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Class is now in session 76ers fans. Over the "course" of the Playoffs, Sixers TV broadcaster Marc Zumoff will give you an inside look at the 76ers 2003 Playoffs run from his educated view point. For his second lesson, Professor Zumoff takes us on a preview of the Eastern Conference Semifinals versus Detroit. If you think you know about the Pistons because you can rattle off that Ben Wallace was the NBA's leader in rebounds per game and second in blocked shots, you better sit up in your chair. So get out your notebooks, sharpen your pencils and pay careful attention. The series depends on it.

The Detroit Pistons: They get defensive

Go ahead, name the members of the Detroit Pistons. Hey, just name their starting small forward. In the star-studded NBA, it’s usually Tracy McGrady and the Orlando Magic or Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs or, yes, Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. Ben Wallace and the Detroit Pistons? Sure he’s an all-star, a menacing shot-blocker, towering rebounder and sports an afro as wide as the lane. But Big Ben usually scores fewer than 10 points per game!

But that’s the point (or maybe we should say, lack of points). This is a team built on the joists of team defense. Stingy, physical, in-your-face defense. Just ask the Orlando Magic, who scored only 67 points against the Pistons in Game 5 of their just-concluded first round series-a series in which Detroit became just the seventh team in NBA history and the first in six years to return from a 3-1 deficit to win a series. Just ask those who have ever dared to venture into the lane and were turned away by Wallace, who just became the sixth player in league history to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year Awards.

Match-ups? We’re about to break ‘em down for you. We’ll strategize, analyze and fantasize a little bit too. But as one Piston was quoted as saying after his team stifled McGrady (21 points, 7-24 shooting) in Sunday’s decisive Game 7, “it’s not about one guy stopping him (McGrady), it’s about all of us.” And before you counter with Iverson and the 35 points he averaged in the six-game series against New Orleans, consider this: Allen averaged just 22 points per game in four games against Detroit during the regular season, his lowest average against any of the eight Eastern Conference Playoff teams.

Oh, by the way, the Pistons' starting small forward is Michael Curry. He only averages a puny four points per game, but is a very good defender.

How the Sixers might deal with Detroit

The Sixers will have to wary of silky-smooth jump shooting "Rip" Hamilton. Tom Pidgeon Getty Images/NBAE

This team is quite different from the New Orleans Hornets. While the Hornets could pound it inside to a posting Jamaal Magloire, or break you down with Jamal Mashburn or Baron Davis, the Pistons do things differently. They’ll attack you with a lot of “pick and pops,” in an effort to unleash their stash of shooters. Coatesville native Richard Hamilton was particularly effective off the “pick and pop” against the 76ers a number of times during the regular season. Hamilton is also a guy who, like Iverson, will work you through a forest of screens to get open. And when he does, he’s usually 15 to 18 feet from the hoop.

Chauncey Billups is Hamilton’s backcourt mate and technically, the point guard. Billups is 6-foot-3, a muscular 200 pounds and can be troublesome. He led the Pistons in scoring (23 points per game) in the Orlando series and had some good games against the Sixers during the regular season. In the Pistons’ overtime win at the First Union Center in early January, Billups hit a lethal four-point play late in the game. First he hit a three-pointer, only to be fouled by Iverson, causing Allen to foul out of a game for the first time in years. Don’t be surprised to see Snow defending the physical Billups, and Iverson chasing Hamilton. The Sixers may also try to pressure Detroit and try to get the ball out of Billups’ hands.

The Detroit frontline is rather unconventional. Wallace, for all his bulk, is not much of an offensive player, though he did average 11 points per game in the Orlando series, four more than he averaged during the regular season. Wallace voraciously attacks the offensive glass and looks to get his points off of put backs. Derrick Coleman will probably cover him. Offensively, Coleman does have the ability to draw Wallace away from the hoop with his outside shooting. And since Wallace challenges all who venture into the paint, Iverson would be wise to be on the lookout for open hands before being funneled into the ‘fro.

Clifford Robinson, listed as the center but more the power forward offensively, gets most of his points from the outside. He’s also a good three-point shooter. That said, he averaged only nine points per game against Orlando, three points less than he averaged during the regular season and he shot only 34 percent for the series. He’s also never been much of a rebounder.

Michael Curry has never been much of a threat to score, but his status as starter underscores the Pistons’ commitment to stop scores. His defender, be it Kenny Thomas or Keith Van Horn, will have the opportunity to cheat off of him and be a helper against the likes of Hamilton and Billups.

The Detroit bench, nicknamed the Alternatorz, can charge it up in a hurry. Corliss Williamson, aka The Big Nasty from his college days at Arkansas, is their best post-up guy at 6-foot-7, 245 pounds. He struggled in the Orlando series but has been known to give the Sixers fits on occasion. Guards Chucky Atkins and Jon Barry will both spread the floor and spot up for threes and seven-foot Turkish rookie Mehmet Okur is, like many European big men, also a good outside shooter. And if you’re curious about 6-foot-9, 215-pound lefty Tayshaun Prince, take note of what the Kentucky rookie did in the seventh game of the Orlando series, scoring a career playoff high 20-points.