The 76ers are doing a fairly good job of beating teams behind them in the standings. For example, they swept four-game series from the Knicks and Wizards this season.
But the Sixers weren't doing so well with teams above .500 going into Monday's games. They dropped to 7-21 against winning clubs with a 98-91 home loss to the New Orleans Hornets. As for the top four teams in the Eastern Conference, one of whom the Sixers are likely to face in the first round of the playoffs, the Sixers are 1-8. They went 0-3 against the Magic, 0-3 against the Celtics, 0-2 against the Cavaliers and 1-1 against the Hawks.
While the Sixers can get into the postseason by continuing to beat the league's losing teams -- the Nets, who own a 3-0 advantage on the Sixers, are the exception -- winning a round against a team like the third-seeded Magic or No. 4 Hawks would seem to be unlikely unless something changes between now and the end of April.
"You try to figure out something different we can do, but we've got to stick to our package," said guard Willie Green. "... You don't want to just abandon that because we've lost a few games, but we can tweak things a little bit. We can try to cause a little more havoc on the defensive end and maybe give up more two-pointers than three-pointers."
HORNETS 98, SIXERS 91: The Sixers dropped back below .500 with their sixth loss since the All-Star break. They allowed the Hornets to hit 4 of 5 three-pointers in the fourth quarter and fell to their third straight home defeat. New Orleans had four players with double-doubles, led by Chris Paul (16 points, 12 assists).
Andre Iguodala paced the Sixers (29-30) with a season-high 30 points and Andre Miller had 28. No other Sixer had more than 11. The Sixers were out-rebounded 50-39, and New Orleans had as many made free throws (18) as Tony DiLeo's team attempted.
