Call Your Ma and Pa, The Sixers are above .500

It was another defining moment for the Sixers in a season of them. Philadelphia is now 30-29 on the year and now that puts them over the .500 mark for the first time since 2009, wow.

It's been a long time for the Sixers and the team has come a long way since 3-13 and now it feels weird to actually seriously discuss a playoff appearance, but Philadelphia is making really good headway towards that goal of reaching the postseason and the crazy thing is that they might be able to make some noise.

The Sixers are a game behind the New York Knicks for sixth place in the East and are tied with them in terms of victories with 30 each. They are 7-3 in the last ten and have won a season high four games in a row.

This team is peaking right now, at a great point in the season, but it gets a little harder tomorrow night when they host the Dallas Mavericks, but one thing we've all seen about this Sixer team is how tough they play vs. the best teams in the NBA.

Since that 3-13 start to their season, they've beaten Portland, Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver (with 'Melo twice), San Antonio and lost a couple tough ones to the Celtics,this team has experience vs. the best in the league and they've had some success that they can fall back on going forward.

Part of the reason for their recent rise has to be their awesome bench play, Lou WIlliams and Thad Young have torn it up this season along with a constantly improving Evan Turner, this team has a lot of different looks to throw at the opposition.

While I was watching the game last night on the Cavs feed (terrible homer announcers by the way), there was a good point made about just how well the Sixers can play both the fast-paced style and the half court game.

With the legs of the younger guys, it's not surprise that this team likes to run and can run with the best them and this is evidenced by their very high fast break point total which leads the NBA.

Then they can also slow it down with Elton Brand and Spenser Hawes in the half court being fed from Jrue Holiday, who has improved at a massive clip this season, it's becoming a real treat to watch him play the point and it'll be something we'll hopefully be able to see play over the next decade.

There are many positives about this team going forward, but there are some quirks to this unit as well, but since this is a day for celebration with the team getting over .500 and all, I'll save that for another day.

Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press

Hustle Points: Knicks Get Taken Seriously

Last night was a statement game for the New York Knicks coming off an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Cavailers, it didn't matter if the roster was new or not, you just don't lose to the Cavs this season unless you want to be the punchline of a joke.

The Knicks had to respond and even though it is the last day of February, New York learned a lot about where they stand today because of last night.

I think all of America realized at the same time over the course of the last couple of days how important Chauncey Billups is to the Knicks in the 'Melo transaction, he's a bonafide big time player who does his most damage in situations like last night when you most need it.

Billups had his lowest scoring game as a Knick but it was arguably his best showing since the sudden change to the Big Apple, he hit a huge go-ahead three pointer with just over a minute to play in the game to put the Knicks up for good and he had a clutch steal with under a minute to play to give the Knicks a couple more at the free throw line courtesy of Shawne Williams.

It wasn't pretty for most of the night, but the one thing I saw that impressed me from the Knicks was the constant fight the team had when they were down 15 and when it was down in the second half to keep coming back and I think that's represntative of the majority of the roster now. We're talking about guys that weren't playing at all and were fighting to stay employed and now they're getting a real chance to be apart of the rotation and we're seeing that same fight on the floor.

The one aspect of the Knicks that's been interesting to watch is Amare's transition in all of this, he's gone from being THE guy to the number two scoring option on the team, there's no question about it.

Amare's opportunities aren't coming as much with 'Melo on the floor even though you would assume it would be the other way around. The Cavs game was a typical Amare game, pre-Melo, he had 31 points and 10 rebounds, but they lost.

How will Amare and Carmelo gel over time? Can they work together sure, but will Amare enjoy getting less opportunities as a result in the long run if that's the way the offense shakes out? I'm not so sure about that.

Photo Courtesy News One