Philadelphia 76ers Enter Game 7 with More Than Just a Series on the Line

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PHILADELPHIA — It didn’t take long for the Philadelphia 76ers to put some space between themselves and the Toronto Raptors in this win-or-go-home Game 6, to make clear that the Jekyll version of this group had shown up.

“In the locker room, as we went through an early shootaround, you could sense the serious side [in our players],” Sixers head coach Brett Brown said after the 112-101 win on Thursday. “They got the moment.” 

Ben Simmons aggressively pushed the ball. Joel Embiid, finally healthy and spry, bounced and glided across the floor. Jimmy Butler continued to be a force on both ends.

This was the Sixers at their best, a team of stars playing like the championship contender it so desperately wants to be.

The scoreboard read an 11-point Philly win when the final buzzer sounded, but this game was rarely even that close. All evening, the Sixers looked like the bigger, faster, more explosive team—just two nights after rolling over and allowing the Raptors to do the same to them.

The result: a Game 7 on Sunday night in Toronto full of stakes for two teams for this season and beyond.

“I’ve been fortunate to be in a few Game 7s and they’re very unique,” Brown said. “They’re special. They are a life lesson, a life opportunity.”

For Brown, that opportunity could mean proving to ownership that he’s the right coach for this team. In a press conference before Philadelphia’s playoff opener against the Brooklyn Nets, Sixers managing partner Josh Harris was asked if he believed Brown would still be coaching the Sixers next season. 

“He’s our coach going into the playoffs,” Harris said. “We’re supportive of Brett. We think he’s the right leader to take us where we need to go in the playoffs. I’m focused on the Brooklyn Nets, and he’s focused on the Brooklyn Nets.”

Not exactly a strong endorsement. It also came just about a month after Harris had told ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan that it would be “very problematic” if Philadelphia didn’t advance deep into the playoffs, making Brown’s position with the Sixers seemingly even more tenuous.

Brown has had a strong series. He’s made savvy adjustments. If Joel Embiid had remained healthy all series, the Sixers would likely already be preparing for the Milwaukee Bucks. But does Harris feel the same way, or would a Game 7 defeat in the second round fall under that “problematic” umbrella?

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Other questions are facing the Sixers, who are on the cusp of entering one of the more intriguing offseasons in the league.

Jimmy Butler (player option) and Tobias Harris will likely be unrestricted free agents this summer. Will the Game 7 result affect the Sixers’ view of them or their view of the Sixers? Or what about Philadelphia’s ability to offer Ben Simmons a max contract extension this offseason?

To those of us on the outside, it may seem silly to base these sorts of decisions on a single game’s result. But we’re not the ones who make the decisions. 

For the Raptors, the stakes—aside from the right to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals—are obvious. Everything this season has been about proving to Kawhi Leonard that he should re-sign with them this summer, that by signing with them he’d be attaching himself to a winner. It would be hard to do so if they drop a Game 7 at home. A Leonard departure could trigger a full reset.

“There’s obviously more on the line,” Raptors guard Danny Green said in the visitors‘ locker room at the Wells Fargo Center after the game. That’s the case for all Game 7s. Few, however, possess this many storylines and feature two teams who’ve bet everything on the present.