Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid and Co. could use some Orlando Magic
Orlando isn’t very Magical for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Well, well, well, it looks like the Philadelphia 76ers won’t have to wait too much longer to finish out the 2019-20 NBA season.
That’s right, as you’ve probably already seen reported, the NBA and ESPN’s parent company are deep in talks to restart the season in an inclosed ‘bubble’ located right over the Disney World complex in Orlando, Florida.
As a major Disney fan since way back, this is beyond cool. The players will be staying onsite at the Park’s various resorts, playing basketball at the Wide Wide World of Sports Complex, and potentially even buddying around the various parks when they aren’t playing.
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The content. Think about the content. It’s safe to say some ‘magical‘ moments are just over the horizon for Philly fans in the Happiest Place on Earth (I’m so sorry).
Or are they?
You see, the Sixers haven’t won a game in Orlando since March 22nd, 2018. Since that relatively uneventful outing, the Sixers have lost four straight games, including a particularly ugly affair against Markelle Fultz and company 11 games into the 2019-20 season.
But wait, it gets worse.
While the 76ers’ record is technically a bit better in Orlando when you pull the timeline back to 2016, as the team is 2-5 in the Joel Embiid-era, only one of those wins actually came with ‘The Process’ on the court.
Does this ultimately matter in the grand scheme of things? I mean no, the Sixers won’t even be playing on the “hallowed” hardwood of the Amway Center, but I wouldn’t completely take the team’s road woes with a grain of salt.
Why? Because the Sixers are really, really bad on the road.
Remove the team’s 27 wins (and two losses) at home from their record and we wouldn’t even be talking about playoffs right now, as the 12-24 team would all but surely be preparing for a transitional offseason of tearing it down for yet another ground-up rebuild. Instead, the Process is hanging on by a thread, any chance of a long-term dynasty is rapidly disappearing, and Brett Brown’s very job could on the line. These road issues would be easier to overcome in a traditional playoff formula, as the Sixers would only have to win one game away from the Wells Fargo Center to advance in each round even as a fifth seed, but when even the home games are technically on the road, any sort of advantage gained by playing in front of friendly fans is non-existent.
Not so fun fact: The Sixers have won exactly two playoff games in Orlando since basketball came to ‘The Magic Kingdom’ in 1989, one in 1999 and one in 2009.
Barring the Sixers turning into a post-heavy, fourth-quarter Team Giannis when the season returns, Brown is going to have to find a way to build a cohesive offense around a collection of players who haven’t shared the court in months.
No pressure, right?
Next. Deshaun Watson is a fan of Allen Iverson. dark
Look, I want the Philadelphia 76ers to come back as soon as possible. Even if things fall apart spectacularly and the Sixers lose again in the second round (or worse) I’ll be watching every minute of it, cursing my television, the basketball gods, and my favorite team like any good, red-blooded Philadelphia fan, however, when looked at from a macro-level, there is very real evidence that the Sixers aren’t a particularly good road team, especially in Orlando.