The Sixers used a number of small and effective things to catch up to the Pistons and take the first game of the eastern conference series on Sunday. This young crew from Philadelphia was riding high, but they knew what awaited them tonight, and the Pistons were certainly more than up to the task. Detroit evened the series, which is now heading to the Wachovia Center, at 1-1 by a game 2 final of 105-88.

Mo Cheeks and the Sixers players utilized some creative ways to get past the Pistons in game 1. But in game 2 it was a completely different challenge. First off, this Detroit team has experience and it showed. They came out sluggish in game 1 allowing the Sixers to feel out their game for much of the first half. But tonight after the Sixers got the opening bucket, they went on a quick 9-0 run getting everyone involved. The Pistons didn’t look back.

One thing the Sixers did in game 1 which backfired tonight was starting Thaddeus Young in place of Reggie Evans; a more physical presence to the big front line of Detroit. The rookie was nowhere to be found, scoring 9 but struggling in other aspects of his game. In desperation, Evans did get a ton o

f minutes in this game 2. While Reggie brings you physicality and rebounding, he brings little to no offense presence. Remember that turn around shot in game 1? Nothing like that happened tonight.

The Sixers captain and co-leader, Andre Iguodala, continued to struggle in these playoffs. Not just in these playoffs, but in the regular season as well, you get that feeling sometimes that Iggy just decides he’s going to take a shot no matter what the situation. Problem is, he’s not finding his touch at all and Detroit’s defense was in his face. But he continued to fire it up and subsequently continued to miss. Whether it was off the front rim, too long, or missing the rim entirely: Iggy got just 4 points. Yikes.

Defense wins championships, or at least that’s what the experts say. If so, the Sixers have some problems ahead of them. They allowed Detroit to shoot near 60% for the entire game; no team is going to win, especially on the road, when your opponent shoots that well. They allowed lay ups with nobody coming over to help. This was just one problem Sami Dalembert had; quite the rough game for him as well. The defense also allowed all 5 Detroit starters to shoot over 50%. In game 1 just one Detroit starter did that. They were out rebounded early and often, especially on the offensive glass.

So, the team that ’shocked the basketball world’ on Sunday has come

crashing back down to reality. But the Pistons failed to take advantage of home court, as the series shifts to Philadelphia even at 1 game a piece. Don’t make the mistake the Sixers will shoot sub 40% from the field again, they’ll be better. But at the same point, don’t make the mistake that the Pistons will back off and give the Sixers any room to breathe. The Sixers need to fix a number of things to compete in game 3, and just 2 days to do it. But this is the playoffs, even the young guys know what’s at stake. Tonight was not their night, but there’s time to fix what went wrong tonight.

Game 3- at Philadelphia, Friday 4/25, 7:00pm