76ers Embracing Championship Pressure Before NBA Playoffs
Many expect the Philadelphia 76ers to have a championship-or-bust mentality heading into the 2023 NBA Playoffs. As always, winning the NBA Finals is the ultimate goal for any team heading into the postseason, and nothing is different about the Sixers’ current mind frame.
Considering the Sixers haven’t made it to the Eastern Conference Finals since the early 2000s, outsiders are doing what they can to apply pressure on this year’s team to take it further than they’ve been in recent years.
While Sixers head coach Doc Rivers understands there is what he described as “local pressure” in play going into the postseason, he doesn’t believe that directly affects the team as they get prepared for their battle against the Brooklyn Nets.
“I’m a Bears fan, right? And I’m using that as an example,” Rivers explained. “The Bears haven’t gone to the Super Bowl in a long time, but the rookie on the Bears didn’t feel that pressure, is the point I’m making. Jalen McDaniels has been here for four months. He doesn’t feel that. He feels like he’s on the team that can win a title. So that’s not what we’re thinking. That’s what you guys think, and I get that. I get that from the fans, but that’s not the team’s pressure.”
So, what is the team’s pressure, then?
“If you have a goal that is like ours, if you don’t feel pressure, then you’re probably an alien,” Rivers continued. “There’s always pressure. It’s not like we’re thinking, ‘Oh, let’s get out of the second [round].’ No. Let’s win it, you know what I’m saying? If you set a high goal for yourself, there’s not a person alive that can say there’s no pressure to that. It should be, and we talked about that.
"Embrace it. Like this is a good thing. You have played yourself on a team that has pressure because I can name a bunch of teams that have no pressure. You know where they’re at right now? Golfing, on the beach… They are. That’s a fact. So when you’re on a team that is in the playoffs, and when you’re on a team that has a chance to go forward, there’s pressure to that, and there should be. We have to accept that.”
Focused on the present, the Sixers are looking to control what they can, starting with a first-round series against the sixth-seeded Brooklyn Nets. If they can advance past the first round for the third-straight season, the Sixers will then approach a test they haven’t passed since they started making the playoffs again in 2018.
The first phase of the postseason begins on Saturday, April 15, 2023. The Sixers will host the Nets for Game 1 of the first-round series to begin their 2023 championship campaign.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
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