The Sixers are one of three real contenders in the East. Jimmy Butler is their biggest obstacle.

Doubt, snicker, scoff — the Sixers will deserve it until they prove they don’t. But be aware of how real they are. Of their talent and depth. Of the man in the middle and the one on the bench. Most of all, be aware of the reality of this Eastern Conference field.

The Sixers have a shot. A real shot. The Eastern Conference finals are well within their reach. They are closer than they have been since they came within a bucket. But there is a catch. And that is where the irony lies.

Jimmy Butler is not the only obstacle, but he is the biggest one. He is the most significant one. Concretely. Abstractly. Biblically.

» READ MORE: Sixers facing nemesis Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat in NBA Play-In Tournament is ‘tricky situation’

You look at this Eastern Conference field and all you see is opportunity. The only thing standing in the way of another conference semifinals berth is the New York Knicks, a team that will enter the playoffs with a star in a surgical bed. After that, the only thing standing in the way of the conference finals will be the Milwaukee Bucks, a team whose superstar has half a leg and whose coach has half a clue.

The top-seeded Celtics will be a big problem, nearly insurmountable. But by the time the Sixers need to worry about that, they will have already moved the ball forward. They will have advanced the plot, altered the narrative, raised the expectations. They will be somewhere they have not been since Allen Iverson was turning other players into statues. For the first time in six years, they will force the skeptics to find a new slant.

Anybody who is being honest will see all that. They will also see this: a man who was there at the beginning, or close to it, the same man whose departure created the skeptics, the scoffs, the doubts. It is there for the taking. But first, they must get there. To do so, they must conquer the gatekeeper who stands in their way.

One game, one win standing between a legitimate shot at playing for the NBA Finals. On one side: the best coach, the best player, home-court advantage.

On the other side?

Jimmy Butler.

So, who ya got?

I don’t know who I have. I legitimately don’t. It’d be a lot different if the game was played on paper, in simulation, talent against talent, depth against depth. The game isn’t played that way. If you follow the Sixers, you know that better than anybody.

That might sound ridiculous to our out-of-market friends, to anybody who looks at the Sixers and sees last year’s MVP and this year’s breakout All-Star and a deep rotation and an excellent coach. They see a Heat team that has spent all year trying to fight out of the clutches of .500: 4-3 in their last seven games, 11-10 in their last 21, 46-36 on the season. Most importantly, they see the Sixers hosting a play-in game in an arena where they have won 61% of their games this season, including a 107-86 thumping over the Nets on Sunday.

They don’t see the Sixers. They don’t know them. Not like we do.

Truth be told, I feel a bit guilty framing things that way. This Sixers team is not the same one that lost to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7 three years ago. They are not the same team as the one that lost Game 6 at home to the Celtics last season. Put this team, this rotation, this coach in either of those situations and the Sixers would not be entering this postseason fending off perceptions like the one I have just foisted upon them. Swap out Kyle Lowry for Ben Simmons, Kelly Oubre Jr. for Shake Milton, Nick Nurse for Doc Rivers, and the Sixers enter this postseason with two Eastern Conference finals under their belt. Maybe more.

Likely more.

They showed it just by securing the seventh seed. Their win over the Nets on Sunday was their eighth straight, a streak that happened to coincide with Joel Embiid’s return from an eight-week layoff due to knee surgery. By securing the seventh seed, Sixers left themselves needing to win just one of two games at home in order to secure a berth in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Beat the Heat on Wednesday, and they will play the Knicks. Lose, and they will need to beat the winner of the play-in game between the ninth (Bulls) and 10th seeds (Hawks).

» READ MORE: Meet Fabulous Flournoy: Sixers assistant, Member of the Order of the British Empire, and former player coach

In other words, the Sixers gave themselves as good of a chance as they could have hoped for when Joel Embiid went down with a knee injury in late-January. Survive, and hope he returns before Game 82. That was where the Sixers were. Somehow, they ended up where they were on Sunday, with a real chance at avoiding the NBA play-in tournament entirely, and an outside chance at entering the playoffs as the 5-seed. The scenarios did not work out in their favor.

Maybe it is for the best. For the first time since Embiid’s first playoff go-around, the Sixers have a chance to prove themselves at every step of the journey. The Knicks are no slouch. They are one of three serious teams in the Eastern Conference field, along with the Sixers, and Celtics. The Bucks have been fundamentally unserious all season. Damian Lillard is old and overrated. Giannis Antetokounmpo is dealing with an injury that took Joe Burrow a month into the NFL regular season to look normal. Plus, they are coached by Rivers. The Heat probably deserve to be mentioned as a fourth serious team, simply because they have the field’s most serious player. Butler proved that last year, carrying them from the play-in tournament to the NBA Finals.

And that is where they are. Beat Butler, and a realistic path unfolds. Lose, and the best-case scenario is a first-round series against a Celtics team that is the best the Eastern Conference has seen since LeBron haunted the joint.

I know this: The Sixers are better than most people think. Their odds are better than many people realize. They will have the best player and the best coach all the way up until the conference finals and perhaps through them.

I also know this: Butler will be walking into a place that did not fully appreciate him, with one game to win, facing an organization that did not give him what he wanted, needing to establish himself as the baddest dude on a court that features a defending MVP who has yet to establish himself as a player who can single-handedly win a must-win game.

I can’t wait.