The Philadelphia 76ers are finally returning home on Saturday to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves and with 24 games left in the season, they have some work to do in order to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
They are locked in a tight race with both the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks that has put them in the 2 seed in the East between the two teams. They are half a game back of the 1 seed Nets and two games ahead of the 3 seed Bucks.
Despite Philadelphia’s success, they are not being talked about as much on the national scene of things. All the talk is about the Nets who have loaded up in a big way and the Bucks who have the league MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, that does not bother the Sixers.
“We got a good squad,” said Seth Curry. “Everybody likes new additions or whatever, we didn’t make any splashes. We got a good piece in George (Hill) and other guys, which is gonna help us tremendously down the stretch. I think we’ve been at the top of the league throughout the whole season and we’re confident ourselves. That’s all you need.”
There is a reason to feel confident. The Sixers lost their only matchup with the Bucks, but it was in overtime and Philadelphia did not have superstar big man Joel Embiid for that game. They have split their first two matchups with the Nets.
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Curry is a guy who is going to be very important to Philadelphia’s chances down this final stretch of the season. They have a lot of games coming up in a short amount of time with this condensed schedule and the big thing is taking care of their bodies to battle the great teams like the Nets and the Bucks in the East.
“That’s been tough, honestly, especially with nagging injuries like myself and other guys on the team have,” Curry added. “Everybody in the league is going through it right now, so you got to take the proper amount of rest days, and when game day comes, you gotta lock in and try to get a win. No excuses really you got to go out there and compete.”
The Sixers are also in the middle of 10 games out of 12 on the road. They just finished up a 6-game road trip and after these two weekend home games, they go back out on the road for four games. So this is going to be a critical stretch for them. They need everybody healthy in order to get all of these wins.
“During the home stretch, I’m sure we’ll do some smart things as far as trying to get our bodies right before we head into the playoffs,” Curry finished. “Right now, it’s about racking up as many wins as possible.”
The Sixers and the Timberwolves battle at 8 p.m. EST from the Wells Fargo Center.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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