They REALLY Do Actually Have to Win Now
After a long season, Spike and AU are finally back on the same page.
Quick note before you read this: I was going through Ricky emails and I became inspired to write the following post. I didn’t know if anyone else was writing anything, I just knew I needed to write it. I then sent a text to Ricky Editor In Chief Andrew Unterberger, and this is the exchange, and the reason you’re getting two posts from two people essentially saying the same thing but unaware that the other was going to say it.
And with that, here is my original post, reluctantly edited and posted by AU.
“It’s OK to lose, just don’t embarrass us,” was the theme of the end of the podcast that Mike and I did on Thursday night.
That’s been pretty much the theme the entire series, as evidenced by how furious we were with the 30 point losses (embarrassing), and relatively unbothered by the six point loss (not embarrassing).
When we were finishing up and discussing whether the Sixers would win Game Seven, we both settled into that comfortable spot we had spend the entire postseason. “Just don’t make us have to defend you in public,” is essentially what we’re saying. But as I said it, I could tell that I really didn’t believe it, I was just too scared to express it publicly.
They have to win tonight. They just do. They can’t come this far and lose. I do believe they will win. I am full-on dumb-fuck bought in. I can’t believe it. I haven’t believed in the Sixers in literally years. But they have to win tonight and I think they will.
“Just don’t embarrass us” originates from two basic feelings. First, neither of us believed they could win the series. I am not ashamed of thinking this. It was reasonable. It’s also funny that we both believed it. As the podcast goes on, Mike is thinking more like me (he’d disagree which is fine but it’s true) and I’m thinking even more like me, so we do occasionally agree on things. It’s probably when we’re the most wrong, as well. The second feeling this thinking comes from is an unwillingness to believe, given all of the times we’ve been punished for doing so.
We have many memories of the last thirteen years of Process basketball and podcasts. Some of them are good, but most of are bad, or at best, weird (and also bad).
Bad: collapse against the Celtics, choke against the Heat, sweep by the Celtics in the bubble, the Kawhi shot, the Ben Simmons turned-down dunk against the Hawks, the various injuries, Zhaire Smith almost dying, Scott O’Neil, the entire 24-25 season, etc, etc…
Bad but Also Weird: Markelle Fultz forgetting how to shoot, Simmons never learning how to shoot, the Bryan Colangelo burners, Hinkie’s manifesto, the minority owner who claimed to be running the team with Brett Brown and then leaving several years later, New Philadelphia, etc, etc…
We deserve one real moment of pure basketball joy. The best moment of the era simply cannot be Joel Embiid watching TV to learn that he won the MVP. Having one of the consensus top five players in basketball for a decade can not be highlighted by that guy watching TV in some random room somewhere. It has to be on the court.
People will call us losers for celebrating the way we will celebrate if the Sixers win tonight, but I don’t particularly care. They have not beaten a good team in the playoffs during the Process era, and beating the largely consensus best team in the Easter Conference, after being down 3-1, when Joel Embiid misses the first three games, opening as a -900 underdog, and that team being the Celtics, who the Sixers haven’t beaten in 42 years, is a big fucking deal. It just is.
Not to mention, they deserve it. And when I say “they,” I mostly just mean Joel Embiid. Tyrese Maxey for sure deserves it, but he will get other chances. Same for VJ Edgecombe. I will feel good for Oubre of course. Paul George, I dunno, I’m glad he’s playing well but “deserves it” would be a reach. Embiid is the only person on the team, or front office who has been through all of this with us. I would like for him to get this moment as well.
If they win tonight, I would recommend you do not jump immediately to “there’s no one in the East we can’t beat.” Give yourself the chance to enjoy something for once. If I can do it, I am pretty sure you can.
Now go fucking beat them.
