For Sixers, the number is 43, not 6 or 7

IN THE OVERALL playoff picture, it doesn't particularly matter whether the Sixers or New York Knicks get the sixth or seventh seeds in the Eastern Conference.

Ultimately, one is going to play the Miami Heat and the other is going to face the Boston Celtics in the first round, so it's really a case of pick your poison.

But that doesn't mean that last night's game at the Wells Fargo Center didn't matter.

It was billed as a battle for playoff seeding, but it was mainly about establishing momentum going into the postseason.

With their 97-92 victory, the Knicks have won five consecutive games and are flowing forward.

After beating Toronto on Tuesday, the Knicks basically said they were coming down the Jersey Turnpike to take the sixth seed from the Sixers.

In front of a boisterous contingent of fans among the 18,375 in the building, they did just that.

New York (40-38) now leads the Sixers by a half-game for the sixth spot.

The Sixers have picked a bad time to hiccup.

Until last night, the last time the Sixers had lost a third consecutive game was to the Miami Heat on Nov. 26, 2010.

That loss, which dropped them to 3-13, seemed light years away for a squad that had undergone a transformation.

Between that loss to Miami and a victory over the New Jersey Nets last Friday, the Sixers had gone 37-23.

With a 40-36 record with six games remaining, the Sixers had not only locked up a playoff spot but had positioned themselves to get their first winning record since the 2004-05 season.

Today, the Sixers are 40-39 with three games remaining.

They took a tough road loss in Milwaukee and then got handled in Boston on Tuesday.

The encouraging thing to take from the loss to New York was that the Sixers didn't roll over and call it a game after going down by 19 midway through the third quarter.

The Sixers looked like they had lost their way when New York went up 69-50, but the way they scrapped back in the fourth quarter showed they at least still have a fighting spirit.

Losing sixth man Lou Williams to a hamstring injury has clearly hurt the Sixers, but it's not a good enough reason for them to fall completely off track.

"I think we are going [into the playoffs] the right way," Sixers coach Doug Collins said, emphasizing the quality of his team's play lately, moreso than the results. "If you're gauging on whether or not we won the game . . . From our standpoint, we're playing good, hard, competitive basketball. We've had a chance to win all of those games."

That sounds good and it's certainly the kind of positive spin you would expect Collins to put on things with his young team trying to prepare for the playoffs.

But there is still an opportunity here - one the Sixers need to take advantage of.

They finish the season with home games against the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic.

The Raptors and Pistons are just looking to escape two of the worst seasons in the NBA.

The Magic have already clinched the fourth seed in the East so the team might be in cruise mode to stay fresh for the playoffs.

That's two gimmes and another game that should be very winnable.

The Sixers need to win two of those games at a minimum, but it would really benefit their confidence to sweep all three.

What they absolutely cannot let happen is what happened to them at the end of the 2008-09 season.

On April 4, 2009, the Sixers were 40-35.

Then-rookie Thaddeus Young, who had established himself as a productive player off the bench, got hurt and was shelved for the remainder of the regular season.

The Sixers lost six straight before winning the season finale to finish 41-41.

A case of déjà vu all over again would leave a sour taste for what has been a surprisingly remarkable turnaround campaign for the Sixers.

Whether the Sixers face the Heat as the seventh seed, the Celtics as the sixth seed or vice-versa is basically irrelevant.

But going into the playoffs as a winner, something most of the players on this team have little or no experience with, is important - especially when doing so only requires that they handle their own business.

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