76ers own NBA’s easiest remaining schedule, which could help them secure East’s No. 1 seed

There’s superior information and lousy information for the Philadelphia 76ers pursuing their humbling 132-94 loss to the Bucks in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon. The lousy information is that the loss was the team’s 2nd consecutive loss to the Bucks and fourth in a row in general. They dropped to 2nd in the Jap Conference standings powering the Brooklyn Nets in the course of this mini shedding streak, though the third-seeded Bucks climbed closer to the Sixers with the again-to-again wins. The Sixers were not thoroughly healthier for any of the four losses, but the scoreboard doesn’t treatment who was on the court docket, and neither do the standings. 

Immediately after occupying the top seed in the East for the bulk of the period, the possible of dropping to third now doesn’t seem so much-fetched for Philadelphia with just a couple months remaining in the normal period. But, this is the superior information: the Sixers have the league’s best remaining schedule down the stretch, and that smooth schedule could assistance them protected the top seed. Here’s a glimpse at the opponents remaining on the Sixers’ slate pursuing the Saturday matinee in Milwaukee, including their acquire percentages (as of Sunday, April twenty five):

April 26

vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (.333)

April 28

vs. Atlanta Hawks (.555)

April thirty

vs. Atlanta Hawks (.555)

May well two

@ San Antonio Spurs (.508)

May well 3

@ Chicago Bulls (.417)

May well 5

@ Houston Rockets (.246)

May well seven

vs. New Orleans Pelicans (.433)

May well 8

vs. Detroit Pistons (.295)

May well eleven

@ Indiana Pacers (.475)

May well thirteen

@ Miami Warmth (.525)

May well 14

vs. Orlando Magic (.305)

May well 16

vs. Orlando Magic (.305)

Out of all all those groups, only the Warmth and Hawks now have a winning report. On the flip side, the Nets have the ninth hardest remaining schedule, which contains game titles from numerous Western Conference playoff groups like the Suns, Nuggets, Mavericks and Path Blazers. The Bucks have the twenty third hardest scheduled left — not necessarily an arduous stretch for Milwaukee, but nevertheless extra tough than the one struggling with the Sixers. Moreover, the Nets and Bucks have a two-video game sequence coming up from each and every other in early May well, though the Sixers have no game titles remaining from possibly workforce. For what it really is truly worth, the Sixers keep the tiebreaker with the Nets, and the Bucks keep the tiebreaker with the Sixers. 

Securing the top seed in the East is critical, not only mainly because it arrives with homecourt gain by the meeting finals, but also mainly because it implies they only have to encounter one of the other top groups in the meeting in a 7-video game sequence as an alternative of likely having to go from each, as the two groups that will not complete initial will have to. The Sixers know all of this, and they have not been shy about expressing the great importance of securing the East’s top seed.

“[It truly is] very critical,” Ben Simmons said of the top seed. “We want that No.1 seed… I consider we are extra than able of it.”  

“For me, the one seed is very critical,” Joel Embiid agreed. “Every single video game we play at home, it just feels like we are unbeatable. So we just gotta keep pushing, keep grinding out these wins, and do our ideal to keep winning.”     

In addition to receiving the top place, the Sixers also have to get healthier if they’re heading to make a real run. Ben Simmons has missed the earlier four game titles with an ailment, though Embiid was out on Saturday with shoulder soreness following lacking a massive chunk of game titles not too long ago with a knee personal injury. Plus, Tobias Harris is nevertheless on the mend following dealing with a knee personal injury of his possess. When the Sixers have experienced their full initial five they’ve been as unsafe as any workforce in the league, but they turn into vulnerable when they’re pressured to count much too closely on their depth. 

If the Sixers experienced to opt for between full health or the top seed in the East, they’d opt for health, as would all groups. But preferably, they’d have each. That’s what they will be striving for, at least, but there is certainly a balance that they will have to strike. A reasonably softer schedule could allow for them to run off some wins and solidify their seeding though also obtaining some relaxation time for their major men prior to postseason play. 

Supplied the point that they ended up with no important contributors each and every video game, Philadelphia’s latest four-video game skid should not be a significant trigger for problem, other than that it could in the end value them the top seed. The good thing is, the schedule is on their side transferring forward, and that could be the variation in an in any other case particularly tight race for Jap Conference superiority.