Last Stop: South Beach

By Sean Kennedy

The Sixers’ long, strange journey comes to an end Wednesday night against the team against whom everything started. The opening night upset victory over the Heat provoked a slew of questions to which we now have the answers. Would the Sixers exceed expectations in what was projected to be a lost season? No, not really, they were still pretty terrible. Were the Sixers too good to tank? Some would argue yes considering they didn’t finish with the worst overall record, but come on, they lost 26 straight games at one point. Would Michael Carter-Williams continue to be better than advertised in his rookie season? Yes, and soon he’ll have the rookie of the year hardware to prove it.

Of course, the Heat team that takes the floor tonight will not look anything like the squad Philadelphia defeated to start the season. Wanting to potentially avoid the Chicago/Brooklyn winner in a second-round match-up, Miami sandbagged any chance of earning the #1 seed in the East, sitting out both LeBron James and Chris Bosh, and playing Dwyane Wade less than 20 minutes, in a loss to the Wizards Monday. Now locked into the #2 seed, the Heat have no reason to play any of their stars tonight, and will likely sit them again to rest up for the playoffs and avoid any potential injuries. Expect to see plenty of the likes of Toney Douglas, Norris Cole, and Michael Beasley.

Even Miami’s deep reserves are former first-round picks, and playing against the ragtag bunch of undrafted players and D-leaguers the Sixers throw out there, that really highlights the difference between a team finishing top 2 in the conference and one finishing bottom two in the NBA. Still, it’s been a different sort of enjoyment watching this Sixers group fight night in and night out, especially after they got the exorcised specter of the historic losing streak. Many of these guys may never get a crack at significant minutes in the NBA again and they accordingly go out there like their livelihoods depend on it. They’re always running full speed all over the court, and it’s often not to the right spot defensively or it’s directly into a stationary opposing defender, but the effort is always there. So enjoy watching all the young guys leave everything on the court, the continued evolution of Carter-Williams’ game, and the never-wavering hustle of Thad Young. Poor Thad; make sure to draft him some help this summer Mr. Hinkie. As much as we like to find the positives here, let’s make sure this the last time winning isn’t the primary objective.