There is good news and bad news for Sixers fans today. First the good news: The Sixers won their second straight game under interim head coach Tony DiLeo, banishing the Bucks last night, 93-88.

That makes DiLeo 2-0 since taking over from the banished Maurice Cheeks. Hard to argue with that. So what’s the bad news? The Sixers likely lost Elton Brand in the process. The team’s big off-season free agent acquisition went down in a heap in a collision with Luc Mbah a Moute in the third quarter. Brand wound up with an ugly lump on his arm. The initial prognosis is a dislocated shoulder. Brand will have an MRI later today.

But here’s where it gets interesting.

After Brand’s exit, the Sixers seemd to take on the life they showed in their late-season spurt that pushed them into the playoffs last year. They ran the floor and looked nothing like the plodding, half-court bunch they have shown with Brand in the lineup.

Which brings us back to this question. Can the Sixers be the team they were last year with Brand as their focal point? We might be about to find out.

A cynic also might want to review the moves of Delco native and new Sixers boss Ed Stefanski. Let’s see, first he extended Maurice Cheeks; then he signed Andre Iguodala to a huge new deal, while trying to force him into the two guard slot for which he is ill-prepared. Then Stefanski went out and picked up Brand. At the time everyone liked it, saying he could be the low-post presence the team desperately needed. The problem is that Brand has not been much of a force inside, instead appearing instead to look for open jumpers. Stefanski then canned Cheeks when the team struggled to start the season in this new format.

If the Sixers suddenly reel off a series of wins while sporting the look of last year’s playoff squad, more than a few eyebrows likely will be raised.