76ers finally gain respect with home game on Christmas Day against Bucks

The Philadelphia 76ers will host the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day during the 2019-20 season.

Based off their success from the previous two seasons, the Philadelphia 76ers were already considered to be one of the early favorites in the Eastern Conference heading into the 2019-20 season.

But after the team took advantage of free agency by bringing on new talent such as Al Horford and Josh Richardson, expectations surrounding the Sixers seem to be at an all-time high at the beginning of August.

Even with former players in Jimmy Butler and J.J. Redick no longer being part of the picture, many believe that Philadelphia has the best starting five in the Eastern Conference, although they still have plenty to prove.

Building a solid team around Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid has been the main goal for the Sixers over the last few seasons.

And if all goes according to plan once the new season officially kicks off in October, this may turn out to be the best team Simmons and Embiid have been part of.

With that being said, just because Philadelphia is viewed as the team to beat in the East shouldn’t ruled out the fact there will be plenty of teams standing in their way, one of which happens to be the Milwaukee Bucks.

Similar to the Sixers, the Bucks were the unfortunate victims as well in losing to the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs after Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, only to go on to lose the series 4-2.

It’s still way too early to determine how things will play out during the regular season, but based off expectations alone, chances are the Sixers and Bucks will meet at some point next spring during the playoffs.

At least beforehand, basketball fans in general will get to enjoy these two contenders squaring off against one another on Christmas Day after the NBA announced on Friday that Philadelphia will be hosting Milwaukee instead of having to hit the road.

Thanks to the Sixers becoming legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference over the last couple of seasons, Brett Brown’s team has caught the attention of the national audience during each of the last two years on Christmas Day.

However, after being on the road in 2017 (New York Knicks) and last season (Boston Celtics), it was a little frustrating for Philadelphia fans since they wanted to see their beloved Sixers on the big holiday.

Now that Philadelphia will be hosting Milwaukee, the fun step of making sure they put together a solid performance that day will come into play to show once again why they deserve one of the Christmas Day games.

Plus, as mentioned before, for all basketball fans know, this meeting between the 76ers and Bucks could very well be an early playoff preview down the road, which adds more excitement to the battle.