"We knew this time would come for the Sixers. The schedule is about to get tough. Really tough. And it all starts on Monday.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the Sixers will host the Magic, Bulls and Heat respectively. Then, they head to Atlanta for a game before returning home for games against the Lakers, Spurs and Clippers.

"When you've got this stretch of home games, you've got to take advantage of that," head coach Doug Collins said. "You can't get yourself in a situation where you come home and lose two, three, or four games. You can't make those [losses] up. When you're in this position, you've got to take advantage of it the best you can."

The next seven games are really tough. The combined record of those seven teams (coming into Saturday) is 90-44, good enough for a .672 winning percentage. "