For the third consecutive year, the Sixers have failed to hit that vaunted 50-win total in the regular season. They have not held home-court advantage in a playoff series since Doc Rivers was here. Joel Embiid is dealing with yet another crushing injury, one in a long line of them that have defined his career. Paul George, raking in a cool $51 million this season, served a 25-game suspension this season that did not help matters at all. Everyone in this fan base wants the head coach and the general
manager fired.
I don’t argue with any of that. If anything, I’m more pessimistic and angry about the state of things when it comes to this franchise than most. The roots of this organization’s incompetence are deep seeded. There is no quick fix.
The Sixers will host the Magic in a Play-In game in South Philadelphia this evening. What would a victory over Orlando mean for them? It would put into motion a first-round matchup with the loathsome Celtics, a team that has thoroughly owned the Sixers for the last four decades. It would be a series that I can’t fathom the Sixers winning, particularly with Embiid’s current absence.
Despite all of that, I went on SeatGeek yesterday and bought a ticket for tonight’s game.
Why?
The obvious answer would be saying, “Because you’re a frigging clown.” Sure, that’s true in a vacuum, but there is something more to it.
I want to soak up the crowd at the arena. I pray to the basketball gods that it is rocking and this fan base has some juice. I can be rational and take a 10,000-foot view of things and see that beating the Magic does absolutely nothing to truly move the championship needle for the Sixers, but it could make for an entertaining, memorable time at the Sports Complex regardless. I want to see VJ Edgecombe get his first taste of what a playoff atmosphere will be like. I want to see Tyrese Maxey carry this team to a level I perhaps previously thought impossible. I mean, I just want to have some fun with the Sixers, however fleeting that fun may ultimately be, before they inevitably piss me off again.
I’ve spent (wasted?) so much time and energy on the Sixers in my life through both bad times and worse times. What’s one more night of Lucy ripping the football away as I go to kick it?
