A Must Win: The Most Important Game In Process History
Mike O’Connor is the best O’Connor in basketball writing. Previously of The Athletic, you can find Mike on Twitter @MOConnor_NBA. Mike’s writing is brought to you by Body Bio, supplements based on science, focusing on your gut and brain health. Get 20% off E-Lyte, Gut+, and all Body Bio products with promo code FIRECJ at Body Bio’s website.
The phrase “must-win” gets thrown out far too often in sports. You’ll often hear media folks throw around that phrase when a team goes down 1-0 in a first or second round series, when we know damn well that it is, quite literally, not a must-win.
With higher stakes games, or literal elimination games, you could certainly talk yourself into the “must-win” label being valid. But, really, what would happen if your team doesn’t win? Some transient disappointment? Some shake-ups to the roster or coaching staff? Being the butt of the internet’s jokes for a few days?
In this particular case, I find the label of “must-win” being attached to Sunday’s Game 7 being vastly disrespectful to the true severity of the stakes. This is a must-win not only to continue the Sixers’ season, but to validate, well, the entire last ten years of being a Sixers fan. This one single game will determine the entire perception of the Sixers’ past, present, and future.
If you’re a fan of another team, you might think I’m strictly talking about the participants, which is obviously understandable. If Joel Embiid lays an egg and the Sixers lose, he will be labeled a loser and his MVP season will be joked about by other fans. If James Harden blows this game, his career will be cemented as a great statistical player who was ultimately a loser. For Doc Rivers, a loss adds to the overwhelming evidence of him being a playoff choke-artist. One game will decide so much about the reputations of those three guys, and in all likelihood, they won’t all be together to have another crack at it next season.
But no, when I say this is a must-win, I’m actually thinking more so about the Sixers’ fan base. To put it simply, I’m not sure how I could continue to show my face on the internet as someone who cares about the Sixers if they lose this game. It would be abundantly obvious by that point, whether you arrive there by logic or by believing in some supernatural force, that the Sixers are only capable of delivering pain. We could safely say, by that point, that being a Sixers fan has no redeeming characteristics other than the knowledge that it didn’t kill you – we would have to confront the reality that we are Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill.
This unfathomable ten-year odyssey has all led to this. If you weren’t around for The Process years, or if you’re a fan of another team, you likely don’t understand the baggage that longtime Sixers fans are carrying at the moment. All of the arguing about The Process, Hinkie, Embiid, Colangelo, Morey, Simmons, Butler, Harden, etc. would all be in vain if all we have to show for it is a handful of absolutely devastating second round losses. It has to add up to something, right? We couldn’t have gone through all of this only to never even make the Conference Finals – a round that 19 (NINE FUCKING TEEN!) teams have made it to since the start of The Process in 2013-14, right? There can’t only be pain in the universe, right? Right?!
I’ve always had an internal rage towards the Boston Celtics, and throughout this series, I’ve found myself borderline infuriated by the way that Celtics fans talk about these games. You think YOU are sweating bullets throughout each game? You think YOU have a lot riding on this series? You think YOU guys would have some soul-searching to do if you lose? Frankly, if the histories and baggages of these franchises were reversed, I’m not sure my inherent tribalism could overcome the feeling of empathy I’d have towards the opposing fanbase. I’d be rooting for the Sixers, but deep down, I’d feel kinda happy for the Celtics if they won. Losing to these smug, terrible, ungrateful Celtics fans would only be the icing on the cake.
In a way, this game represents the beauty of sports – how one single game can bring about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. But, frankly, I think that a defeat would go past the point of agony to something far more sinister: indifference. If they lose this game, I think I will have figured out that investing emotional capital in the Sixers is simply a waste of time. When the story only ever ends one way, it gets old after a while.
I don’t mean to say (as much as I’d flirt with the idea) that a Sixers loss would make me delete my Twitter account and log offline forever. I’m in this for life, unfortunately. But it would definitely require a massive shift in perception. I just don’t think I could work up the enthusiasm to care about the end goal anymore. In my mind, the Sixers would occupy a space similar to the Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, and whichever other woebegone franchises you’d like to throw in – truly among the most pathetic American sports franchises that exist, and the loudest and most chaotic one at that. As such, it would be hard to care a whole lot about them.
Of course, this could all swing the exact opposite way. They could validate everything about the last ten years. Embiid could dominate and claim a spot in the best player alive conversation. Harden could show out and become a Philadelphia sports legend. I truly believe this game will determine the winner of the NBA Finals – the winner of this series will smoke the Heat, and I would likely pick either of them over Denver or the Lakers, too. It is not unlikely that the Sixers could waltz to a title after winning on Sunday, and every bit of the last ten years will have been worth it.
I still believe, as I have all season, that the Sixers can beat the Celtics. They just beat the piss out of them on their own floor on Tuesday, and they can absolutely do it again. If they do, it would be one of the most thrilling sports experiences of my lifetime.
But if they don’t? That reality is almost too grim to think about. It’s a fascinating dynamic, which is why I decided to write about it, but that possibility frankly terrifies me. I’m not sure what it would mean for me – or for all of us – to not be able to truly care about the Sixers anymore, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to if they lose this game. For my sake, for the sake of all of us, for the sake of the last ten years, and for the sake of there being any karmic good in the universe, they simply must win.