While most people are acting like the Philadelphia 76ers schedule down the stretch is putty soft, when you analyze it closely, it is nowhere near that easy.
At the end of last season, the Philadelphia 76ers faced so many cream-puffs it is surprising some of the players did not get diabetes. The Sixers closed out the 2017-18 year with an NBA-record 16 straight wins, many of them without center Joel Embiid, who fractured the orbit of his eye in a collision with Markelle Fultz.
In theory, this year appears to be a repeat: the 76ers vs. a variety of sad sacks. As of March 29, Tankathon had the Sixers rated with the easiest remaining schedule of the entire NBA.
However, so far, that rating has not been proven on the court, and there is no reason to think the confounding of the computers will not continue.
Consider that the 76ers from March 15 to March 28 had three games against teams which if the season ended that day would be in the playoffs, Boston, Milwaukee and Brooklyn. They also had what should have been a breather against the awful Atlanta Hawks.
Against the playoff teams, the Sixers were a perfect 3-0. The Sixers against the bottom-feeding Hawks? Not so good. Two days after the Hawks debacle, the 76ers got blown out by the Orlando Magic, a team with a losing record.
Down the stretch nothing has made much sense, up is down, left is right, the way the Sixers have been playing, knocking off the good teams while falling to cellar-dwellers.
Why is this stretch different than last year? Here are 5 reasons: