Here's what else it eliminated: any impetus to sell more season tickets. That became painfully evident with 7 minutes, 51 seconds remaining, when most of the 16,691 in attendance fled - and I mean fled - for their homes.
Many of those who remained did so, seemingly, for one reason: to express their guttural displeasure at what seemed to be a truly gutless effort by a group that had begun this series delivering exactly the opposite. Often they booed the entire team. But at times, especially when Samuel Dalembert left or re-entered, it became quite personal.
DiLeo also might have miscalculated in focusing on Howard's play after a 91-78 loss in Orlando on Tuesday, especially given his subsequent suspension. Why? Because it gave the young Sixers a reason to believe they had lost that game for reasons other than being outplayed, possibly adding to the toxic dynamic of Game 6.
And it gave the Magic a rallying point that Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy harped on before the game.
"I think our guys were motivated because most everybody was writing us off today," Van Gundy said. "Not giving us a chance. If we had to go a long time, had to play the rest of the playoffs without Dwight Howard, we'd be in some serious, serious trouble. But you see it all the time, even in the regular season, with the best player out, people rise up. They're extremely motivated to prove it's not all one guy."
Howard's minutes were taken by Marcin Gortat and sometimes Tony Battie. This was supposed to enable the Sixers to clamp down on the Magic's outside shooting, not to mention own the paint. But Dalembert was a disaster, Theo Ratliff had more fouls (two) than points (zero) and Marreese Speights scored four points in almost 14 minutes of play, his largest chunk of time in this series.
