The Sixers have a home and home series with Orlando with a game
against Miami sandwiched inbetween. Then it's a road trip Oakland,
Phoenix, and LA (Clippers). They need to go at least 3-3;
unfortunately the best I can see them doing in these 6 games is 3-3.
So no room for error.
Following those six games is a challenging sequence of 13 games in
which they play the Celtics twice, the Spurs, the Suns, the Pistons,
the Nuggets, the Magic, and the Cavs. They have to win, what, at
least two of those while winning the games they should win against
Seattle, Milwaukee, Chicago (2 games), and the Nets. So they probably
need to go 2-6 against the good teams and 4-1 against the bad teams
in that stretch. If they go 3-3 and then 6-7, they'll enter the last
8 games with a 33-41 record.
In the last 8 they play the hawks twice, the nets, and the bobcats.
Those four are probably also must-win games. They have a killer
stretch of Detroit, Indiana, Wa****ngton, and Cleveland, but at least 3
of those 4 are at home. So if they go 3-1 and 1-3 that gives them a
record of 37-45.
The eigth spot took 40 wins in 06-07, 40 in 05-06, and 42 in 04-05.
So 37 seems a little low.
On the other hand they are already 1 game up on Atlanta, 2 on Chicago,
2.5 on Indiana, and 3.5 on Milwaukee. And they are only 0.5 games
behind NJ. With NJ and Chicago dumping players if the Sixers can beat
the teams behind them, they could easily finish 7th or 8th.
While it may say more about the poor quality of the East than anything
good about the Sixers, given the choice between just missing the
playoffs and ,making the playoffs, I'll take making the playoffs.
wes
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