Sixers

Forget Reaching the Conference Finals, the Sixers Don’t Have an Impressive Playoff Series Win in 20 Years

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 15th, 2023 · 3:35 PM EDT

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This is a good tweet:

Joel Embiid has won 5 playoff series in his career. Here are the top 4 in minutes on those teams: pic.twitter.com/yrKu7jSKOW

— Connor Rice (@TheRealCRiceMan) May 14, 2023

Pretty weak.

It looks like the best player on any team the Sixers have defeated in the playoffs during “The Process Era” is… Bradley Beal? Pascal Siakam? In the entirety of Embiid’s career, they’ve defeated three six seeds, an eight seed, and a five seed. They’re 0-6 against teams that were seeded 4th or better.

I’d actually go one step further and say the franchise collectively does not have an impressive playoff series win in more than two decades. Please don’t point to the 2012 Bulls upset. MVP Derrick Rose tore his ACL in game one, Joakim Noah sprained his ankle a few games later,  and the Sixers then triumphed over Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, and a 33 year old Rip Hamilton. That series win comes with an asterisk so large you can see it from space.

The only other playoff series they won after 2001 was a first-round victory over the Hornets. Allen Iverson averaged 35 in a 4-2 win against the group of Baron Davis, David Wesley, Jamaal Magloire, Jamal Mashburn, and P.J. Brown. Not exactly a juggernaut, that New Orleans team.

Since A.I. took the Sixers to the 2001 Finals, they’ve missed the playoffs nine times, lost six times in the first round, and lost seven times in the second round. They’ve won seven series total, but were any of them really, truly impressive? You tell me.