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Fansided

The Philadelphia 76ers are horrible front-runners

By Matty Breisch

(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to pull out their series against the Toronto Raptors, they need to embrace an underdog’s mentality and avoid front-running.

There’s an old adage it states that ‘things are never as good as they are at their best, and never as bad as they are at their worst’, and those are words that Philadelphia 76ers fans should hold close after watching their team drop an ugly Game 4 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

In the lead-up to the game, everything was great for Philly; the team was riding high off of near-universal acclaim, and many professional pickers believed that the team would sweep the remainder of the season in route to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Unfortunate, that was not meant to be.

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While there are a plethora of factors one could pin on the team’s loss, be it Joel Embiid‘s illness, Tobias Harris‘s lack of a shot, or Ben Simmons otherwise average play, I have a theory that holds some weight: Philadelphia sports teams are horrible front-runners.

Think back, if you will, to the Eagles improbable trip to Super Bowl 52, where they were considered underdogs against teams like the Atlanta Falcons despite having a better record and finishing out the season with a better seeding.

In a lot of ways, 2018-19 Sixers look a lot like the 2017 Eagles.

Ravaged by injury and illness, the team has been questioned and counted out numerous times over the last month, but in the subsequent games, they’ve found a way to rally around each other consistently spit in the face of adversity.

After dropping Game 1 against the Raptors, Philly came back and found a way to win Game 2, but despite stealing a game on Toronto’s home court, many viewed it as a fluke. From there, Embiid, in a game sandwich between two illnesses stricken one, found a way to put it all together and dominate in a way he gets to do this postseason; throwing up 33 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks while all but owning all 96 feet of the Well Fargo Center’s court.

But then the glory, accolades, and shine came back hot and heavy, and the Sixers believed the hype.

In Game 4, the team came out slow, and their offense went silent for long stretches, often trading 12 point swings with the Raptors between periods of inactivity.

With Embiid sick (more on that here) and the team’s offensive output spurt-y, the 76ers let the game slip away in its closing minutes; leaving fans with a bitter 96-101 loss in their mouths as the series returns to Toronto.

While some teams may pack it in after suffering such a loss, viewing their window to steal a series as all but closed, this may actually be an opportunity for the 76ers to get things right.

No longer considered the odds-on favorites to win out, the Sixers should now be able to regroup around the combined leadership of Embiid and Brett Brown and recapture their potent underdog mentality. Will it work? Who knows, but after believing the hype and coming out sluggish in Game 4, the 76ers hunger to prove the doubters wrong should be on full display moving forward.

Next. What happened to Joel Embiid in Game 4?. dark

In the words of Jeff Van Gundy ‘Don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t take advice from.’