First, I would like to admit that this Sixer team is looking pretty decent. It is still early in the season and many teams are still working to find their identities. Some how, the Sixers already have that identity - which is very interesting considering the fact that they are still without Kwame Brown & Andrew Bynum. Even for tomorrow tonight (11/9) this Sixers team is going to draw some difficulty for the already semi unprepared (mentality mostly) Celtics.

This game could go one of two ways, 1) the Celtics getting blown by; or 2) The Celtics able to capitalize on the current weakness of the Sixers. Let us examine option two, since the first one is not as pleasant to think about.

The Sixers have a fairly solid line up that consists of: Jrue Holiday, Jason Richardson, Thaddeus Young, (likely) Spencer Hawes, Andrew Bynum. Now - tomorrow the line up will probably look more like: Holiday, Richardson, Young, (Lavoy) Allen, and Hawes.

I would assume Lavoy will start because right there is one of the key match ups - L.Allen "The KG stopper". I do not suspect that will change much, I do believe tomorrow that Lavoy is going to bring it and try to do what he did in the play offs: Stop that fierce guy - KG. This is not to say Lavoy is a better player, by no means is Lavoy better than KG. However, Lavoy has had some success at slowing down KG, I would not be surprised to see such a thing happen again.

For now - I would call the Point Guard/Shooting Guard match ups a draw. I do believe Rondo is better than Holiday - but in terms of offensive production, they will likely be even. We may possibly give a slight edge to Rondo - since Rondo is a better defender and may stop Holiday from producing AS much. Also, I would consider the Shooting Guard a draw. A declining J.Richardson is probably equal to C.Lee and N.Young a fairly lethal shooter - just like Jason Terry. Once Avery Bradley comes back into the picture, i'd lean more towards this one being handed to the Celtics - but for now, i'd call it a draw. (Note - I realize that Evan Turner could be a decent player & could be a key factor for the Sixers throughout this season.)

This brings me to what I believe the key to the Celtics winning. The weakest spot for the Sixers is the Small Forward position. Thaddeus Young is very talented and Dorrell Wright is also fairly talented. However, where Pierce used to struggle against the Sixers - he should be able to excel. Young & Wright are not all that terribly talented or good. Although Young is a strong athletic player, Pierce is a much craftier player and a solid shooter. In addition - if J.Green can show up, he has the ability to post up and dominate either Young or Wright with his height advantage and athleticism. If Pierce & Green can show up - they some strong performances, the Celtics can pull out continual wins against the Sixers - with or without Andrew Bynum.

This is just my opinion though - feel free to vote on what you think may be the key to this next game (and potentially the future Sixer-Celtic match ups!)