<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>There's no point even arguing about how the Sixers should approach the dilemma before them again this season. They should play hard, play to win, and play for the postseason - even if it costs them a spot in the NBA draft lottery. In short, they should play the way they did last night to smoke the Dallas Mavericks, 84-76, at the Wachovia Center. This isn't one of those spirit-of-competition arguments. Last year, the feeling here was that the Sixers would have been better off losing as many games - and, therefore, earning as many lottery Ping-Pong balls - as possible without forcing Arlen Specter to demand an investigation. They didn't go that route, drafted in the 12 spot, and, well, that's partly why they face the same dilemma again. There are two differences this time. First, the NBA's Eastern Conference is simply too horrendous to make tanking even possible. How do you sink to the bottom of a bottomless place? Just five of the East's 15 teams have winning records. There are Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit and Orlando, and then there is the abyss. If the season ended today - and few would complain if it did - the Sixers would be on the cusp of the eighth and final playoff spot. "It's not that hard to make the playoffs in the East," Sixers point guard Andre Miller said. And that brings us neatly to the second difference, which is more about the Sixers than the league they play in. It's pretty basic: You couldn't get these players to tank it if you begged them. Try begging Miller during the third quarter, when he launched himself into the courtside seats to save a ball that most NBA players - in February, with a 21-30 record - would have watched sail out of bounds. Or ask Reggie Evans, who plays defense with the kind of nasty edge that would make him a cult hero if the Sixers' record was reversed. "You have to hit people when they don't expect it," Evans said after helping hold the high-flying Mavericks to just 23 second-half points. "You don't want guys being comfortable. The coaches here let me do what I do on the defensive end. It's fun." The other night, after beating Miami, Evans was asked how he managed to keep playing hard during a long, lost season like this. His answer showed remarkable candor and insight into the psyches of too many NBA players. "This is how I always play," Evans said. "I'm not one of those guys who's going to get a big contract and then stop playing hard. And I'm not one of those guys who plays hard because he's in a contract year." The Sixers have seen their share of such players in recent years. They were onetime superstars - Glenn Robinson, Derrick Coleman, Chris Webber - whose emotional intensity was, let us say, on the ebb. Last season, the Sixers basically paid Webber a big chunk of money just to go away. In that climate, finding new and creative ways to accumulate Ping-Pong balls seemed like a perfectly viable option. Instead, the Sixers played a little better toward the end of the season - or at least they won some games against a bunch of other teams that weren't going to make any postseason noise, either. They convinced themselves they were headed in the right direction. And maybe they were, although they weren't moving fast enough to save president/general manager Billy King's job early this season. New GM Ed Stefanski has no loyalties to the team he has taken over. He traded Kyle Korver, one of King's mainstays, for future cap space and a draft choice. He can evaluate coach Maurice Cheeks and the remaining players with just one criterion in mind: Will this guy contribute to a contending team in a year or three or five? It may turn out that Stefanski decides the smart move is to trade Miller for pieces of that future puzzle. That would be a shame, because right now, Miller is playing terrific basketball and serving as precisely the leader this young team needs to follow. The Sixers were on the brink of falling apart late in the first half against the Mavs. They were down by 10 and taking ill-advised shots and looking lost on defense. Then Miller scored nine points in the final 90 seconds, and the Dallas lead was cut to three. From then on, the Mavs gave in to the Sixers' defense and the road-weariness of playing their second game in as many nights. It was the kind of game that good teams win. The Sixers haven't earned that distinction, not yet, but they have a better chance of getting there by winning than by losing. This year, at least.</div> Source: Philly.com
