Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg declares the Sixers America’s Team by virtue of their drawing the NBA’s Evil Empire in round one. Doubtless most Americans will be pulling for the 7-6, but can America’s Team really be the second most-popular in their own building? Evidently yes.

As the old saying goes, if you can’t stand the Heat, root for the Sixers.

Also at cnnsi.com, the indomitable Zach Lowe points out that the Sixers have gone 38-28 since their Nov. 26 loss to the Heat, but regardless picks Miami in five. Why the pessimism? Lowe identifies LeBron James as the Heat’s x-factor. The Sixers’? Spencer Hawes. Gulp.

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This first-round of the NBA Playoffs edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” — Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which withthe help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers opponents — features the foes in this upcoming best-of-seven series, Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat.  

Today we’re going to put a little different twist on “Fo’ with the Foes”.  Typically we would have a single Philadunkia writer preview Game 1 of this series as well as publish some thoughts from an online Heat expert.  Instead, all of the scribes here at Philadunkia have submitted deeply analyzed and well thought out predictions of what is going to happen in this playoff clash between the second seeded Miami Heat and our seventh seeded Philadelphia 76ers. 

Complete 76ers first-round predictions after the jump… 

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Now that excitement of the Phillies Opening day is behind us, it’s time to concentrate all your attention on the 76ers for a week or so. 

In case you haven’t heard, the Sixers are in the 2011 NBA Playoffs as the seven seed. 

“PLAYOFFS !?, PLAYOFFS !?”, you say in your best Jim Mora voice.

Yes the Sixers are in the Playoffs.  However, what lies ahead for Philadunkia’s home team is an extremely challenging series against the Miami Heat.  

To get you ready for what is sure to be a thrilling series, Philadunkia scribes Nabeel Ahmadieh and Kevin Jones are back with another podcast.  This one of course previews the 7-6′s upcoming matchup with Lebron, D-Wade & Company.

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The end of an NBA season is like sitting in a dentist chair; you can’t wait for the agony to end.  Some teams have been sitting in the chair all season long, getting drilled for cavities and root canals.  For teams in the playoffs— like the Sixers— the final few games are more like a relaxation period, like, ahh we’ve finally made it here.  This Philadelphia basketball season has been full of overachieving and not many people (including the players) felt compelled to get amped for this one. Outside of the 14-0 in the second quarter, the Wells Fargo Center was lifeless on Monday.

One thing is finally official though.  The Eastern Conference playoffs are set in stone and our 76ers (41-40) will be facing the daunting challenge that is the Miami Heat.  We assured ourselves the seventh seed following Monday night’s lackluster 95-85 loss against the Magic.  Orlando somehow managed to only win by 10 points despite the fact that they out-rebounded the Sixers 56-31, and that margin was at 21-2 midway through the second quarter.

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Today we’re announcing that we’ve partnered with Draft Street on another promo for all you fantasy pros out there. 

This one is for all you addicts who are not satisified with just playing in a league during the NBA’s regular season. 

This one is an NBA Playoff fantasty league and hopefully it will help you get your fantasy fix this week.  

You can sign up for the one week, FREE Philadunkia fantasy league with a $100 prize pool by clicking on the link below.

Just like last time, it is a salary cap league where everyone tries to assemble the best team out of the players who’s teams are participating in the 2011 NBA Playoffs.  You will have a $100,000 salary to build a team of guards, bigs, two centers and two reserves.  Each NBA player has been allocated a price based on their expected performance.  For example, Lebron costs $19,626 where as our guy Andre Iguodala only costs $13,955.  You can get the full rules here. 

The best part about this contest is that it’s 100% free to enter.  

But as we have said previously, Philadunkia nation be warned — one of us is looking to take home the $$$.

Join the Philadunkia $100 Prize Pool by clicking here.

