What does the Kyrie injury mean for the Sixers?

By Joe DiProsperos | Apr 7, 2018

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 11: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics holds off Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the NBA game between Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers at The O2 Arena on January 11, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) /

Kyrie Irving’s season-ending injury, as unfortunate as it is, could prove to have significant playoff implications for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers are rollin’. A 13-game win streak, their longest in 33 years, a playoff appearance already a guarantee, and home-court advantage being very much in play. What a time it is to be a Sixer fan. This squad is playing at such a high level of late, even without the services of Joel Embiid, that we have to begin to seriously consider the possibility of a deep playoff run.

And with recent developments around the league, it just got a lot more interesting.

As reported by ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving will miss the rest of the regular season and the entirety of the playoffs after his recent knee surgery discovered a bacterial infection in the screws he received following his patella injury in the 2015 NBA Finals. He’s already missed close to a month of action because of the aforementioned knee procedure.

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Injuries suck. That goes without saying. This NBA season has especially been a real downer with so many big-name players either going down with season-ending injuries or missing significant time due to injury. Those that come to mind include Kristaps Porzingis, DeMarcus Cousins, Gordon Hayward, Isaiah Thomas, Jeremy Lin, and now Kyrie.

But the fact of the matter is that Kyrie’s injury makes a potential playoff run for the Sixers all the more intriguing. They’re in a dog-fight for the three-seed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Sixers’ HUGE win Friday night over Cleveland gave the them a half-game advantage on the Cavs with three games left. With the remaining schedule the Sixers, who seem to be clicking on all cylinders, have, they are in a great position to hold onto that spot for good.

So let’s assume that the Sixers do, in fact, manage to clinch the three-seed by season’s end. They would most likely take on the Miami Heat in the first round, who they are more than capable of taking down and most likely would. Assuming that the Celtics also win their first-round match-up, the Sixers stand a solid chance against a banged-up, Kyrie-less Celtics team in the second round.

Yeah the Celtics would have home-court advantage in the series and they still have guys like Jayson Tatum (who’s put together an admittedly solid ROTY case), Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier, and Al Horford who have really stepped up in Kyrie’s absence. But the scoring void left behind by Kyrie might not be able to sustain a deep playoff run.

Plus, the Sixers already defeated the Celtics earlier in the season in a game when Kyrie didn’t see the court. Add on the fact that Joel Embiid would most likely be available for that series, and I believe that the Sixers would potentially be able to steal the series in six or seven games.

If this is how it were to go down, that could very well set up a Sixers-Cavs Eastern Conference Finals match-up. I’m just a firm believer that the path to the Finals will ultimately go through Cleveland. Plain and simple. When LeBron James decides to go playoff mode, which seems to be every other night, he is almost unstoppable and can single-handedly put a team on his back.

That being said, this would be a tough series for the Sixers to pull off. They would have home-court advantage and it would definitely be a wildly entertaining series. It has the potential to go six or seven games, but when LeBron decides to take over a game, he is a force to be reckoned with. Plus, it would just seem like so much so soon.

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In the end, all of this is hypothetical. With a little less than a week left in the regular season, a lot of things could transpire in that time. But this Sixers squad looks to be way ahead of schedule, so don’t be surprised if they do end up making some serious noise in the playoffs, and Kyrie’s injury could be a big reason why that happens.