The Philadelphia 76ers were able to complete step 1 in their title quest for the 2020-21 season by clinching a playoff spot on Wednesday with a 127-83 win over the Atlanta Hawks. The win marks the fourth consecutive season the Sixers will be in that playoffs and, this time, they are going for the title.
Tobias Harris has stepped up as a team leader all season long and he has been a guy who has taken on more responsibility. He had a nice all-around game on Wednesday by going for 17 points, seven rebounds, and six assists and he wants the rest of the team not to focus on just clinching a playoff spot, but to think much bigger.
“That’s expected to clinch the playoffs,” he stated. “This is Philadelphia basketball where greatness is really something that is expected from our fans, it’s expected from us as a group, and it’s one of our goals, day in and day out so we understand that. We’re not a team in the locker room celebrating for clinching the playoffs right now. We want to celebrate when we’re able to win, and win big, in this postseason. That’s our goal.”
Joel Embiid has been a guy who has been around for all of these postseason appearances and the team has fallen short every time. Now that he and the team are sitting at the top of the standings, the big fella has his eyes on a championship.
“Coming into this season, our goal was to win a championship, but there’s a lot of steps to get there,” said Embiid. “You got to make the playoffs and you gotta win the first round, second, conference finals, and then you get to the Finals and it’s a long road. You got to be focused for it and I think we have everything we need to make it happen. It’s all about us coming in and dominating every game.”
One of those pieces that will help the team is Seth Curry who had 20 points in the win on Wednesday while knocking down four triples. His presence out on the perimeter has been huge and it has the team excited for what’s to come.
“Very excited, very excited,” said Curry. “Especially, being here, a new team, new environment hopefully it’s a great atmosphere for us when we do get to get to the playoffs but you can’t skip any steps as a team. We just got to keep our spot, we got to continue to stay healthy, continue to get better, and continue to play good basketball as a team heading into the playoffs.”
The Sixers now have 10 games left to prepare for the postseason and get themselves on the right page heading into the playoffs.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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