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Philadelphia 76ers at Cleveland Cavaliers Preview: Does the NBA Have a Mercy Rule?

And so the Cavaliers begin their month-long journey without Kyrie Irving against the team that just handed them a loss on Sunday. Can the Cavaliers somehow come together under the guidance of Donald Sloan? Will Dion Waiters have a break-out game and drop forty on his hometown Sixers? Or will Andrew Bynum's amazing hair give the Sixers the edge and stretch the Cavaliers losing streak to seven? Probably the latter.

By Angelo Benedetti
Joe Camporeale-US PRESSWIRE

Who: Philadelphia 76ers (7-4) at Cleveland Cavaliers (2-8)

When: 7:00 PM Eastern

Where: Quicken Loans Arena -- Cleveland, OH

Broadcast: Fox Sports Ohio/League Pass

Tickets

Music:

And so it goes.

It's not even December, and the writing is already on the wall for the 2012-2013 Cleveland Cavaliers season. Kyrie Irving is out for a month with a broken finger. The cornerstone of the Cavaliers offense is gone, and with it, the Cavs dreams of remaining relevant in the league Filling in for Kyrie? Donald Sloan. The man that has been running the worst bench unit in the league. Filling in Sloan's place on the bench? Jeremy Pargo, a horror that has yet to crawl out of the deepest and darkest place on the Cavaliers bench this season.

But then again, maybe some amazing will happen. Maybe Anderson Varejao will be able to keep up his recent All-Star level play even without Kyrie. Maybe Dion Waiters will step up and fill the void left by Kyrie and take the reigns for the first time in his NBA career. I mean, the Cavaliers did beat the Chris Paul led Clippers last year without Kyrie. And the Sixers are playing on the backend of a back-to-back. Andrew Bynum's still out nursing his haircut. Maybe a miracle can happen.

To help with the analysis for tonight's game, I've called in world-renowed mathematician and expert in Chaos Theory, Dr. Ian Malcom for some expert insight and number-crunching of these two teams. Dr. Malcom, how do you feel about this Cavaliers team without Kyrie Irving?

Welp. Can't disagree there.

Fear the Sword's Prediction:

There's going to be blood, and lot's of it. The Cavaliers are without Kyrie Irving and Daniel Gibson. Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller are injured and wearing masks. The Sixers are going to win by a whole bunch and I'm not going to be able to buy enough beer at the Q to get me through this one.

Send help. Please.

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