Missing starting point guard Jose Calderon and forward Andrea Bargnani, the Toronto Raptors still managed to competitively challenge the playoff-bound 76ers.  Behind DeMar DeRozan and Jerryd Bayless who combined for 51 points — including 11/12 free throws from DeRozan — Toronto rallied from a 12 point half-time deficit to a 98-93 loss with a chance to tie in the closing seconds. 

Unfortunately for the Canadian squad, Bayless air balled a three-pointer from several feet beyond-the-arc at a chance for overtime. 

As the Raptors dropped to 6-34 away from home, the Sixers improved to 26-13 at the Wells-Fargo Center.  The home stand is the best mark since 2000-01 when an Allen Iverson led Sixers team went 29-12.  At 41-39 on the year and still trailing the Knicks for the sixth seed after a New York over New Jersey outcome, were poised for our 46^th playoff appearance in franchise history.  Only two franchises in NBA history have more postseason exposure — the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. 

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This Friday 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 foes, the lowly Toronto Raptors. 

We’re going to keep this one short as the Raptors are simply awful and the Sixers three game losing skid will come to a halt tonight. 

The Raptors are terrible defensively (opponents hit for 105.8 ppg. – 2^nd worst in the NBA), they have nothing to play for in the last week of the season and they are banged up – Sixer killer and Raptors’ leading scorer Andre Bargnani has missed four of the last six games due to a sore right ankle and fellow starter Amir Johnson (ankle) sat out Wednesday’s 104-96 home loss to Cleveland.  Both are expected to miss tonight’s game.  Back in January the Sixers beat the Raps in Toronto by 13 (and it wasn’t that close) with both Bargnani and Johnson in the lineup. 

That should be enough evidence to convince you that the Sixers will win tonight, but in case it is not, take a look at these numbers that all but guarantee a Sixers win tonight…

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76ers legend Allen Iverson had a run-in with the law last night down in Atlanta.

According to police reports, “The Answer” who is still stateside rehabbing the leg injury that caused him to leave his Turkish Basketball League team in the middle of the season, was riding in his Lamborghini Wednesday night when an Atlanta police officer pulled the car over for changing lanes without using a turn signal.

During the stop the officer noticed that the gray 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago had expired dealer tags – from 2009 – and had the exotic ride impounded.  Sidebar here…tags for that kind of whip cost around $10,000.

Needless to say Iverson did not handle the stop very well.

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Some might call it a valiant effort, I strongly disagree.  Yes the Sixers were outstanding in the fourth quarter as they outscored the visiting New York Knicks by eight, but the despicable first three quarters cannot be excused. 

Before the fourth quarter the Sixers (40-39) looked disengaged, uninterested and heartless.  They failed to protect the rim, didn’t box out and couldn’t find a rhythm offensively.  After a half-time break and down 49-41, the Sixers watched Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups race off to a 17 point lead with an 11-0 run from the pair.  That critical Knicks’ stretch — where we came out completely flat — would be prove to be the difference later on despite an impressive fourth quarter from Thaddeus Young. 

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The surprising 76ers (40-38) weren’t able to overcome an atrocious third quarter in Boston and fell to the Celtics 99-82.  It took the Sixers five minutes and 40 seconds to score in the third quarter and by then the Celtics had extended their four point halftime lead into a 63-52 margin. 

The Sixers would trim the lead back down to four later in the quarter, but the damage had been done.  Boston wasn’t letting this one slip away at home, especially with the 76er offense only generating 32 total second half points.  The win put Boston in the number two seed — for now — and a Knicks win narrowed New York’s gap behind Philadelphia to just a half game.  

Only one player on the roster showed any signs of consistency Tuesday night at the Garden.  That player was Evan Turner, who was Ohio State-esque in his 33 minutes of handling the backup point guard role.  ET shot 9-of-14 for 21 points, five assists and three offensive boards.  Turner strapped the offense on his back for hefty portions of the game, penetrating the paint with ease and using the backboard smoothly on several running layup attempts. It was as aggressive and as confident as we’ve seen Turner in his biggest opportunity to date.  Dare I say turning point?

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