To the East Side… they finally got a piece of the pie-i-i-iiiii! Ah The Jefferson’s, that classic sitcom with Sherman Helmsley. The rags to upper middle class riches theme is a good comparison to The Sixers story that’s been written this season. The only difference is that, although I’ve seen just about every episode of The Jefferson’s, I never really enjoyed it. Hey, there used to be only 5 channels, some nights I just didn’t have much choice.

With the Sixers, on the other hand, I can’t wait till they come on. With four games left the Sixers are 2 games behind The Cleveland Cavaliers and just 1 game back of Washington. They play both teams in those final four games, and if The Sixers win out, they will clinch the 5 seed and with some luck, hop over The Cavs and get home court advantage for the first round.

Do I think they’ll be able to do it? I think it’s possible, maybe a 40% chance, which isn’t bad, but I’d have to bet no, and that’s really no big deal. I’m happy they got into the playoffs, and I think it will provide them with a lot of confidence and also makes them much more attractive to any free agents they’ll go after in the off season.

The biggest problem for The Sixers in these last four games is that they may have the toughest schedule remaining out of the other 3 teams still fighting for playoff position. Tonight, they play the Indiana Pacers, who are trying to sneak into the playoffs as the 8th seed. Then, they go to Washington tomorrow and then come back here to play Cleveland on Monday and end the season in Charlotte, who have played well the last ten games.

Cleveland and Washington both play Detroit, who have been resting their players for about two weeks now. Cleveland’s other two games are against Miami and Chicago, two teams dead in the water. Washington, on the other hand, does have a difficult match-up against Orlando and also Indiana, so I suspect they’ll fall back.

That means The Sixers will end up with the fifth seed and play Cleveland in the first round. That’s a good thing because I feel it gives them the best chance to compete in the playoffs. It would just be nice if they could open the series here and get some of the great support I am sure Philly would provide.

The Sixers will also have to keep Toronto off their backs as well, however. The Raptors are only 1 game behind The Sixers and have a fairly easy schedule with games against New Jersey, Detroit, Miami and then Chicago to finish out the season.

The Sixers do look focused however, and are still playing some of the best basketball in the Eastern Conference. Since starting out 18-30 they have gone on a 20-8 run. Project that out over a season and that’s nearly 60 wins, which would put them in the same class as Boston and Detroit.

So at 40-38 Mo Cheeks has his team finally up in the big leagues, gettin’ their turn at bat, and as long we livin’, it’s The Sixers and Cheeks baby, and there ‘aint nothin wrong with that!