IT'S (Hopefully Not) A TRAP!! Sixers Take on Woefully Undermanned Magic in Game Six

Andrew Unterberger previews the win or go golfing game six
  On the brink of playoff elimination, the Sixers couldn't really have asked for a bigger handicap tonight coming back to the Wachovia Center. Thanks to Dwight Howard's unquenchable desire to throw dem 'bows, neither he (one-game suspension for the blow to Sam Dalembert's head) nor rookie sensation Courtney Lee (fractured sinus after receiving D-12's friendly fire on the offensive end) will be playing tonight, meaning the only real firepower that the Magic will be packing are a slumping Rashard Lewis and a hobbled Hedo Turkoglu. With the Sixers at full health and playing in front of an desperate home crowd--one without the Flyers or Bruuuuce to distract them--this game should be a total pushover, right?   Not so fast, princess. The Sixers have shown little consistency over the course of the season to beat the squads that should be beneath them, talent-wise, and sometimes the uniforms give 'em trouble no matter who's wearing them (ahem, home loss to Boston without Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett, double ahem, one-point victory in overtime against Cleveland's Junior Varsity team). And though the penetration of Lee and the post presence of Howard will undoubtedly be missed by the Magic, they do have capable backups--the former in the form of either Mickael Pietrus or JJ Reddick, and the latter in the deceptively effective Marcin Gortat. Gortat will never be confused for Superman, but he's one of the most reliable back-up bigs in the playoffs--a Przybilla/Pachulia type that will rebound, scrap for loose balls and make teams pay for leaving him alone. In other words, he's as capable as our starting center if not more so, so it's not like we suddenly have a huge advantage there.   Really, this sudden advantage that the Sixers have terrifies me more than anything. Yes, tonight would likely have been the last game of our season were Howard and Lee in full effect, but at least we would have put up a fight, shown some growth, and given a heavy favorite a legitimate scare. But if our boys get booted tonight, when all logic seems to point to an easy victory, it will be an unqualified embarrassment--one that completely undoes all the positives that could theoretically be taken from this series, and leaves us right back where we started from. So rejoice pre-emptively if you must, but I'm biting my nails and pacing around my room nervously until the fourth quarter is over and the Sixers (please, please, please) leave to the locker rooms with more points than the other guys.   7:30 tonight in Philly. Don't let it end like this.