Sixers have one last shot at redemption

The Philadelphia 76ers will face the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tonight. The game will take place in State Farm Arena, in front of a host of rabid, success-crazed Hawk fans who want to see a team from that city do the improbable. Not long ago, the Sixers were up 2-1. Now, on the heels of two historic collapses, they find themselves in a 2-3 hole.

Nobody has been a harsher critic of the Sixers in recent days than the Sixers’ fanbase. No city voices its displeasure more plainly than Philadelphia. The Sixers should be embarrassed. This series should be over. The Hawks are not a better team. The Sixers blew 18-point and 26-point second half leads in consecutive games. To waste Joel Embiid on a bad knee, and to do so in such loserly fashion, makes it hard to work up confidence ahead of Game 6.

The Sixers can still win this series. If not, a long offseason of hard questions and reflection awaits.

Much shame should rest on the shoulders of Doc Rivers, who has coached a particularly rough series. In the postseason, starters need to play 40+ minutes when the season is on the line. In the postseason, you cannot give up Game 1 to tease out your gameplan for the rest of the series. That Game 1 loss — itself embarrassing, yet totally avoidable — looks worse and worse in hindsight. The three biggest blown leads of the past two postseasons belong to Doc Rivers. At some point, it’s no longer a fluke — it’s an indictment on Rivers’ stubbornness and inability to recognize flagrant issues.

Much shame should rest on the shoulders of Ben Simmons, a former No. 1 pick who has been built up as Joel Embiid’s co-cornerstone, a generational athlete and playmaker with equal parts flare and talent. He has totally dissolved in consecutive fourth quarters. He is shooting 32.8 percent from the free throw line, and letting his ineptitude at the charity stripe infiltrate the rest of his game. He has been allergic to the ball late in games because he’s afraid of the intentional foul. The Sixers are playing 4-on-5. That will not cut it.

Much shame should rest on everyone else. Not Joel Embiid, perhaps, for it’s hard to fathom the pain he is battling through, but the team as a whole deserves blame and shame. To be down 3-2 in this series is unacceptable. There is no excuse. No, “oh, it’s this season, the fatigue, the injuries!” The Sixers have been better all series — won the majority of quarters and halves — only to cave inward when the remotest of pressure is felt. This is something chemically wrong with the team. Not a matter of circumstance.

Game 6, and by extension Game 7, are the Sixers’ last shot at redemption. One last chance to defend the honor of Ben Simmons, who will spend his offseason bouncing around the trade machine if Atlanta wins. One last chance to defend the honor of Doc Rivers, who has done nothing this postseason to suggest he is the coach to push Philadelphia over the top. He was, after all, hired before Daryl Morey came into power.

The Sixers are primed to spend the entire offseason as the NBA laughing stock. There has been so much positive about this season, from Joel Embiid’s ascent, to Tobias Harris’ All-Star bid, to the small wonders of Tyrese Maxey and Bball Paul. The Sixers are the No. 1 seed, in a year the East was billed as wide-open. If it all ends in another second-round loss, this time to the fifth-seeded Hawks, then how can Philadelphia justify the same formula next season?

This is a winnable series. The Sixers have already beaten Atlanta twice in a row, and should have won Game 4 and Game 5, too. If the Sixers don’t wet the bed in the fourth quarter, they’re a far superior team. The Hawks have all the confidence in the world, however, and the air has been let out from under Philadelphia’s sails. It will not be easy, but it’s the Sixers’ last chance to prove their mettle before calls for (more) change ring out.