Sixers’ success through NBA All-Star break will, once again, mean nothing if they can’t flip switch

The Sixers are the only NBA team to take a winning percentage over .600 into each of the last four All-Star breaks. The challenge for them is in the final stretch and playoffs.

Sixers center Joel Embiid during the home game against the Atlanta Hawks in November.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Keith Pompey

Published Feb. 23, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

The undervalued Matisse Thybulle is gone. The long, athletic Jalen McDaniels and the dependable Dewayne Dedmon are here.

By the time the NBA All-Star break began, 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey had emptied the locker room of a guy who fell out of favor and replaced him with backup length.

Adding that to a team with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference at 38-19 should heighten the Sixers’ NBA championships odds.

The thing is, very few people — if anyone — are doing cartwheels. They’ve seen this movie before.

In fact, the Sixers are the league’s only team to take a winning percentage over .600 into each of the last four All-Star breaks. Last season, they acquired James Harden and Paul Millsap at the break. They added George Hill in 2021. And in 2020, the Sixers added Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III.

Each season, those additions to one of the league’s best teams were supposed to propel them toward a deep postseason run.

Not quite.

The last three seasons all ended in second-round losses. Perhaps that’s why Joel Embiid didn’t seem impressed by the Sixers’ success heading into this year’s break.

“It’s good, but it’s all about continuing it,” he said. “You still have to be able to have that continuity and be able to take it further into the second half of the season and in the playoffs.

“It’s good, but it’s the regular season. That’s not what matters.”

The contending team that typically plays the best after the All-Star break has a great chance of reaching the NBA Finals.

A prime example was last season’s Boston Celtics. They were the East’s sixth-place team at 34-26 at the break. However, they went 17-5 in the rest of the regular season before advancing to the Finals.

But Sixers coach Doc Rivers said a true barometer is how teams play after Christmas. The Celtics were 35-14 from that point on last season.

So far, the Sixers are 18-7 since their Christmas Day victory over the New York Knicks. It’s almost an identical winning percentage to Boston’s surge.

“When you think about Boston last year, they had the best record from Christmas on,” Rivers said. “I think it’s there. I think it’s that team [that stands out]. We’ve already started that journey.”

But with all due respect to Rivers’ observation, the final 25 games of the season will determine how good the Sixers are. While Philly had impressive wins, it also had several victories over undermanned squads. And who can forget their 106-99 road loss to the Celtics, who were playing Jayson Tatum and a bunch of backups.

The Sixers begin the post-All-Star break portion of the season with key home games against the Memphis Grizzlies (Thursday), Celtics (Saturday), and the Miami Heat (Monday). Then 12 of their next 15 games will be on the road. The first three away games are a back-to-back with the Heat (Wednesday), at the Dallas Mavericks (March 2), and a big road test at the Milwaukee Bucks (March 4).

Boston (42-17) and Milwaukee (41-17) are the league’s best teams. The Grizzlies (35-22) are second in the Western Conference. Dallas (31-29) is sixth in the West, while Miami (32-27) is seventh in the East.

“I think someone said in March we are going to be gone 20 out of the 31 days,” Georges Niang said. “... It’s going to be a grind. But you know it’s a good preparation for us heading into the playoffs, and I think our guys are well rested from the All-Star break and ready to roll.”

They were also well-rested and appeared ready in each of the last three seasons, so that didn’t help them when it mattered most.

“Certain teams flip the switch,” Tyrese Maxey said. “Playoffs or championship teams flip that switch, and we have to be able to flip that switch post-All-Star break.

“I think we have the mentality, the guys, the talent and camaraderie to do it.”