Sunday, January 27, 2008

Yes, losing to the Knicks is bad...

As Louis points out in the comments to my last post, the Sixers recently lost to the Knicks.

Not so good.

And, more to the point, the loss to the Knicks didn't happen in isolation. After starting out the season doing quite well on defense, the Sixers have regressed badly. In the meantime, the offense has been consistently bad. I've generally been more bullish on the Sixers' chances this year than most of the experts (and Louis), but certainly their recent play hasn't done much to support my optimism.

Still, and you knew I needed to find some piece of information that meant my early season optimism hadn't been completely misplaced, as of today John Hollinger's automated power rankings have the Sixers ranked 22nd, coming in as the 11th ranked Eastern Conference team. Plus, based on the standings, the Sixers are still only 2 games out of the playoffs. While they've been very bad, the Sixers are still very much in the thick of the playoff race.

So talk of tanking might still be a bit premature...although maybe not for much longer!