The All-Star break is done and teams are preparing for the stretch run of the season. The Philadelphia 76ers are 38-19 with 25 games to go before the playoffs begin in April.
The Sixers are an established contender in the East. They are led by Joel Embiid and James Harden, and their new bench unit is led by Tyrese Maxey. Philadelphia is in a very good spot coming out of the All-Star break, beginning with a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.
The Athletic released its latest power rankings, and the Sixers are ranked fourth in the contender tier:
When we checked in on this a little over two months ago, the Sixers were still battling injuries to James Harden and Tyrese Maxey. They weren’t even close to whole. Now? The Sixers have kicked things into high gear and they are kicking teams’ butts to start out games. They maintain in the middle quarters and then they put it away in the fourth. They’ve gone 12-4 in their last 16 clutch games since we last checked in. And they’ve won 26 of their last 33 games. They have become an absolute force.
The Sixers are one of the elite half-court defensive teams in the league, they have an efficient offense led by Harden, and one has to figure that the Sixers will be in the running to represent the East in the NBA Finals in June.
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