A game SOOOOOOOO BIG, I'm posting it two days early...without a line....Mega Write-Up inside!!!!!!!!

Scalabrine

this is good write up just like the Minesota and NY Giants game that you wrote in the NFL forum.   Good stuff and will use accordingly.  Good luck bro and thanks for sharing your insight..

nice job (-6) or less I'm in.....never give the 6 and a half just for me at least....

Best of luck with the play..... 

They weren't away for 15-16 days.  They've been away since Christmas night.  They flew out of Philadelphia in the late afternoon on December 25th bound for Denver.  Their 8-game road trip had a 3-day break in it between the loss in Boston on the 22nd and the win in Denver on the 26th.

Listening to Doug Collins on TNT in past years, I've noticed that he seems to be well aware of the scheduling pitfalls that can hurt teams.  I'm sure he'll be all over this one.  I don't know if it'll make a difference or not, but I'd be willing to bet that he'll be addressing his team on the perils of sleepwalking through their first home game following a West coast road trip.

scalabrine, I posted this info in another thread last night, but if you don't mind I'll post it again right here and in greater detail.  The Sixers are now 4-3 SU & 7-0 ATS this season following a loss in which they scored less than 90 points.

On October 27th, they lost their season opener to the Super Friends, 97-87.  In their next game, they were getting 3.5 at home against the Hawks and came back from 13 down in the 4th quarter to lose by only three, 104-101.

On October 30th, they lost in Indiana, 99-86.  In their next game, they suffered the first of those two disspiriting losses in Washington, falling 116-115 in overtime as 3-point dogs.

On November 17th, they lost in Toronto, 94-86.  In their next game, they easily beat the Bucks 90-79 as 4.5-point home dogs.  This was the beginning of their home winning streak which later ended suddenly and without warning on the night I put my trust in them against the Lakers.  But I'll try to keep my lingering bitterness out of this.  That's not actually possible for me, but I'll see what I can do even though I will never forgive Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, Jodie Meeks, and Andre Iguodala for bricking to the tune of 14-49 (that's an infuriating 28%) against the Lakers, who soon after that game returned to California and promptly turned into a goddamn lottery team.

On December 3rd, they lost 93-88 in Atlanta.  That was a brutal loss, as they led the Joe Johnson-less Hawks by as many as 18 points in the 1st half before getting chased down in the 2nd half and finally getting caught with just 31 seconds left.  The Sixers had to play the next night at home against Charlotte, and thinking that the defeat would be too much for them to recover from psychologically, I thought it might be a good idea to invest in the Bobcats.  Then the game began and Jodie Meeks hit 6 three-pointers on his first 6 shots, all in the first quarter.  Game over, the Sixers rolled, 109-91.  How about that, huh?  Jodie Meeks.  The same Jodie Meeks who would later clank to the tune of 1-7 against the vaunted purple and gold, but again, this isn't about allowing my bitterness to get the best of me.  This is about sharing information with you guys........sharing information about a team that hurt me worse than Jake Pavelka hurt Vienna Girardi on "The Bachelor", but hey, time to move on.

Speaking of moving on, the Sixers, less than 24 hours after shrinking like cheap sweaters in the 4th quarter against the Fakers and losing 93-81 on December 17th, moved on to Orlando to face a Magic team that was severely shorthanded by recent trades.  The Sixers, unlike the night before against the Fakers, didn't waste the opportunity, winning straight up over Orlando, 97-89.  I was really happy for them.  Yeah.

On December 21st, everything went wrong for the Sixers in a 121-76 mega-drubbing at the hands of the Bulls in Chicago.  The next night, the Sixers covered as 9.5-point dogs in Boston.

On December 22nd, the Sixers played the Rondo-less Celtics tough, leading by 6 at halftime.  The game went down to the wire, with Boston leading 82-80 entering the final minute of play.  Now you'd think if someone out there had a significant stake in the Sixer moneyline at, oh, I don't know, maybe....+440 or so (as well as maybe a handsome halftime wager at +9), they'd want someone other than Andre Iguodala with the ball in his hands and the game on the line.  But you don't always get what you want in life, and if you're a Sixer backer forced to depend on "Iggy" to deliver in a big moment, you pretty much never get what you want.  On Iguodala's first attempt to come up big, he literally slipped and fell down as the Celtics headed the other way with the ball.  Iguodala got another chance to be The Man with under 20 seconds left, but he had his telegraphed shot violently blocked by Kevin Garnett.  Garnett tried to be professional about the situation, but nevertheless broke out in roaring laughter along with everyone else in the building as Sixers trainer Kevin Johnson and assistant trainer Scott Faust both worked frantically on the sideline to extract the basketball from Iguodala's esophagus.  Ray Allen then swished the clinching free throws with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back to seal the game, 84-80, and even seal the unlikely second half cover.  So that was that. 

Oh yeah, three days later, the Sixers won in Denver, 95-89.

Which brings us to Wednesday night's game, where the Sixers will put this emerging 7-0 ATS trend on the line after playing off that ugly 84-77 loss in New Orleans.  I'm hoping to have my issues sorted out by tomorrow night so I can join scalabrine and others in rooting them on to a convincing victory.