Tough Weekend for Philadelphia Sports Fans
The 76ers and Flyers each provided some thrills during the postseason, but both ended their seasons getting swept in the second round of the playoffs.
The Flyers were eliminated in four games, with the final being a 3-2 home overtime defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes, who have yet to lose a postseason game.
After the final game, the fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena gave the Flyers a standing ovation. The fans appreciated the season in which the Flyers made the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and then eliminated the despised (by Flyers fans and probably the players as well) Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.
The Flyers made such a late run to earn a playoff spot and then won a playoff round, two accomplishments that made this an overachieving season.
The fans showed their appreciation.
Moving forward, with young players such as 19-year-old Porter Martone, Denver Barkley (20), Matvei Michkov (21), Jamie Drysdale (23), Trevor Zegras (24) and Tyson Foerster (24), the future appears bright. The Flyers must make sure that Michkov comes to camp next year in better shape and gets on the same page with coach Rick Tocchet, but he has unmistakable talent.
Sure, the Flyers need another proven goal scorer, at the least, but they are moving in the right direction, and their fans showed their approval with that final sendoff.
The Flyers were outclassed in Game 1, losing 3-0 and didn’t make enough players during a 4-1 loss in Game 3, but their other losses to Carolina were 3-2 in overtime.
Carolina was clearly the better team, but the Flyers fought. So, the Flyers will have plenty of work to do in the offseason, but they leave with positive vibes.
The Sixers on the other hand, gave their fans tremendous hope in coming back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics in seven games. Game 7 was won in Boston, and even though Boston’s Jayson Tatum was out with a knee injury, it was still a great performance by the Sixers.
Two days after eliminating Boston, the Sixers were spent, and lost 137-98 to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in Game 1. Even without an injured Joel Embiid in Game 2, the Sixers had a strong performance, but fell short at the end, losing 108-102. Getting outscored 19-12 in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference.
The Sixers started on fire in Game 3, leading by as many as 12 points in the first quarter, but couldn’t sustain the momentum, losing 108-92.
Embiid returned but wasn’t a factor despite totaling 18 points, (7 of 17 shooting), six rebounds and five assists. Tyrese Maxey shot well but only had 12 field goal attempts (making eight).
The Sixers had no answer for Jalen Brunson (33 points) and Mikal Bridges (23 points).
So down 3-0, everybody was wondering if the Sixers would show fight.
The answer was an emphatic no.
The Sixers were pummeled 144-114 to end their season. New York played the final two games without OG Anunoby, who had been among their best players in the previous six postseason games. He missed the final two games against the Sixers with a hamstring injury. It didn’t matter.
One footnote – Embiid was perfect from the field (8-for-8) in the final game, and nobody noticed. Maxey, who still looks like he was bothered by an earlier finger injury, shot just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.
But the difference was the Sixers’ inability to guard the three. The Knicks shot 25-of-44 (57 percent) from deep.
At the end of the game at Xfinity Mobile Arena there was a lot of cheering, but it was done by the many Knicks fans who had bought tickets.
The Sixers fans, like the team, had left long ago.
All the goodwill the Sixers earned for their first-round comeback against Boston was thrown out the window.
Unlike the Flyers, the Sixers face an offseason of much greater uncertainty and there is the real question wondering whether massive changes will occur this summer.
The offseason could be much more interesting than the four-game sweep against the Knicks.
Courtesy of Flyers Twitter/X
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Author: Marc Narducci
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