Just when everyone thought the Philadelphia 76ers have finally turned a corner, they proceeded to drop four of their last six outings. With a 23-19 record, they are barely even in the Top 6 in the East for a guaranteed playoff spot. But even if they get there, it is hard to take this team seriously given this one, huge weakness of theirs that has become a hugely embarrassing flaw.
The 76ers are 11-12 this season at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, their home court. They are the only team in the Top 8 of both conferences with a losing record at home and it is not even close. For some reason, this group struggles to play complete basketball on their turf, and opponents have definitely feasted and found a lot of success on the road.
If this goes on — and there is little to suggest right now that Philly is ready to turn things around on that end — it would be highly preposterous for anyone to even mention championship contention when talking about the 76ers. After all, defending home court is as elementary as it gets for teams with actual title aspirations.
The 76ers keep losing games at home and it’s killing their title hopes
Philadelphia has a net rating of -1.0 at home, which places them at 21st place among all 30 teams. Even more odd is the fact that they have the seventh-worst offensive rating when hosting teams, while their defensive rating is also below league average.
Across the board, the 76ers somehow find ways to struggle badly at home, which is a recipe for disaster in the playoffs. It makes their chase for homecourt advantage a moot escapade. Obviously, there is no real advantage when playing at home makes you a worse team by the numbers and in the eye test.
At this point, it is almost like this team is much more comfortable playing when they are on the road and are often the underdogs. Now, their 12-7 record on the road is impressive, but it is only neutralized by their subpar performances at home. That is a huge missed opportunity that also exhibits their inability to win those games they are supposed to win.
If the 76ers cannot even get the lowest-hanging fruit by winning the majority of their games at home, they can bid adieu to their hopes of winning the championship this season. Unless and until that strange status quo changes, they will be in for a world of hurt come playoff time.