The Sixers may be done for the season, but Sixers fans are never out of things to talk about. I’ll share a few in my latest “Sixers thoughts” column…
Tobias Harris showed what he was truly made of in Detroit’s Game 7 loss
As the playoffs progressed, I read so much online about how Tobias Harris received an unfair shake in Philadelphia, how fans here mistreated him and how he shouldn’t be measured up against a contract an incompetent front office handed him.
Harris had some good postseason performances for a 60-win Pistons team this spring, but I just knew the shoe was
eventually going to drop and I was going to revel in it. Game 7 on Sunday night, in which a top-seeded Detroit squad lost by 31 points at home to Cleveland, was the exact disaster-class from Harris that Philly could smell coming from a mile away.
In 23 minutes of play, Harris mustered just five points and didn’t make a single shot from the field. It didn’t feel that dissimilar from his final game as a Sixer when he had a whopping zero points as the Knicks sent them home packing in six in the first round back in 2024.
I’ve also come across takes that ask, “Why are you still thinking about Tobias Harris?”
Why wouldn’t I? This is what fans do. This is the nature of sports. You root for the guys on your favorite team. If they disappoint you and leave, you probably don’t wish them well. Add in the national media and fans across the basketball community doing their classic schtick of wondering why Sixers fans were so mean to an individual who contributed nothing meaningful to winning and you’re left with a fairly clear-cut answer.
NBA players find Sixers fans obnoxious
In an anonymous poll of NBA players that The Athletic unveiled on Monday, one of the many questions that were asked was what team has the most obnoxious fans. The Sixers came in second place behind the Celtics and just ahead of the Knicks.
The Celtics have the history and the banners. The Knicks have Madison Square Garden and the celebrities sitting courtside. The Sixers have… I don’t know. There is no defining characteristic. I mean that in a more solemn way. Everyone’s just angry and I don’t blame us!
On this day 25 years ago…
The Raptors prevailed 101-89 over the Sixers north of the border to force a Game 7 in the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals. It was a rough evening for MVP Allen Iverson, totaling just 20 points while shooting only 25 percent from the field. Meanwhile, Vince Carter dominated for Toronto, dropping 39 points to go with five boards, five assists and four steals.
The series would shift back to South Philadelphia for the finale two days later with the Sixers ultimately winning after Carter missed a would-be game-winning jumper at the buzzer. The Sixers would then go on to face Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals, taking that series in seven games as well.
Some MVP history…
I love immersing myself in basketball history. I find myself looking at the awards voting history on basketball-reference from time to time.
Do you know when the last time a non-Joel Embiid Sixer received a first-place MVP vote was? 2005! Iverson garnered two first-place votes, finishing fifth overall after averaging 30.7 points per game, his fourth and final scoring title. Steve Nash won his first of back-to-back MVPs that season and while I loved watching the brand of basketball those Suns teams played, Shaquille O’Neal was massively robbed for his effort that season, his first in Miami.
Who should be the Sixers’ new lead basketball executive?
I’m certainly not saying it will happen, but the answer very much should be Vince Rozman. Rozman as president of basketball operations with Jameer Nelson as general manager? I’m in.
