Sixer Stunner: Philly Over Pistons By 20

Unbelievable. There was no Mo Cheeks Face last night as the 76ers absolutely demolished the Detroit Pistons, 95-75.

The seventh-seeded Sixers — who were 40-42 during the regular season — are now up 2-1 in the Best-of-7 series, and now people are thinking they might be able to actually win this thing. The 76ers’ star, Andre Iguodala, hasn’t done anything offensively in the three games so far, but maybe it won’t matter. The teams play again Sunday. Let’s go Sixers!

Sixers Predictably Pummeled In Game 2

Above: The Mo Cheeks face. We saw a lot of it last night.

Uh, well that was kind of what everyone expected. The 76ers got smoked by the Pistons in Game 2, falling behind by as many as 28 points before losing 105-88.

“This is tire country,” the Daily News‘ Phil Jasner writes. “And the Sixers had a blowout.” Rimshot!

The 76ers get a day off before playing the Pistons Friday night in Philadelphia; the big disappointment in the series so far is Andre Iguodala, who didn’t score in the first half last night and finished with 4 points. He is shooting just 5-for-24 in the series.

But, hey, Reggie Evans is upbeat. Just see what he has to say: “We’re going home, going to one of the greatest arenas in the NBA. We have to show them how we do it at home, come with our heads high. Our fans are waitin’ on us, and we’re waitin’ on them.”

Sixers loss to Pistons in Game 2 was inevitable [Daily News]

Sixers Get Gov. To Rename Highway

Fresh off a stunning win in the first game of their first round series against the Detroit Pistons, the 76ers play Game 2 tonight at 7:30.

And, to celebrate, the 76ers got Gov. Rendell to rename the Schuylkill Expressway “I-76ers”:

the team is requesting that travelers in the Greater Philadelphia Region refer to the Schuylkill Expressway by its proper name (I-76) and add “ers” to the end. The team hopes this will spread and people will immediately begin calling the popularly traveled highway “I-76ers.”

“It’s playoff time and we want to get our fans revved up for the postseason,” said Sixers Senior Vice President Lara Price. “As patrons utilize I-76ers every day to get to work, they’ll think of us and support our run in the playoffs.”

I-76ers is 25.2 miles of highway that extends from the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Valley Forge through Downtown Philadelphia to the Walt Whitman Bridge.

A friend of mine pointed out the proclamation from Ed Rendell noted the team “faces the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.” This is only the first round of the quarterfinals? Man, the 76ers have been out of the playoffs for so long I forgot over 300 teams qualified for the playoffs.

SIXERS ASK FANS TO PROPERLY CALL “SCHUYLKILL” BY IT’S REAL NAME (“I-76”) AND ADD “ERS” TO THE END FOR FIRST WEEK OF PLAYOFFS [Sixers.com]

76ers Shock The Universe And Such

Well, well, well! The 76ers rallied from 15 down to upset the Pistons in Game 1, and now everybody’s pretty excited for Game 2 Wednesday.

But no one — no one! — was more excited than 76ers announcer Mark Zumoff. With the game close, Zumoff said he wondered if the 76ers could shock the Pistons. When the 76ers held the lead late, he asked if they could stun the NBA. And, yes, after the 76ers upset the Pistons, he said it (oh no): The 76ers had shocked the world!

Redlasso video of the final moments and post-game after the jump.

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Dept of Really?: The 76ers Win!

You gotta be surprised.

The 76ers had a pretty nice season, going from 18-30 to 40-38 behind a young lineup anchored by veteran point guard Andre Miller. But the Sixers lost their last four and fell into the No. 7 spot; while the 76ers might have a shot against the Magic or Cavaliers, the Pistons would simply be too good.

And it looked like that for most of the game. But the 76ers pushed ahead in the fourth quarter and held on for a 90-86 win. Really! Here’s proof. I’m honestly too shocked to really summarize it. They probably won’t win the series. They could lose in 5. But maybe (just maybe) this is the end of this current Pistons’ run and the start of a new run for the 76ers.

Eh, probably not. But a fan can hope.

76ers Robbed At Whistlepoint

The 76ers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, 90-89, but then David Stern called up and said he wanted the Cavs to have home-court advantage in the first round so Lebron James will be in the playoffs longer, so the referees went back and made up a foul in order to screwjob the 76ers out of a win, 91-90.

Okay, maybe that’s not how it happened. But if the referees can review a foul call to see if it occurred before the expiration of the clock — which was definitely true, though I don’t think it was a foul — why can’t they go back and review Lebron James for taking more steps down the lane than the Art Museum has? The loss means the 76ers are locked in to the No. 7 seed and will play the Detroit Pistons in the first round.

The team was visibly pissed after the game; Andre Miller kicked the ball up into the air á la Nick Nolte in Blue Chips and then threw the ball into the stands. But the best part is when a fan yells right before the second free throw to the referee: “That’s robbery! You should go to jail for that!”

Tremendously entertaining (and so Philly) video after the jump.

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All Three Philly Teams To Play At Once

Enrico of The 700 Level — who had a nice piece on the Hawks’ website today — notes that tonight is one of the rare occasions where the Flyers, Phillies and 76ers are playing all at the same time. One might say the tank of Philadelphia sports is phull tonight. If one were to say that, one would also be punched right in the nose, by me.

The Flyers are on Comcast SportsNet, the Phillies on CN8 and the Sixers on Philly 57. If you’re not headed to a bar to watch all three at once, your remote is going to get a workout tonight.

Your DVR/Remote Will Be Busy Tonight [The 700 Level]

76ers Tickets Finally Pay Off

I had purchased some overpriced 76ers tickets from Comcast earlier this year, which added me to the 76ers Sixth Man Club. I didn’t think this club had any benefits until the email above, which I received last night. Finally!

The 76ers Have A Winning Record (!)

At the start of the season, Kyle Korver was on the cover of the team’s media guide, Hip-Hop the rabbit mascot was on billboards (he still is) and Billy King was the GM. The 76ers have since even waived the suave European they traded Korver for.

Last night, the 76ers erased an 11-point lead with a 19-0 run in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics and beat the best team in the NBA, 95-90. Andre Iguodala scored 10 straight for the 76ers in the run; Boston didn’t score for almost seven minutes. After starting 18-30, the 76ers have gone 17 18-5 to climb above .500.

2008 has so far featured Eli Manning leading a game-winning drive in the Super Bowl, and now the 76ers winning 17 out of 22 games. I could have gotten better odds betting on Fan Man coming back to life and crashing into the Super Bowl.

After the jump, a sick Andre Iguodala steal and dunk.

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Welcome Back

Let me just say if you thought Allen Iverson was going to get booed when he came back to Philadelphia you’re more of a racist than Barack Obama’s evil grandmother. (Okay, just kidding. But why did people think he would get booed?)

Let me also say that this was just one of those times when being a Philadelphia sports fan is worth it. I was like oh no is he gonna do the Hulk Hogan hand to the ear thing and then ahhh he did the hand to the ear thing!!!!

Then the 76ers went out and won! They’re 34-34 — watch out, Boston!