The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Washington Wizards 120-95 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Ben Simmons had a great game, stuffing the stat sheet with 22 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block. Meanwhile the Wizards struggled from everywhere with the team shooting 40 percent from the field and a measly nine percent from beyond the arc while getting hounded by the Sixers’ defense.
The series will now head to Washington, DC for two games where the Wizards will have a chance to even the series. However, the Sixers must not take their foot off the gas and need to win two games on the road and complete the series sweep in four games.
It’s time for the Sixers to make a statement in the first round.
The Sixers finished the regular season with the best record in the East, securing the No. 1 seed with a 49-23 record. In spite of this they haven’t received much respect, with Brooklyn and Milwaukee getting more love from the analysts and the sports books.
If the Sixers want to start proving teams wrong and getting respected as a real contender in the East, they need to make a statement. Milwaukee and Brooklyn are facing stiffer competition than Philly and have both gone up 2-0 in their series so far, so it will only add to the noise if the Sixers let this series make its way back to Philadelphia, and justifiably so. The Wizards have great players but they’re a bad team.
In this series it’s no secret that the Sixers have a lot more talent than the team they’re playing against. In the coming rounds this likely won’t be the case. Dominant teams have to play hard every night regardless of the competition, and the Sixers have a reputation for playing down to their opponent over the last few seasons. This is their chance to show that they deserve the number one seed and that they are the favorites to come out of the East. If they let Washington crawl back into this series they’re just showing that they’re the same old Sixers.
The Sixers need to get some wins on the road.
Let’s be honest: the Sixers are extremely hard to beat at home. The Wells Fargo Center offers one of the best home court advantages in the league, and Philly fans are famously hardcore. (Note: throwing food at injured players isn’t being a fan, it’s trashy. The Sixers don’t need those kinds of fans.) Getting the No. 1 seed was huge for this team. As dominant as they have been at home over the last few seasons, they’ve been significantly worse on the road. This is a great chance for them to get their feet wet and learn how to silence a home crowd and take two wins on the road.
Although the Sixers have home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference Playoffs, there is a good chance that they will lose a home game at some point. Brooklyn has superstars that have won championships by winning games on the road, and Milwaukee has the two-time reigning MVP, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see one of those teams get a win at Wells Fargo and snatch home court away.
The Sixers need to be prepared to go into Brooklyn or Milwaukee with the series tied 1-1 and get a tough road win in front of a crowd that hates them. If they play Utah or Phoenix in the NBA Finals they won’t have home court advantage, and will have to win at least one road game to take home the title.
This will be the Sixers’ only series which they can win on the back of pure talent. If they want to convince us that they can take home a championship, they need to show that they can be disciplined, even-keeled, and dominant even on the road. We’ll find out soon enough.