If the Philadelphia 76ers want home court, they must win on the road

If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to finish the 2017-2018 season as a four seed, they need to start winning away from the Wells Fargo Center.

It still seems crazy that in early-March we are talking about the Philadelphia 76ers possibly making a playoff run. After winning just 75 games over the past four seasons, fans have “Trusted The Process,” and their patience is finally being rewarded with a potential playoff appearance in 2018.

Prior to the season, many believed that just making the playoffs would be a huge accomplishment for this young Sixers team. Many pundits expected them to struggle to reach 40-wins, which was fair considering the fact that Joel Embiid struggled to stay healthy, playing only 31 games in his rookie season; and Ben Simmons had yet to play in an NBA game.

And prior to Christmas, those fears looked warranted.

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For much of the early part of the season, the Sixers looked like a young and inexperienced team, evidenced by their plethora of blown leads early on. Sitting at just 14-18 prior to their Christmas day match up with the New York Knicks, some fans wondered if the team was headed for the lottery for the sixth straight season.

But then, on national television, the team seemingly turned the corner.

Since December 25th, 2017, the Sixers have recorded a 20-9 record, finishing near the top of the NBA over that time span.

At the end of December, many saw making the playoffs as wishful thinking, but now, just about two and a half months later, the Sixers seem locked into postseason play, six games ahead of the nine seed in the East. So barring a massive collapse, the Sixers will see themselves in the postseason for the first time since the 2011-2012 season.

Now that the Sixers looked poised to accomplish their original goal of making the playoffs, the team has begun to set their sights even higher. The players (Joel Embiid) have made it very clear that their goal is now to work their up to the four-seed in the East, which would give the Sixers home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Sitting in the six-seed, the Sixers are essentially one game back of the fourth seed Washington Wizards and are remarkably only 1.5 behind the third-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. So getting home court in the first round isn’t too far out of the realm of possibilities.

And this push for home-field advantage makes sense for the young upstart Sixers, as they’ve been nearly unbeatable at home, going 20-10 at home this season, winners of 13 straight games at the Wells Fargo Center. Plus remember, one of those ten losses at home came when the Sixers played in London, so really they are 20-9 in Philadelphia this season.

While the Sixers have been so good at home this season, one area where they have struggled is on the road. The Sixers are only 14-17 on the road and must see that number improve if they wish to continue climbing up the standings.

Luckily for the Sixers, they have 11 remaining home games, and only ten games left on the road. Even if they win only win say nine of those remaining home games, they must still come away with a winning record in those ten games on the road if they want to keep pace with the fourth seed in the east.

To the Sixers benefit, they also have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the NBA, so the opportunity is there for them to go on a run and jump a few teams in the standings. Plus when you look at their remaining road games, only two of the Sixers ten remaining road games come against teams in playoff position, so the opportunity is definitely there to win games away from home.

Having such a young team, it makes sense that the Sixers have been inconsistent away from the comfort of their own home. They could be compared to the 2016 Philadelphia Eagles, who were also a young team and went 1-7 outside of Lincoln Financial Field.

But if this 76ers team wants to reach that coveted four seed, they must improve their play on the road. That comes down to playing fundamentally sound basketball and eliminating turnovers. The Sixers have veterans shooters like J.J. Redick, in addition to recently waived additions like Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova, so the veteran leadership is there to help guide the young players in these tough environments.

The odds do look favorable for the Sixers to acclaim that coveted fourth-seed in the East, but even if the Sixers do reach that goal, they are going to have to be able to steal a few games on the road. In the postseason, opposing arenas are even more intimidating, and even if the Sixers take care of business in Philadelphia, they are going to need to win on the road if they wish to advance.

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It seems kind of counter-intuitive to say, but if the Sixers want to play at home, they must win on the road. If they want to take advantage of home field advantage in the first round and have a shot to make a run into May, they must be able to string together some quality wins away from the Wells Fargo Center over the final month of the season.