Philadelphia 76ers: Top 10 moments of 2018

6. Timothy John prevents a sweep

Easily one of the most surreal moments of my basketball fandom was witnessing the hallmarks of the Process (Robert Covington, Dario Saric, etc.) actually playing postseason basketball. That feeling grew ten-fold when T.J. McConnell entered the game.

T.J. will always be one of my all-time favorite Sixers. He embodies everything about this city: that gritty, blue-collar, give it all you got mentality. He’s someone you can’t help but root for and by all accounts, his teammates love him.

McConnell has had a hand in some pretty awesome moments in his four seasons in the association. Most notably, he hit that memorable game-winner over Carmelo Anthony two seasons ago and became the first player in franchise history to notch a triple-double off the bench in February.

But his performance in Game 4 of the Boston series will easily go down as his signature moment.

In a game the Sixers desperately needed to win to extend the series at least another game, T.J. stepped up. He carved up an elite Boston defense all night, consistently finding driving lanes off the dribble, hitting open guys, and even added a spot-up three. He finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

The Sixers may have lost the series, but the fact that it was T.J. McConnell who extended the team’s playoff life another day was a joy to witness.