The Milwaukee Bucks have taken the Eastern Conference by storm this year with an impressive 29-5 start. They seem to have the No. 1 seed locked down while Philadelphia has struggled to keep pace. One large reason for the 76ers’ lack of contention is their poor performance on the road this season. There are several questions being asked of the Sixers; Can the team win without Joel Embiid? Can the Sixers score enough when Ben Simmons refuses to shoot?
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When it comes to the postseason, it’s reasonable to say that the East is between the Bucks and Sixers. No other team can convincingly match up and provide the firepower that these two can. Miami, Boston, Indiana and Toronto — all in contention for the No. 2 seed — are at least one All-Star away from providing genuine competition in a seven-game series. In head-to-head matchups against Eastern Conference challengers, the Sixers are a convincing 6-3.
General Manager Elton Brand made excellent offseason moves to put the Sixers in the position they’re in now. He took a risk in letting Jimmy Butler leave, but it could be a stroke of genius should the Sixers advance to the finals with this group.
Philly should not look to trade any of their starters right now. They were acquired for a postseason run, and they haven’t had a chance to play together in the postseason yet. It would be senseless to give up on these players before they even had a crack at the playoffs.
Horford Will Be Key in Stopping Giannis
Al Horford especially should play an important role in the postseason. The veteran big man is one of the best defensive bigs in the league. Despite his struggles against Giannis Antetokounmpo in last year’s playoffs, his defense will go a long way this time around.
With Horford and Embiid, Philly has the best chance of any team in the NBA to stop Giannis. By the time the playoffs arrive, Antetokounmpo could be the only thing standing between the Sixers and their first NBA Finals since 2001. Lock him down, and it’s four wins to be champions of the world. The Embiid & Horford combination played a huge part of the dominant Christmas Day display over the Bucks. Giannis was only able to post 18 points on 29.6% shooting.
Since then, the Sixers have suffered back-to-back one-point losses. The Sixers were poor on both nights, yet they still had shots to win the game. The biggest disappointment were the closing minutes in Miami. A catalog of errors took the game to overtime. Somehow the Sixers are able to underperform and still find themselves in winning situations. There is nothing more frustrating for a fan to see. They turn up on Christmas Day and brush aside the team with the best record in the NBA, then somehow find themselves losing to an Orlando team that will struggle to have a .500 record. Maybe there is a case to be made for the 76ers not respecting their opposition– only time will tell.
It has been a mediocre start to the season for the Sixers. Not all hope is lost, though. If they address the issues above, they have a great chance of delivering a championship to the city of Philadelphia. Home court advantage is huge. One thing is for certain— the Sixers have to improve their record on the road if they want home court advantage come April.
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