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Since starting the season 1-2, the Philadelphia 76ers have ripped off 16 wins in 21 games and vaulted to the top of the Atlantic Division with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. The results are no fluke. Last season, the Sixers started 5-14, and at one point were slogging along at 15-23. From there, they went 25-13 before a late swoon left them at .500 heading into the playoffs.

Signs certainly pointed to Philly as a potential team on the rise, and this year they've definitely made a major leap. While the Sixers lack a definitive go-to scorer, coach Doug Collins has plenty of effective offensive weapons at his disposal. Not that it matters all that much, since Philadelphia is the league's best defensive team through the first third (give or take) of the year.

And, as Kobe Bryant pointed out after the loss in Utah on Saturday, the Sixers are young and fast, representing a major challenge for the "old, slow" Lakers. To gain a little more insight into the surging Sixers, we hit up Carey Smith of Philadunkia, part of ESPN.com's TrueHoop network, with some questions:

Land O'Lakers: By nearly every metric, the Sixers are the league's stingiest defense. What accounts for their success?

Smith: First and foremost, it’s the 76ers' commitment to playing defense that is the key. Doug Collins has gotten these guys to buy in to the idea that you have to play solid team defense to win in the league, and given the results when compared to the brief-but-disastrous Eddie Jordan era, Collins is 100 percent correct. The other factor is that the Sixers have some phenomenal perimeter defenders in Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner. Add in Thad Young (another solid defender), and you have a nice collection of players who can make it really difficult for the opposing team’s guards and wings to score the ball.

Land O'Lakers: The team's leading scorer is Lou Williams, who comes off the bench, but nine players average more than nine points a game. Is this a reflection more of a great team-first ethic or the lack of a true go-to scorer?

Smith: Great question. Honestly my answer is it is a chicken-or-the-egg situation. Collins preaches team, team, team, and then still more team, and the Sixers have played that way very successfully over the last two seasons. They do a great job with the little things that make balanced scoring work -- making the extra pass or setting screens for each other or rotating the ball quickly or finding the hot hand. But if Collins had a superstar like he did, say, in Chicago with that guy named Jordan, I wonder if the offense would flow the same way.

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It was a lively chat this morning, filled with questions. Questions about the Lakers! And Lakers players! And guys who might become Lakers players through the magic of free agency and trades! Plus, a few inquiries about what happens when the Lakers start their new TV deal, whether Andrew Bynum's parking problems are indicative of larger issues, Kobe-to-Turkey?, and (no surprise) what the Lakers might do to goose their production at the point.

Click here for the transcript.

One win doesn't exactly clean up the mess made by the Lakers during a three game losing streak including embarrassing losses not just to top shelf contenders like Miami and San Antonio, but a middling Milwaukee squad as well. Still, Wednesday's victory over the Hornets in New Orleans did back a lot of fans off the ledge, and did plenty of good for the team's psyche as well.

Friday they're back at it against a Philly squad they beat two weeks ago during the long road trip, but are in position to take nothing for granted, which is probably a good thing.

Here's what to watch...

1. Philadelphia isn't a 13-19 team.

Technically, of course, they are. Keep in mind, though, they started 3-13, so the Sixers arrive at Staples a vastly improved team winning 10 of their last 16, in important news relative to Friday's game, are no longer pushovers on the road. Over the first six games of what will become an eight game trip, the Sixers have a respectable three wins, including games in Orlando, Denver and Phoenix, and a very narrow loss last week in Boston.

The Lakers are definitely the better team, but as it was a couple weeks ago when the Lakers played the Sixers in Philly, this isn't a team to be trifled with.

One reason is balance. Without anyone posting more than Jrue Holiday's 14.8, Philly sports seven guys averaging 8.9 points or better during December. By contrast, the Lakers have four. While it means Philly could be short a defined go-to guy should the game come down to the final seconds (I'd still put a body on Andre Iguodala, just to be safe), it also makes it tough to key on any one player. The Sixers don't exactly pile up points, but will force the Lakers to be honest defensively.

Again, probably a good thing.

2. Andrew Bynum Starts, Part Deux.

Wednesday in New Orleans, the Lakers managed something rarely seen in this day of ubiquitous media, athlete Twitter feeds, and nearly instant dissemination of information: They took everyone by surprise. With the team on the skids, Phil Jackson pulled the cord on the Andrew Bynum chute, sticking him back in the starting lineup earlier than most expected, especially based on Bynum's own forecasts. "We knew we were gonna have to make this move eventually, getting Drew out there on the floor," Jackson said Thursday. Nothing like three straight 15-plus point losses to jimmy a timetable, right? Jackson said he expected a "getting to know you" period, but was pleased at how well Bynum played, and the response of the team generally. As well he should have been, since Bynum had a great game, scoring 18 points on eight-of-12 from the floor, and the Lakers torched the Hornets.

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The Lakers have looked awfully good in two games since Andrew Bynum returned to the lineup after offseason knee surgery, as Pau Gasol seems to have had new life breathed into him. Good thing, too, because the Lakers have some stiff challenges coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Still, there's work to be done in the here and now, starting tonight in Philadelphia, known first as the hometown of ESPNLA's own Dave McMenamin, but also cheese steaks, the Liberty Bell, and Kobe Bryant.

Oh, and the Sixers, too. Philly carries an underwhelming 10-15 record into tonight's game, but like many of these road tussles through the Eastern Conference, the apparent badness of the opponent is at least somewhat misleading. The Sixers have been wretched on the road (2-10), but are 8-5 at home including wins in seven of their last eight at Wells Fargo Center*, the only blemish being a last second, one point loss to the highly credible Boston Celtics. All seven of the wins were by nine points or more.

The Sixers have a lot of talent, from Jrue Holiday to Andre Iguodala to the newly revitalized Elton Brand and Thaddeus Young. Philly is 5-2 since adding sharpshooter Jodie Meeks to the starting lineup, in no small part because Meeks has hit half of the triples he's attempted over that time.

The moral of the story: Don't screw around with these guys. To get a little more insight into how tonight's game might play out, I hit up Carey Smith over at Philadunkia to answer a few questions about his hometown squad:

1) Jrue Holiday is obviously a player of interest around these parts, and seems to have made some strides this season. Do the numbers tell the story? Where has he improved, and where does he still need work?

The numbers tell part of the story as his stats have certainly improved, but the big thing in my opinion for Holiday is that adapting to the system Doug Collins has installed has made him a better player. There was no system under Eddie Jordan and when he finally got in the lineup last year, Holiday just went out and played every night. Some times with spectacular results, other nights not so great. It took about 10 games or so and at times it’s still a work in progress, but Holiday is so much better this year because he has some direction from a good coach and he has bought in to what Collins wants done offensively.

While he has taken great strides forward across the board in 2010-11, the one thing I would say that Holiday needs to improve on is his decision making on the fast break. On the break he still has a tendency make mistakes -- getting caught in between moves or driving the ball too deep or simply throwing the ball away. Most nights the Sixers want to get out and run on opponents, so these issues can be costly. Once he gets this ironed out, he’s going to be scary good.

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