Philadelphia 76ers must now focus on catching Cleveland Cavaliers for No. 3 seed

After clinching a playoff berth over the weekend for the first time in six season, now the Philadelphia 76ers have their eyes set on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference for the No. 3 seed.

All season, one of the biggest questions in the Eastern Conference has been whether the Philadelphia 76ers would finally see the process payoff by earning one of the eight playoff spots, which officially happened on Sunday. Thanks to the Indiana Pacers defeating the Miami Heat, the Sixers will officially be heading to the playoffs for the first time since the 2011-12 season, which seems amazing to think about.

For years, Philadelphia has been tough to watch for the most part, as the team was going through tank mode with all sorts of crazy trades and younger players to help land better draft picks each season to build for a brighter future. And as tough as it was to watch Brett Brown‘s teams over the years, it looks like the long wait has finally paid off with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons leading the way since this young duo has been able to stay healthy enough to pull off what seemed like a long shot back in October.

In fact, the Sixers are already being considered the team that nobody should want to play in the playoffs when seeing how dominant they’ve been since the All-Star break, with their most recent win coming a few days ago against the Minnesota Timberwolves in which Simmons recorded his 10th triple-double of the season. As of now, Philadelphia holds the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture over the Indiana Pacers, but with the end of the regular season right around the corner, Brown’s team should have their eyes set on that No. 3 seed, which the Cleveland Cavaliers hold at the moment.

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The thought alone of the Sixers finishing ahead of the Cavaliers in the standings a few months ago seemed absolutely ridiculous to think about, but all of a sudden is possible since Philadelphia is only 1.5 games back of LeBron James and company. While this may not seem like that big of a deal, at least this accomplishment would provide this young Sixers team with a little extra confidence once the playoffs do in fact get underway since home-court advantage comes in handy this time of year.