The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a 7-1 start and they find themselves at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. On the flip side, they have not really been tested in the early going.
The Sixers have beaten the Washington Wizards twice, the Charlotte Hornets twice, the Orlando Magic, the New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors. The Magic and the Knicks are currently over .500. Washington, Charlotte, and Toronto have a combined record of 7-17.
Thursday’s matchup with the Brooklyn Nets begins a string of tough games where they will be tested often. After the Nets, they are scheduled to face the Western Conference finalist Denver Nuggets followed by the Atlanta Hawks, the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics soon after.
“I’m excited,” Joel Embiid said. “Obviously, Brooklyn’s still good, but they’re better with KD (Kevin Durant), that’s unfortunate. I wanna see how we do against top teams. The teams we’ve played, they’re good teams, they’re great teams, but when you talk about the teams that are contenders, you’re talking about the Lakers, you’re talking about the Clippers, Milwaukee, and we haven’t played any of those teams. I’m excited to see how we go out there.”
The Sixers also understand they are not a finished product. They need to focus on themselves and on getting better.
“In our essence, we have a lot to do, still, as far as improvement as a team,” said coach Doc Rivers. “If this is as good as we are, then we’re not good enough. We have to understand we have to keep getting better.”
The good news is, Philadelphia has won games pretty and it has won them ugly. Wednesday’s game should have been a pretty win as the Sixers built a 21-point lead, but Bradley Beal’s onslaught made sure it wasn’t. At the end of the day, they won and that’s all that matters. But improvements have to be made.
“I’m an optimist, but I don’t want to say that we’re close,” Rivers added. “I think there’s more than one level. I think we have a lot of levels to go. We have a lot of growth and execution to go. I just really believe this; I think this is the scratch of us this is the beginning of us, but the finished product is going to be so much better.”
That is what makes this upcoming schedule so intriguing. This can be their measuring stick to see just how far they have to go to continue to improve and get to the level where they want to be.
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