Being top seed in Eastern Conference is a must for Sixers

It was a play followed by fan interaction. It’s a scene we’ve seen before from Joel Embiid at the Wells Fargo Center. It was also a sequence that showed how vital winning home-court advantage is for the 76ers.

With the Sixers holding an eight-point lead over the Brooklyn Nets late in the third quarter, Embiid received a pass from Ben Simmons. He put a Euro-step move on Nets center DeAndre Jordan while driving the lane and threw up a one-handed off-balance shot while falling to the floor as Jordan fouledhim.

After scoring the basket and getting ready to complete the three-point play, Embiid got up and celebrated with the sellout crowd of 4,094 by holding out his arms while they chanted, “MVP! ... MVP! ... MVP!” He hit the foul shot. The Sixers held on to win, 123-117.

» READ MORE: Stephen Curry on a career-best roll as Golden State visits the Sixers on Monday

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Sixers’ home attendance is a far cry from the 21,000-plus home fans usually screaming their lungs out as in previous seasons. Yet, the Eastern Conference’s first-place Sixers (39-17) are still dominant on their home court, taking a 22-5 record into Monday’s home against the Golden State Warriors.

They were 29-2 at the WFC last season before the league concluded the campaign in the bubble in Florida. This season, the Sixers have the inside track to the conference’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs after earning the tiebreaker with the Nets. The top seed would give them home-court advantage throughout the conference finals.

“Playing at home gives us a huge advantage,” Embiid said. “For me, the one seed is very important for that reason. Every game we play at home, it just feels like we are unbeatable.

“So we just got to keep pushing, keep grinding out all these wins and [in] these next couple of games, just doing our best to keep winning.”

The No. 1 seed would also enable the Sixers to avoid a second-round showdown with the Nets or the Milwaukee Bucks.

Brooklyn, at 38-19, is 1 ½ games behind Philly after Sunday afternoon’s road loss to the Miami Heat. The third-place Bucks (35-21) are 4 ½ games ahead of the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics, who are tied for fourth place.

The Nets and Bucks are both capable of beating the Sixers in the second round, where they’ll already have pressure to advance given their playoff struggles the last three years.

The Sixers suffered back-to-back second-round exits in 2017-18, losing to the Celtics in five games; in 2018-19, falling in seven grueling games to the Toronto Raptors; before being swept by Boston in the first round last season.

As a No. 1 seed, the Sixers would play the winner of the No. 4-vs.-No. 5 first-round series. Assuming the Sixers advance out of the first round, facing the 4/5 winner as the second-round opponent would be a huge dropoff from the Nets and Bucks.

The Sixers swept their season series against the Celtics (31-26) as Boston had no answer for Embiid, who averaged 38.3 points and nine rebounds in their three meetings.

The Hawks (31-26) are good, but aren’t good enough to beat the Sixers, Nets, or Bucks in a seven-game series. The same can be said about the New York Knicks.

While Jimmy Butler is a problem, the Sixers shouldn’t have a problem with the Heat (29-28) the way Miami is playing. Butler called out his teammates after they lost to the league-worst Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. He called them “soft,” although they didn’t play soft in Sunday’s 109-107 win over Brooklyn. And the Charlotte Hornets just don’t have enough firepower to beat the Sixers.

We’re three weeks away from finding out the order of the top six teams and the four play-in tourney participants. But the Celtics, Hawks, Knicks (31-27), Heat, and Hornets (28-28) are all still in the running for the four and five seeds

The Sixers’ path to the conference finals would definitely be easier by facing one of those squads.

That and knowing they can clinch home-court advantage throughout the conference finals is important for the Sixers.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid, Furkan Korkmaz lead Sixers past Clippers, 106-103, with both squads undermanned

“You know going back to last season, we were amazing at home,” Embiid said. “On the road, we just weren’t the same. If we would have played the playoffs the regular way, when we had games at home, I feel like it would had been a different outcome.”

Plus, the Sixers are motivated by a home crowd that boos when they play poorly. That’s why Embiid said you have to give “110 percent” while playing hard in front of the home fans.

Embiid feels the Sixers’ dominance at home is partly a result of “you don’t want to get booed,” he said. “You want to come out and dominate and enjoy the game. We want the fans to enjoy the game. We want to win the game, so that’s the way I feel.

“But at the end of the day, it’s all love, whether they boo, whether they cheer. I know that is for the right reason. They want us to be better. They want us to win.”

Feeding off that energy and avoiding a second-round series with Milwaukee or Brooklyn is why it’s important for the Sixers to get the No. 1 seed.