can be certain the rookie wall is a barrier The Gipper would have opposed with equal verve and indignation.

As for the wall itself: Most rooks run smack into the monolith around midseason and stumble around woozily for a few weeks, before reorienting, regrouping, and riding a second-wind to a strong finish. Some never bounce back from the initial impact though and there’s always an immediate post-wall period –for even the most highly touted, bet-the-house, rooks — where no one knows which way the thing is going to go.

Evan Turner, in one of the most extraordinarily early onsets of rookie wall ever recorded, has just hit such a wall (He also started the season with a summer league wall, then hit another in the preseason. His career so far looks like a police academy obstacle course.).  It remains to be seen which group he belongs to.

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Allen Iverson recovered nicely from his last game for Besiktas in which he struggled mightily (2 for 5 from the field for 4 points) and was seemingly benched for the entire 4th quarter.  Iverson was again in the starting five for the Black Eagles and hauled 37 minutes on the night.  The result was a 88-75 victory for Besiktas over Olin Edirne in Turkish League play. 

Besiktas is now 5-3 on the TBL season.  They are 3-1 in league play and 0-2 in Euroleague action since Iverson’s arrival. 

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Usually on nights following  an epic collapse, the 76ers would struggle out of the opening gates, forcing up shots and playing sluggish defense.  But Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center was a different story.  The 76ers scored 32 first quarter points, never came close to relinquishing the lead and defeated the Bobcats 109-91 for Philadelphia’s third win in their last four games.

You mean to tell me the 76ers actually held onto a halftime lead?!  Yes, yes they did.  Philadelphia’s superb help defense, protecting the basketball (only 11 turnovers) and spreading of the rock (23 assists to Charlotte’s 16) helped nearly every 76er get involved in the action.  But all of these components of Saturday night’s winning formula have to take a backseat to the 76ers new starting shooting guard.

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The Sixers (5-14) are a hard team to watch.  The pregame glare from Mark Zumoff and Eric Snow’s shiny heads hurts my eyes and the team’s bizarrely inconsistent play frustrates my sense of basketball rightness. 

This frustration is exacerbated when they play the Hawks and I can’t help noodle over what might have been had Stefanski pursued Josh Smith rather than Brand that fateful Spring of ’08.  Brand suffers for this comparison, especially when Smithblocks him from behind with seven minutes remaining in the first quarter of said game.  Wounds, meet salt.

The Sixers lost to the Hawks last night 93-88 and I’m unusually bitter about it.  Why?  Let’s start at the end.

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