The Sixers’ year-long celebration of the 2001 Eastern Conference Champion squad reaches its apex this month. When the team hosts the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday, Jan. 31, it’ll be a big ol’ reunion.
The organization announced on Thursday that they will “honor the legendary players and coaches who electrified the city, taking the 76ers to the NBA Finals.“ Additionally, the Sixers say that the evening will be ”packed with powerful tributes — pre-game, in-game and at halftime — honoring the grit, heart and legacy of that squad.“
The Sixers, naturally, will be donning their beloved black throwback jerseys as well.
The 2001 team, between Allen Iverson’s MVP heroics and their upset win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals over the Los Angeles Lakers, leaves them as one of the most beloved in the history of Philadelphia even though they didn’t win the championship outright.
Part of it is the way they played: the feisty Iverson scoring in bunches while their defense swarmed everywhere. Part of it is Iverson’s legacy as a transformative presence in the league both on and off the court. Part of it is, simply, that they’re the only truly great Sixers team of the last 40 years.
Though the Sixers appear far away from that level of contention at the momentum even with Tyrese Maxey’s own superstar ascension and the dominant stretches that Joel Embiid has put together this season, celebrating the 2001 team is a reminder of how great things once were for professional basketball in Philly and how maybe, just maybe, they could be that great again one day.
For those wanting to get in on the festivities, the cheapest tickets on Ticketmaster, as of this writing, are $44.18. That’s honestly a bit better than I imagined it would be for a Saturday with all of this going on. I hope Sixers fans pack the house!
