To culture ourselves to the other guys I lobbed a six pack of questions over to Ricky from Sixers 4 guidos. Ricky is a long time Philadelphia 76ers fan blogging from across the Atlantic, Genova Italy to be exact. There’s a few questions you’d expect to see in a preview and others to keep it fun. Enjoy, and grazie Ricky!

1) No one point no one is picking the 76ers to beat the Pistons in this series. What do the Sixers have to do to keep their overachieving streak alive and advance to the second round?

I am very passionate about my team but I tend do be realistic and I think I know enough basketball to realize that Sixers have ZERO chances to advance to the second round.

It’s general consensus that Sixers already overachieved by making it to the post season (and I am in this group, I predicted 31 wins at the beginning of the season, while many “experts” picked Sixers to finish from last to second last in the Conference) so everything that will eventually come is a plus.

To put is simply, Pistons are a bad match for us, they are deep, experienced, with no weak points, and play slow tempo. In order to win some games (no more than 2, IMO) Sixers need to defend strongly on the perimeter, something we struggled all year, knock down some outside shots (see above, dead last in the NBA in 3pt percentage).

I’m afraid Pistons won’t allow us to run much, and playing in half court offense will expose our weaknesses.

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Game 1 of the Pistons/76ers first round series is tonight at 6 pm est from the Palace of Auburn Hills. Local viewers can tune into FSN Detroit to catch the action, for everyone else there’s TNT.

(AP Photo/H. Rumph, Jr., File)

Well, here we are. The NBA Playoffs have officially begun. The Pistons stayed focused and ended with a very respectable 59 wins and a #2 seed. The regulars seem hungrier than they’ve been since perhaps 2004 and they’ve developed a very formidable bench to keep pace when the first group needs a breather.

All the preseason objectives have been addressed and accomplished. Now it’s time to go out and compete the the championship.

Up first are the young and athletic 76ers. They’ve overachieved just to get into the playoffs. Now the odds are really catching up with them.

It’ll be important for the Pistons to jump on Philly early tonight and really assert themselves. The 76ers are going to want to force turnovers and try to run on us, that’s how they’ve been most successful against the Pistons this season. It’s imperative for the Pistons to control tempo and take care of the ball. Afford the Sixers no confidence by way of them stealing one at the Palace.

All the Pistons have to do is respect the Sixers and take care of business and they should be waiting for a second round opponent.