Make no mistake about it, Monday’s blowout loss in Portland was an unfortunate ending to Philadelphia’s five-game West Coast trip that started off with convincing wins against the Clippers and Warriors. A few days prior to the loss on Monday was a loss in Los Angeles against the Lakers which happened to coincide with an NBA Trade Deadline that did not please Sixers fans.
By now, you all know what happened as the Sixers ducked the tax again and subtracted a young player in Jared McCain and were unable to flip the draft capital they acquired for McCain for a different player.
Fast forward to Wednesday night, and Philly is set to return home to Xfinity Mobile Arena and welcome in the hated New York Knicks. In recent seasons, Knicks games in Philadelphia have seen an avalanche of New Yorkers make the short trip down the Jersey Turnpike and across the bridge. There’s a good chance Wednesday night is no different — but it should be.
New York sits third in the Eastern Conference, a half game behind the Boston Celtics. In seventh place in the East, and just below the play-in tournament cut line, is the Orlando Magic with a record of 28-24. That’s right, only five games in the loss column separated the second-place teams from the seventh-place team in the conference and Philadelphia is included in this jumble. As for the first-place team in the East, that would be the Detroit Pistons, a franchise that has not won a playoff round since 2008.
Nothing against Detroit, but I don’t think anyone would fear the Pistons in a postseason series. Of course, this landscape of the Eastern Conference was part of the argument behind a more aggressive trade deadline from Daryl Morey and his staff. It seems like a wide-open conference and if you’re the Sixers, why not go for it or at least push a few more chips into the middle of the table in a season many would probably call an overachieving one so far?
I understand the fan fatigue that’s probably existed in Sixers country lately. Countless early exits in the postseason followed by a disastrous 2024-25 season had a lot of fans tuned out at the start of this season and based on how tickets have been selling on the secondary market, it doesn’t seem like much has changed despite the team’s solid first half. Toss in a disappointing trade deadline and what do you have left to hang your head on?
However, if you were a fan arguing for additions instead of subtractions at last week’s trade deadline, you were doing so because you believed in this year’s roster at least a little bit. Part of you allowed yourself to enjoy some of the younger blood on the team and frankly, McCain had been having an underwhelming season anyway. Morey said he believes the team sold high on McCain and maybe he’s right.
So why not get behind a team that’s been overachieving so far this season? Joel Embiid has played at a higher level than most people would have anticipated. Tyrese Maxey has raised his level to become an All-Star starter. VJ Edgecombe has come right in and been an instant contributor as a rookie. Are they destined for the NBA Finals? Probably not. But sooner or later the invasion of Knicks fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena has to stop.
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