Sixers Find Themselves In Spotlight As Philly Fans’ Attention Turns to Them
With the Eagles bowing out of the NFC Divisional Round last weekend, the Flyers residing in the cellar of the Eastern conference, and still a month to go until the Phillies report to Clearwater for spring training, the Sixers will find themselves at the forefront of Philadelphia sports fans attention for a while. Conveniently, the team is two games into a twelve-game stretch in which all of their opponents currently boast winning records. And with ten of those games being nationally televised, the spotlight is shining directly on this team at the moment.
This difficult string of games got off to a good start with the team’s 120-96 road win in Indiana on Thursday night. Sparked by Jimmy Butler’s 27 points and 8 assists, along with Joel Embiid’s 22 and 13 rebound performance, the Sixers pulled away in the second half and cruised through the fourth quarter on their way to the 24 point win. In possibly their best defensive performance of the season thus far, the team held star shooting guard Victor Oladipo to just 15 points on the night.
The squad returned home to Wells Fargo Center yesterday afternoon, for a highly entertaining back and forth contest with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the second of their ten nationally broadcast games in the stretch. After a fourth quarter comeback, a flurry of lead changes, and a Paul George dagger four-point play, the Sixers found themselves on the losing end of the matchup. They’ll face another tough test on Monday evening, when MVP frontrunner James Harden leads the Houston Rockets into town for another primetime matchup, this one on TNT. Harden comes into the game riding a historic, 19-game streak of dropping 30 points or more, and has averaged 42.5 PPG during that stretch. Given the Sixers well-documented struggle to contain scoring guards so far this year, it’ll surely be interesting to see their defensive plan of attack, with Ben Simmons and Butler likely to share the duties of containing Harden.
This perfect storm of attention has hit the Sixers during the most crucial part of their regular season schedule. Eagles fans are just coming off a playoff run filled with excitement, while the Phillies have their fans waking up every morning with bated breath, waiting for any shred of news in the current free agency saga. With no more football to be played, and neither Bryce Harper or Manny Machado sporting red pinstripes yet, this position has created a unique buzz among the Philly fanbase. There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the fanbase, and only one real contender to focus it on for the time being.
These twelve games will also serve as a great measuring stick for the Sixers and their fans to see how they currently stack up against the NBA’s elite. If they can rattle off some big time wins, it will certainly be a great confidence booster for this team. Given the first two outcomes, a statement 24 point win against the Pacers, and the heartbreaking finish against OKC yesterday, it seems like a highly entertaining next 10 games are coming, all of which could go any possible way. So settle in Sixers fans, we’re about to get a peek at just how good this team is, or isn’t.
