Elton Brand will miss the next 2 games with a sprained thumb. Your starting front court tonight will be Andres Nocioni and Lavoy Allen.
ANDRES NOCIONI AND LAVOY ALLEN.
Andres Nocioni has played a grand total of 43 minutes heading into the game. I'd say I'm shocked by this decision (I think it should be Thaddeus Young and Nikola Vucevic), but Doug Collins has consistently been reluctant to change roles. To me, if you're going to go with a small power forward, you put your better one out there, and try to steal minutes with Nocioni and Allen when you have advantageous matchups. I could (somewhat) understand his reluctance to start Young when he had the option of going with a big front line, but if you're going small, I would start your most talented pairing. Speights defending Thad is a matchup you can exploit.
Hopefully the All-Star break can provide Elton Brand the rest he needs so this is only a minor setback. That being said, with a Sixers team on their first slide of the season, they really need to play well these final two games before the break.