The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the most enigmatic teams in the NBA.
They have a 6’10 point guard in Ben Simmons that can’t shoot a lick. At the same time, they have Joel Embiid at center with one of the most well-rounded games on both ends we’ve seen in generations.
They occupy the same spaces in the paint but haven’t been able to consistently do that together. Around those two, there’s a bunch of length and defense but not much consistent shooting.
All of that is a roundabout way of saying that they’re an incredibly flawed team. Out of all of the contenders we think about from around the league, their faults are the easiest to point out.
Yet, when push has come to shove in the biggest moments of their season so far, their strengths have consistently outweighed their weaknesses.
The Sixers are cleaning up their competition
It’s still fairly early in the season, but about now is usually when we know what teams are poised to make the playoffs barring a catastrophic collapse.
As of right now, the 76ers (23-10) are 4th in the conference and 4.5 games behind the Bucks in the first seed. Outside of Milwaukee, the Celtics (21-7) and Heat (22-8) are the second and third seed ahead of them. Behind them are the Pacers (21-10) as the fifth seed and the Raptors (21-10) as the sixth seed.
As things stand right now, the Sixers are 6-2 with a 7.3 margin of victory in eight games against the other five teams in the East’s top six. It gets better. Against the Celtics and Bucks, they’re 3-0 with two of those wins coming against the Celtics. Their margin of victory in those three games is 15 points.
There’s still plenty of basketball left to be played, but no matter how you spin it that’s a great showing to start against the teams they’ll be jockeying for playoff position with.
The Sixers are a great basketball team, flaws aside
They can’t shoot. They’re too big. They have too many players who might be playing out of position. Those things all ring true about the 76ers. But, so far, people have been far too pessimistic about how those things impact them on the basketball court.
They’re in a great space. They’re 10th in offensive efficiency and eighth in defensive efficiency. Embiid, on his best nights, is a top three or four player in the NBA as he showed against the Bucks on Christmas. They’ve dominated the top of the East with this simple formula — it works!
Sure, their flaws are easy to point to. But facts are facts — even though their results are unconventional and, at times, downright ugly, they’re still winning. That’s all that really matters.
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