In recent years, the Philadelphia 76ers have been one of the NBA’s elite teams at home, but struggled on the road. This season has been the complete opposite.
After a 116-106 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night on the road, the Sixers are 14-8 on the road. They are tied with the Brooklyn Nets and the Utah Jazz for the most road wins in the NBA. The Nets and the Jazz are both 14-3 on the road on the season.
Getting it together on the road was one of Doc Rivers’ goals when he took over as coach of the Sixers. So far, that goal is becoming a reality.
“We addressed that the first day of training camp two years ago,” said Rivers. “My first practice walking in and I was as frank as you can ever be to a team that you don’t know with guys. I basically said, ‘We are disgraceful on the road and there is no excuse for that. When you look at your home record, how are we this bad on the road?’ We talked about it. Guys gave their opinion. I wasn’t buying any of them. I really wasn’t.”
The Sixers were 12-26 on the road in the 2019-20 season, the final season before Rivers took over. They were 20-16 away from home in Rivers’ first season in 2020-21. It is clear his message is having an effect.
“That’s been an emphasis since he got here was us improving on the road,” said Tobias Harris. “Being locked in and focused in this season with all the distractions and all the different variables and what’s going on, I just think the group has done a great job of coming out and being prepared and ready and going out and hoopin’ and being able to pick each other up on the road and us really keeping our focus all throughout. I think that’s been a big key.”
Just because the Sixers are away from Philadelphia does not mean they suddenly should play poorly. Rivers has been focusing on making sure the team is ready to win games while going out on the road.
“We gotta go on the road; it’s your job,” he stated. “I think our guys understand that. When they go on the road now, the No. 1 priority is to be ready for the game, and I think our guys are doing a good job of that.”
On the flip side, the Sixers are 7-8 at home. They were 29-7 at home in 2020-21 and 31-4 in the 2019-20 season. Joel Embiid is happy with the road success, but he wants the team to get it done at home as well.
“That means we’re not very good at home, which is surprising because in the past, it’s been the opposite,” said Embiid. “I’d rather be good at home than on the road and this year, we haven’t been as good as we want to at home, so we need to definitely be better. It’s great, but we need to do a better job at home.”
The Sixers will have their next chance on Friday when they host the San Antonio Spurs.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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