The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Washington Wizards 120-115 in last night’s season opening game. John Wall did his thing against the 76ers last night dropping 28 points to go along with 8 assist and 5 rebounds in 37 minutes of game time. The Sixers also made a lot of mistakes, took some very questionable shots, and became extremely careless with the ball in the last minutes of the game. But, none of that is the point. The point is that the Washington Wizards are easily one of the top three teams in the East. And getting a victory against the 76ers, in a home game, on opening night, turned out to be a harder task than I’m sure the Wizards were expecting.
The game wasn’t a tough one for the Wizards because they played a bad game against a bad team. This was a tough game for the Wizards because the 76ers have a pretty good squad. Much better than anything I could’ve ever imagined when I looked at the names on paper. The 76ers don’t look like the easy win for opposing teams that they’ve looked like for the last …….who knows how many seasons. The 76ers actually look like competitors. Legitimate competitors. This is something the city hasn’t seen since the Iverson days. Ben Simmons is really good. Joel Embiid is really good. The rookie Fultz will come along as the season proceeds. The 76ers added veterans J.J. Reddick and Amir Johnson to the squad, which will certainly be a factor. And the 76ers have a bench that should be able to at least keep pace with the second unit of most teams in the Eastern Conference. I am a person that was strongly against the 76ers purposely tanking all of those seasons for a few number one or two draft picks. BUT, it’s beginning to look like we’re finally about to see the payoff for “TRUSTING THE PROCESS.” The 76ers are a young team who will lose plenty of close games like the one last night. That’s simply because they haven’t learned how to win those kind of games yet. Most of the guys on this team have been in the league less than five years. But as the season goes on, and they participate in more and more of these close games, the 76ers will learn how to win those close games. When they do, the 76ers are going to become a very dangerous team in the Eastern Conference. I’m not speaking about that happening in the next few years. Barring injuries, that will happen this season! The 76ers can get into the playoffs with a seed as high as 4 or 5 in my opinion. From there, anything can, and probably will happen. I’m not saying that the 76ers are going to the NBA finals or anything like that, but the 76ers will be making some noise this season and bringing the excitement from the Iverson days back to the city. Facts. Joel Embiid dropped 18 points and added 13 rebounds in only 27 minutes. Ben Simmons had 18 points 10 rebounds and 5 assist in 35 minutes. Robert Covington added 29 points, shooting 7-11 from three point range. The 76ers are not garbage this season. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
