The 2021 NBA playoffs is wide open for anyone to win this season. This is the first time in a decade that both Lebron James and Steph Curry will not be in the NBA Finals. The defending NBA champions were defeated on Thursday Night to the Phoenix Suns, this is LeBron’s James first time in eighteen seasons being eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The NBA playoffs are now wide open for a new champion this season, but there are still teams that are big time favorites of winning it all, such as the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference and the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference. The Sixers are still the number one seed, but they recently suffered a big-time blow to the MVP finalist, and outstanding generational talent in Joel Embiid, as he suffered a small meniscus tear in his right knee in game five vs the Wizards.
Back in 2017, The Philadelphia Eagles were in a similar situation when NFL MVP finalist Carson Wentz led the Philadelphia Eagles to an 11-2 record until December 10th, 2017, when Carson torn his ACL vs the Los Angeles Rams.
The Eagles were the No.1 overall seed and had home field throughout the playoffs.
The Eagles are the first team in NFL history that became an underdog in every playoff game even though they were the number one seed. The Eagles believed in the “next man up” mentality when backup QB Nick Foles led the Eagles to their first even Vince Lombardi trophy.
The Birds rode the wave with “underdog” dog masks all the way to the Super Bowl, and now the Sixers are riding the wave of Degeneration X (WWE) wrestling group.
For the Sixers to go to the Finals, they will need former number one overall draft pick Dwight Howard to fill Embiid’s shoes just like Foles did for Wentz. The Sixers list Embiid as day to day, but I do not believe they will play him unless the Sixers are down in the series vs the Atlanta Hawks.
The Sixers do not want to risk Embiid’s tear to get larger by playing him if they do not have to. If the Sixers do beat the Hawks, and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, they will need every bit of Embiid to take down that three-headed Irving-Harden-Durant led powerhouse across the bridge in Brooklyn.