Defying the grim preseason predictions of many commentators, online scribes and national television “experts”, the Sixers won their 40th game and clinched a playoff berth with Friday’s 115-90 win over the Nets.

I expected they would win 23 games, so needless to say, I didn’t see this tremendous basketball revival coming. 

In fact, entering the 2010-11 NBA season, here are a few scenarios I actually thought were significantly more likely than the Sixers making the playoffs this year.

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Seventy-seven down, five to go.  The lengthy journey which has provided many thrills and good fortune has taken a sour turn at an unfortunate time.  The injury bug finally bit the Sixers in strong fashion with news arising that Lou Williams will be out indefinitely because of a strained hammy.  

Obviously losing our Sixth Man of the Year candidate who has played well this season — averaging 13.7 points per game while constantly hitting big shots — will hurt.  Replacing his roster spot is NBA journeyman, and current NBA D-Leaguer, Antonio Daniels.  Daniels, who is 36 and last played in the League in 2009, joins the 7-6 on a 10-day contract.  

These final five games now become even more pivotal as the Sixers not only need to end on a strong note, but also must figure out how to cope without Williams’ skills for the “foreseeable future”.

Preview of the final five regular games in 2010-11 after the jump.

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The 76ers needed to win against New Jersey in order to solidify their lead over the streaking 7th seeded New York Knicks as well as gain momentum heading into the playoffs.  A loss against the Nets would have been pathetic and unacceptable, and may have given the 76ers a reputation around the League as an inconsistent team. 

Luckily for us, the 76ers pulled through, eliminating the Nets with a great team effort and thus clinched a spot in the 2011 NBA playoffs.

The 7-6 started off strong with a quick lead over the Nets who were having obvious difficulty scoring the basketball.  This was most likely due to the absence of interior presence, Kris Humphries, who has been a huge part of New Jersey’s offense down low.  New Jersey’s complacency was evident throughout the entire game as they settled for difficult jump shots instead of working the ball into the paint.  The result of settling for contested jumpers was that the Nets starting lineup shot a dismal 15-40 in the game.  The only positive that the Nets showed in this contest, was how well their bench played. Contrary to the starting lineup, New Jersey’s bench actually decided to work the ball down low occasionally.  When the Nets’ reserves were not trying to score in the paint, they scored well from outside, shooting an impressive 22-45.  Still this effort was not enough to knock off the 76ers who defeated the Nets by a large margin of 25.

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In case you haven’t noticed, Spencer Hawes has been playing a much larger role on offense for the 76ers.  His averages over the last five games go a little something like this: 13 points, 7 boards, 1.5 blocks and a 49.2 field goal percentage in 30.2 minutes.  For comparisons sake you should know that Hawes season average for court time in 2010-2011 has hovered around 20 minutes. 

Those statistics are actually quite striking when you think of how unsettling some other franchises center situations are — Miami, New York, Charlotte, Detroit etc.  The only NBA teams that are able to mask their problem at the 5-spot are teams with multiple superstars.

Hawes is shooting a career high 48.4% from the floor after going through some brutal cold stretches through January — no pun intended.  There were times earlier this season where I was clamoring about Hawes as a ‘problem’.  However, if this type of play continues, the Hawes problem could be a hidden reason for a second round playoff matchup.

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On Monday we launched something totally new for you here at Philadunkia. 

We’ve partnered with Draft Street on a new promo for all you fantasy pros out their who need an extra fix.  

You can still sign up for the one night exclusive Philadunkia fantasy league with a $100 prize pool.  The action tips off at 7pm tonight.

Basically, it is a salary cap league where everyone tries to assemble the best team out of the players who are still remaining.  You will have a $100,000 salary to build a team of two guards, two 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 siad on Monday, Philadunkia nation be warned — one of us is looking to take home the $$$.

Join the Philadunkia $100 Prize Pool by clicking here.