Best-Case Scenario for Sixers This Season
The NBA finalized on Thursday that the league will return and play in Orlando starting July 31. The Sixers will now have eight remaining regular season games to try to move up from the six seed in the Eastern Conference.
Philly has some work to do – currently being tied with the Indiana Pacers, two games behind the Miami Heat and three and a half games behind the Boston Celtics. It might be too wishful thinking to believe they can climb up four games to Boston for the three seed, but the Sixers could make a push to move in front of Indiana and Miami.
The eight games the team would play would have been the next eight games on their schedule against teams qualifying to play in Orlando. That means they’ll play the Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, and the Orlando Magic. Facing only three teams above .500, this gives the Sixers the easiest strength of schedule in the NBA.
Remaining relative SOS assuming Lakers-Magic, Blazers-Heat, and Lakers-Blazers games are added#BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/ziYdD44dAf pic.twitter.com/wFu7LrtSkn
— Jacob Goldstein (@JacobEGoldstein) June 3, 2020
Strength of schedule, along with the team being fully healthy, should give them a fighting chance at the four seed and play a five-seed Miami Heat squad in the first round. Even if the Sixers only make the five seed, they’d still play Miami which shouldn’t make a difference since the games are at a neutral sight.
Playing Miami in the first round isn’t ideal, but I’d rather play them than Boston. Philly and Miami will be in interesting situations playing on a neutral court, having the best and third-best records in the NBA at home this season, respectively, and both are below .500 on the road. Even though the Heat deserve credit for playing better than almost anyone expected this year, I believe they’re more of a regular season team due to their best qualities being effort and defense, which every team will bring in the playoffs. Plus, how cool would it be to play Jimmy Butler in the first playoff series since he left and beat him?
I say Philly beats Miami in six.
Now since the article is called “Best-Case Scenario for Sixers This Season,” let’s be as optimistic as possible here.
The big problem with moving up to the four or five seed would mean if they win in the first round, they’ll have to play Milwaukee in the second round. Obviously I’d rather play Toronto or Boston, but hey – Philly got Al Horford just for this. The goal since the offseason was to use Horford and Embiid to slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo enough to win a series against the Bucks. Horford hasn’t lived up anywhere near to expectations so far, but maybe a four-month break and switching into playoff mode helps him.
If they lose to Milwaukee anyway, at least we’ll have definite closure in knowing the Horford signing wasn’t worth it and they weren’t good enough to beat the Bucks. We wouldn’t have to spend the offseason playing out any “what if” scenarios.
If the Sixers manage to miraculously beat Milwaukee, that should most likely leave Toronto or Boston in the conference finals. If I had to choose one, it’d definitely be Boston. The Celtics don’t have a center to stop Embiid, whereas Marc Gasol has seemed to be the best center in basketball at defending Embiid since being traded up north.
Everyone in this city would give an arm and a leg to have the Sixers beat Boston to make the finals. It’d be a lot of fun battling the Lakers or Clippers and having hope at a title after everything that’s been happening in the world recently.
Do I think this will happen? No. At this point I say lose to Milwaukee in the second round to end a mostly forgettable season. But hey, one can dream.
Also, remember to root for Oklahoma City to keep it up. At the moment they hold the 22nd pick in the draft, which would convey to the Sixers if the Thunder stay outside the top 20.
