2023-2024 Sixers Season

[xogfog]

Sixer finally beat the Celtics tonight. Embiid with more than half of the Sixers points, with 52 of their 103.

[phillychuck]

Embiid with more than half of the Sixers points, with 52 of their 103.

On 20 of 25 shooting.

[zambonir]

Given the late-season reality of Harden and Embiid's injuries I'm not sure it could have gone otherwise but do we really think they have a chance as the road team in a series against the Celtics?

[phillychuck]

Harden and Embiid always give them a chance if they are healthy, home or road. If the refs stop falling for Marcus Smart's dirty tricks, (or for Williams' who got a foul call on Embiid late yesterday by pulling Embiid down on top of him) they have a shot. As long as the refs give 80% of the 50/50 calls to the Celtics they will be hard to beat in any series, though.

[zambonir]

Well yeah I'm not saying it's going to be 2018 or 2020 but I think the best we can probably hope for is a Game 7 toss-up (as against Toronto in 2019). They're gonna do better than the last two season but probably not "advance to the conference finals" better. Yesterday was a shortened Boston roster and a somewhat low-stakes game (except for the Sixers feeling like they had something to prove) and even then they needed that kind of performance from Joel.

The better team (and the home team) always gets more calls. Somewhat chicken/egg but the best answer is still to fix those things.

[kmc1019]

The Sixers bench is rarely great and often brutal, especially in games against good teams. That is the Achilles heel that limits the team to 2nd round elimination.

[zambonir]

I would certainly say Morey tried to fix it this year. It just didn't work. At all. With multiple players, both acquired and inherited, whether they were bench per se or were supposed to be able to stop some bleeding with Joel off the court. And then the bargain fixes are never good either.

The three huge contracts don't make it easy and neither does Doc I'd say. Their best chance was always for Thybulle to find some offense (or at least the "3" part of 3 and D). Now we'll probably see if they shed one or more of those contracts.

The Bucks and Celtics are also very good of course, but feels like a missed opportunity to never take advantage of the Nets implosion and Miami dipping (or so we better hope).

[schillingfan]

Why did they get rd of Jimmy Butler?

[zambonir]

Because it was him or Ben.

[schillingfan]

I knew it was some problem. Boy were they wrong.

[xogfog]

So the Eastern Conference playoffs are set, the Sixers (3rd seed) will play the Nets (6th seed) in the first round. The play in games to see who will lose to the Bucks and Celtics are Hawks @ Heat (winner of that game is the 7th seed and will play the Celtics) and Bulls @ Raptors (winner of that game will play loser of Hawks/Heat game to decided who is the 8th seed to play the Bucks). The 4-5 match up will be Cavs vs. Knicks.

Meanwhile, the Sixers sat Embiid, Harden, Maxey. Melton, Harris and Tucker and still managed to beat the Hawks.

[zambonir]

You mean Nets are 6th seed obviously. Let's hope for a short series/the least possible wear-and-tear.

[phillychuck]

Nets are much better than people think. Bridges and Dinwiddie are very good, and Johnson, Thomas, and Curry can all score.

The whole series comes down to whether Claxton can guard Joel at all and keep him to a less efficient 30 PPG rather than 50. And if Harden is OK...

And whether Harris and Maxey can provide efficient scoring.

[zambonir]

They're definitely better than they were.... and better than the Mavericks! Unfortunately I think if it it turns into even a six-game series that just ups the odds of injuries or overuse helping to sink a bench-challenged Sixers team against an already-superior second-round opponent yet again.

[bkeich]

If the Sixers have any hope against Boston they need to dispatch the Nets as fast as possible. Embiid is once again running on fumes it looks like (yes, he had a great 52 pt game but his Rebounds have been down in the last 15 games and he surely has tons of nagging injuries).

Harden must somehow provide offense greater than his Ole defense. If he is a threat to score(which he normally is) efficiently (ahh, that one gets more questionable) then they are setup to maybe threaten Celtics / Bucks. I actually think they have a better chance against the Bucks, but that can only happen in the conference championship.

[bkeich]

McClung with 20, 9 and 9 in the final game victory. I wish he had gotten the triple double, he may never really get to play in the NBA, would have been nice to see him get.

[xogfog]

The Sixers playoffs begin on Saturday at 1:00pm, Game 1 vs. the Nets, broadcast on ESPN.

[Philsmania]

If the Sixers have any hope against Boston they need to dispatch the Nets as fast as possible. Embiid is once again running on fumes it looks like (yes, he had a great 52 pt game but his Rebounds have been down in the last 15 games and he surely has tons of nagging injuries).

Harden must somehow provide offense greater than his Ole defense. If he is a threat to score(which he normally is) efficiently (ahh, that one gets more questionable) then they are setup to maybe threaten Celtics / Bucks. I actually think they have a better chance against the Bucks, but that can only happen in the conference championship.

In some ways, the Sixers versus the Celtics here in the Embiid Era reminds me of the Flyers versus the Devils in Lindros Era. Back then, the Devils were always a tad bit better, usually had their number head-to-head and always stood in the Flyers way of both the division title and/or the conference championship. The one season when they punched through and made the Stanley Cup Final was when the Rangers knocked the Devils out before the Flyers got to play them.

[xogfog]

Josh Harris looks like he's buying another Philadelphia rival, looks like he is buying the Washington Commanderr. Now he just needs to buy a baseball team

[zambonir]

At least he's actually from Maryland!

He also was already a Steelers investor, I didn't know that.