Flyers

Are We Capable of Just Having a Good Time Watching the Flyers and Sixers in the Playoffs?

By Nick Piccone

Published: Apr 17th, 2026 · 9:54 AM EDT

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Once the Sixers beat the Magic on Wednesday night in the play-in to cement themselves as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, I’ve been thinking about how fun the next week-plus could be as a Philly sports fan. With the Phillies struggling mightily out of the gate, I think most of us are just happy to have a distraction from bad baseball. Sure, the NFL Draft is inching closer, but that’s really not been at the forefront of my mind. I honestly don’t think it needs to be at the forefront of most of our minds except NFL-only diehards, but that’s another discussion.

As I sipped my iced coffee (sometimes McDonalds, sometimes Dunkin’, sometimes La Colombe Cold Brew), I thought about how we as Philly sports fans are looking at these respective playoff series compared to how we’ve looked at the last two Phillies’ playoff series, and even heading into the Eagles’ Wild Card match-up against the 49ers this past January. There were plenty of points during the Flyers’ season where many wrote them off, and I couldn’t really blame them. For me, it was the March 9th game against the New York Rangers, who mollywhopped the Flyers, 6-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Didn’t think they had the moxie to dig down and make a run after that. Of course, they were helped along the way by some legendary choke jobs by the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets (whose head coach went on a legendary rant that earned him a contract extension), and New York Islanders, but they took full advantage of that. Flyers teams of the last few years wouldn’t have. It brought some special moments on the ice from the end of March through game 81, capping it off with the youngsters delivering a win against the Montreal Canadiens in game 82. The Penguins fans are worried. You can see it. You can hear it. They know the Penguins have to beat the Flyers. The Flyers don’t have to beat the Penguins. They’re nervous.

The thing is… I want the Flyers to win this series. I need it. I don’t want the ride to end yet. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to watch our team in the playoffs. The NHL Playoffs just hit different. Every year. If the Flyers don’t win it, yeah, I’ll be disappointed. But it won’t be an Eagles or Phillies-like disappointment. And I’ll certainly applaud them for giving us fun for the first time in a long time. I’m not heading into this playoff matchup with any expectations, because this team probably shouldn’t have any placed on them right now. House money, baby. But, man, wouldn’t it be fun to just knock out those guys?

The Sixers, on the other hand, might have even fewer expectations heading into their opening playoff round match-up against the Boston Celtics. They haven’t won a playoff series against the C’s since 1982, and they certainly aren’t favorites to do it this year. They probably would have been underdogs with a healthy Embiid in there, anyway. The Celtics are unfortunately a machine, and even as a No. 2 seed in the East, they might just be the best team in the conference. So, really, any win against the Celtics would be a huge deal. But that’s why they play the games. Why not us? Could Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe usher in a new era for this basketball team? Even if the answer isn’t right now, we still get to see if they have the moxie to dig down and will their team to a competitive series against a current favorite to win the East.

I think a lot of us are heading into these respective playoff series with similar expectations. And when that expectation isn’t at the height of teams like the Eagles and Phillies, that, interestingly enough, makes it fun. Do you remember any time you had fun watching the Phillies-Dodgers series in October? That one game in L.A. was nice, but that was basically a punt game by Dave Roberts. Thank God they actually won that game. But it was just torture to sit through that entire series, pitch by pitch, inning by inning. The Eagles’ loss against the 49ers was just as bad. “Hey, maybe today the offense will suddenly click,” we told ourselves every single week from September on. To be fair, the team deserved our patience after winning another Super Bowl, but it was also mind-numbing that nothing changed week after week after week.

Let’s also not forget about the Union, who won the MLS Supporters’ Shield in 2025 and were ousted in the Eastern Conference semis, without even scoring a goal. For that team, the expectations grew throughout the season as they kept stacking up win after win after win. If they had just stunk like everyone thought they would, the playoff loss wouldn’t have stung – probably because they wouldn’t have even been in the playoffs.

This is the first time in a long time the Flyers and Sixers are heading into their respective playoff series with minimal expectations. As the games go on, maybe they’re a play or two away from snatching a victory, but ultimately suffer a heartbreaking defeat. That would suck. But it still wouldn’t feel the same as the Phillies’ recent choke jobs or the Eagles’ embarrassing loss to the 49ers at home.

So, let’s have a good time. We just have to remember we weren’t expecting to be in this position just a few short months ago.