Win and We're Home: Sixers Play Hornets For 4th Seed Tonight
A good time for the 16th game against the Hornets this year.
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Sixers Record: 51-30, 5th in the East
This isn't something we've said a ton since the quadruple-doink last May -- or in the six or seven years before it -- but God Bless the Toronto Raptors. Despite having clinched the two seed a couple games ago, despite sitting Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol last night, despite Pascal Siakam still nursing that sprained ankle he picked up a week ago trying to do a too-ambitious Toosie Slide (I'm guessing), the friggin' Dinos traveled to Miami last night and handily beat a heat team looking to clinch home-court advantage. A cool 34 for Fred Van Vleet helped the case there, as did a 7-22 night from the floor from our good friend Jimmy Butler, who was certainly flashing some "Well see, we'll see" glances at a couple of his teammates last night.
As much fun as it would normally be to watch the Heat get frostbitten at home by an undermanned Raps squad, it's particularly joyous because now it sets us up for a Game 82 of particular consequence tonight. Essentially, it's a win-and-in (or rather, a win-and-don't-have-to-go-to-the-airport): Beat the Hornets tonight at the not-Wells Fargo Center, and the Philadelphia 76ers secure the four seed, and home-court advantage in the first round against these Miami Heat.
The Sixers earned the chance to play for home on Monday night in Memphis, where after dropping the first two games (against San Antonio and New Orleans) on their mini-road swing, they came out blazing like a Three 6 Mafia concert. Dunno what it is about Furkan Korkmaz when he sees those baby blues on the other sideline, but he was once again electric, pouring in 21 in the first half alone (on just nine shots), while J-Rich and Shake Milton did an impressive job containing a rookie-wall-stricken Ja Morant. Tobias Harris' miserable second half of shooting (8-25 total on the night) helped keep Memphis in it late, but a quiet Joel Embiid came alive in the fourth, leading the Sixers to a breathe-easy-ish 113-104 road win.
So here we are. One game to prove we did sorta deserve to be counted among the East's elite pre-season. I like our chances in the first round against the fading Heat no matter where we're playing -- though they'd picked up a little before the MIA loss, an 11-9 end to the regular season surely isn't inspiring a ton of extra confidence on their side, particularly when we've gone 14-5 over the same stretch -- but I certainly don't need to tell you about the "me at the beginning of 2020" / "me in mid-April 2020" meme-type disparity between the Sixers at home and on the road this year. Given the choice, I'd much prefer for Matt Cord’s voice to be the first we hear this playoffs.
Brett Brown seemed unusually zen -- or maybe just sorta zonked -- when asked about the chance of playing for home court during yesterday's media availability. "Sure, we'll all be keeping tabs on the Miami game tonight. We'd love to be able to start the playoffs in front of our home fans, who've been so great at showing up and supporting us -- well, usually supporting us," he offered with a chuckle. "I'll be honest with you, though, Rich, there's a part of me that would almost rather see us have to prove it on the road first. We're certainly not gonna make it very far in these playoffs if we can't win away from our building. So we'll see. Whatever happens, happens."
Somehow in all of our podcasts we've never discussed the idea of Joel Embiid needing to discover what his identity of a basketball player is (thanks Uriah!).
Of course, in the emotional negotiating that is a daily fixture in the lives of all 76ers fans, I think every single one of us would concede home court if it meant that Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle would definitely be back and healthy for Game One of the playoffs. They've both been in full practices with the Sixers and seem in good spirits, but both have yet to officially been cleared to play. Brett wouldn't offer much concrete on either yesterday, saying he "like[s] where both of them are at in their recovery," but still doesn't want to take any chances with either until they feel 100% safe. (For the record, so far Simmons is still listed as "doubtful" on the team's official injury report, while Thybulle has at least been upgraded to "questionable.")
I certainly wouldn't count on either against Charlotte tonight -- but that's fine. The Sixers haven't lost to Charlotte since 2016, and that's counting all 37 games they played against them from 2018 to 2019. They're an easy 2-0 against them this season. Devonte' Graham and Cody Zeller haven't suited up for them in weeks. The Sixers are coming off a big win and have all the reason in the world to bring their A-game tonight. I mean, what could possibly go wr-- [feed cuts off]