As the third quarter of Game 6 flipped to Philadelphia’s favor, it felt different. Finally, they’d make it past the second round. Sports are silly. You spend time and money. You exhaust energy. For something you literally cannot control no matter how much you think you can. It’s not my fault I grew up where [...]
Expectations should be tampered. The East is better. Even if Ben Simmons plays this entire year, Brooklyn and Milwaukee remain superior. That’s OK. Boston will be healthier. Atlanta will only improve given how many games Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter missed a season ago. It’s tough to know what the real expectations for Philadelphia should [...]
As last NBA season began, many expected great things from the Philadelphia 76ers. The defense would be among the league’s best, quite possibly historic. The minutes Joel Embiid missed the previous campaign that hindered Philly’s chance would be solved by Al Horford. On paper it all made sense. I haven’t written anything about the 76ers [...]
It’s been a long time since 2013. Well, in the grand scheme of human history it hasn’t been that long. But relating to the Philadelphia 76ers, 2013 might as well have been centuries ago. The losses, the commotion, the punches thrown, the diets, the Twitter handles, the lack of shooting, the broken bones, the list [...]
Facing Boston in the second round felt like a true lose-lose situation. Win and everybody says Boston wasn’t at full strength. Lose and everybody mocks this prematurely anointed 76ers squad. The hype felt out of control. Everything seemed to be happening so fast. One week, the 76ers take out the Miami Heat, becoming Eastern Conference [...]
The 76ers made the NBA Finals 17 years ago. Since then, Philadelphia has played nine playoff series, losing seven of them. Saturday night the 76ers will host their first Game 1 since April 20, 2003. Head coach Brett Brown says star center Joel Embiid won't play that game. But Wells Fargo Center promises to rock [...]
In reality the playoffs are possible, especially since Philadelphia presently sits 5.5 games out of the eight seed. But it's highly unlikely Philadelphia makes the playoffs this season. Last night's win against Toronto, however, feels like a validation for the Philadelphia 76ers. The Raptors played their second game in as many nights, but Kyle Lowry [...]
Lee Jenkins writes some of the best feature stories for Sports Illustrated. About a month ago he profiled Kawhi Leonard, and, as usual, it was great. Leonard has to be the most interesting superstar in the NBA. Not because of his personality or anything, but because of how he came one. He won Finals MVP [...]
One of my college professors had a rule after she returned graded papers or tests: don’t email or talk to her about the grade until 24 hours after getting it back. She wanted students to take those 24 hours to analyze where they might have gone wrong; she didn’t want students to automatically assume that [...]
Grantland was the best website to read basketball stories. Zach Lowe wrote detailed explanations about a team’s make-up, specifically their offensive and defensive tendencies and philosophies. Bill Simmons wrote extended commentary about what kind of mark a certain player would leave. Jonathan Abrams wrote stories about the successes and failures of several NBA players. He [...]
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