Heard in the Cheap Seats

The Sixers have a huge seven game home stand heading into the All Star break that begins tomorrow night.  To me, it is a crucial stretch of games if the Sixers want to make any noise in the Eastern Conference.  The first thing the Sixers need to do is show that they are not allergic to being above the .500 mark.  In all seriousness, I don’t like labeling one stretch of games during a marathon of a season as a must win situation, but I believe these next seven games are as close as it gets.  Obviously, I don’t mean the team has to go 7-0 on this home stand, but I think anything less than a 5-2 mark would be a disappointment and could hurt the Sixers down the road.

The stand starts with back to back games against Washington and New Jersey, followed by Boston, Indiana, Miami, Phoenix, and Memphis.  It would help to win the first two games against teams they should beat at home.  Then, the Sixers would need to find a way to win 3 of their remaining five for a successful home stand.  I contend they have to defend their homecourt and get the job done.  There are quite a few reasons I am making such a big deal about all this.  The most obvious is that the Sixers have been playing their best basketball of the season in the month of January, and it is important to head into the break riding some momentum.  The other reasons come simply from looking at the schedule itself.  The Sixers have 38 games remaining, so after this stretch, there will only be 31 games left to play.  It is their last true home stand for the rest of the season.  Of the 31 remaining games following the All Star break, 18 will be on the road, including a 4 game east cost road trip and a 5 game west coast road trip in March.  Bottom line, the schedule does not favor the Sixers after the break.  So, they simply cannot afford to fall flat on their faces in these next seven games.  Although I don’t expect the Sixers to do much of anything before the trade deadline ( no they are not trading Elton Brand, Chad Ford!), how they do on this home stand could affect how Ed Stefanski approaches the trade deadline.  If they were to play great basketball and win 6 games, Stefanski may decide to get aggressive, and conversely, if they were to suck up the joint, it may make Stefanski look at moving pieces to get some cap room and draft picks.  I doubt it, but it could happen.  The last thing is, if they can come away from this with 5 or 6 wins, they could move closer to a better seed in the playoffs, and that would mean avoiding Boston, Orlando, or Cleveland for the first round. 

So if you agree that this a crucial stretch in the Sixers season, then the question becomes how does the team make it a successful one.  To me, the answers are simple there.  The Sixers are not going to be world beaters with this team, but they certainly have the capabilities to make this more than a “squeak into the playoffs and get crushed in the first round” season.  They need to continue to incorporate Elton Brand, because I don’t give a damn what anybody says, they are a better team with him.  The Sixers need to continue to focus on the defensive end.  We all like to focus on their deficiencies on the offensive end, but if they are able to play great defense, then those problems are not as glaring.  With the team that the Sixers have, they play their best when they are getting stops on the defensive end and creating turnovers.  Think about it.  Whenever they go on a run, it is almost always due to them creating turnovers, flying around on defense, and blocking shots.  That’s how they end up on most of their fast breaks.  They are not like the Suns or Warriors where they just chuck the ball up the floor and shoot.  Their break is predicated by their defense.  Finally, the Sixers need to continue to evolve within Tony DiLeo’s offensive system.  If they can be a top 10 defensive team, with their ability in transition, the Sixers only need to be an average half court team, and I think they have shown signs that they can do that.  A trend they need to stop is turning the ball over.  They absolutely need to take better care of the basketball than they have been lately.

Like I said, this is as important as a home stand could possibly be, and it remains to be seen if the Sixers have the stuff to make it a successful one.  They need to “man up”, play with aggressiveness for 48 minutes a game, and if they do that I think we might all be pretty damn happy with how the next 7 games turn out.  The game I am most looking forward to is the Celtic game.  I don’t expect the Sixers to win, but I hate the Celtics, and they embarrassed the Sixers earlier this year.  I am looking for the Sixers to really get after the Celts in that game.  The whole home stand should be some good stuff, and I really hope I get to write about all the momentum the Sixers gained when it’s all over with.