This time last year, the Philadelphia 76ers were enduring a season filled with misfortune as the roster was ravaged by injuries. Now healthy again, they’ve impressed so much this season that one former player believes they could put an Eastern Conference contender on upset alert in the playoffs.
Seeing that they were expected to be fully healthy again, the Sixers were a team regularly talked about in what is considered a wide-open East. They’ve had to face some bumps in the road after their scorching hot start, but they remain in the mix in the final stretch of the regular season.
Coming off their win over the Miami Heat, the Sixers remain in sixth place in the standings with a 33-26 record. If things ended today, they’d be squaring off against an all too familiar foe in the New York Knicks to open the postseason.
While on the “Run It Back” show on February 27th, Chandler Parsons gave his thoughts on the Sixers and Knicks possibly battling it out in the postseason. He shockingly sided with Joel Embiid and company to pull off a major upset in their return to playoff action.
“I think if they get the Knicks they advance in the playoffs,” Parsons said of the Sixers. “If I had to predict they were a sixth seed and the Knicks were a three seed, I would not be surprised if Philly not only is a playoff team, beats the Knicks.”
If the playoffs started today, the Knicks would play the 76ers in the first round.
@ChandlerParsons would pick Philly to advance 😳
With only a one-and-a-half game lead for sixth place, the Sixers have a small margin for error as they attempt to avoid the play-in tournament.
Lou Williams Believes Sixers Can be a Threat in the Postseason
Though he has some bias as he was drafted by the franchise, Lou Williams also believes the Sixers are capable of making noise in the postseason. Among his many reasons why people should be keeping an eye on them is how things played out last year.
Given their extensive injury woes, the Sixers were a “prove it” team in the NBA this year. Many agreed the roster is littered with talent, but they needed to be consistently on the floor together before they were taken seriously. With no lofty expectations around them in 2026, Williams thinks this gives them an advantage come the playoffs.
“They haven’t set any expectations for them,” Williams said. “Like Chandler thinks, they can sneak up on somebody. They can be a team that can be very disruptive come the playoffs because nobody is putting any pressure on them to be a great basketball team right now.”
How Have the Sixers Fared Against the Knicks This Season?
As some may recall, the Sixers and Knicks had a highly-competitive first-round matchup in the 2024 season. Based on how things unfolded in the regular season, things could arguably go either way.
In their four meetings, each team walked away with two victories over the other. What stands out about this is that the road team won in every meeting. The Knicks have the most dominant win in the season series after taking down the Sixers 138-89 on February 11th.
Still with over 20 games to go, it’s unclear if these two storied franchises will be on a collision course to meet to begin the postseason.
Sixers Predicted to Upset NY Knicks in Potential Playoff Series