Philadelphia 76ers fittingly face Minnesota Timberwolves to earn playoffs
By Bret Stuter
No disrespect to Timberwolves, but…
The Philadelphia 76ers approach to rebuild the team has been scorned by the NBA, national media, social media, and NBA fans for years. Thad prolonged level of disrespect, beratement, and trolling has made the normally tough Philadelphia fans even more calloused than usual. The Sixers are not happy just to make it to the NBA Playoffs.
This team, city, and fanbase want to shock the NBA. In fact, they must. No room for marginalizing the incredible progress the team has made in one season. Blowing past the playoff-bound Minnesota Timberwolves on the way to the NBA Playoffs is one more way. No disrespect to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but there is more at stake to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Timberwolves tools to troll Philly
Through no deliberate act of their own, the Minnesota Timberwolves played the role of sledge hammer to beat upon optimistic Philadelphia 76ers fans. From comparing Karl Anthony Towns stats to the rehabbing Joel Embiid, to the win-loss records of each team. Whenever the Philadelphia 76ers fans felt good about news, trolls reached for some Timberwolf factoid to hammer the optimism out of social media.
Even national media got in the act, pitting the seasoned Timberwolves against the newly formed Philadelphia 76ers roster and calling it the “Battle of the NBA Big Men”. Embiid in his twelfth game against Towns at game 94 was hardly a balanced contest. It was calculated to stir controversy, show the nation and the NBA that the Philadelphia 76ers did not succeed. But that started a feud that nobody counted on.