A second look at the Sixers’ schedule and 10 games that will define their season

The 76ers were a talented team devoid of a true identity in the 2021-22 season. They lacked consistency while transitioning from the height of the Ben Simmons saga to a new-look squad centered on Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey.

The 2022-23 season is now on the horizon, and it will bring a blank slate for a team jettisoned from the second round four of the past five postseasons. With that new opportunity comes the chance for the Sixers to become a cohesive unit capable of contending in the Eastern Conference.

» READ MORE: Taking a closer look at the ebbs and flows of the Sixers' 82-game slate

But before they get there, the Sixers will play out the 82-game schedule, which was released a week ago. We parsed through every part of that schedule to find the most meaningful contests, coming away with 10 games that will define the Sixers’ season.

When Harden was traded to the Sixers in February, the team had but a few months to mature from a collection of talented players to a cohesive unit. That never came to pass as the Sixers struggled against the depleted Toronto Raptors in the first round and fell to the Miami Heat in the second. This national TV matchup against the Celtics kicks off the Sixers’ shot to find solutions that escaped them last season. Ditto for the game that follows — which also broadcasts on TNT — against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Unless he has experienced a change of heart over the offseason, this meeting in Toronto against the Raptors will be the second of a two-game series without Matisse Thybulle, who likely will not be available to travel to Canada because of his unvaccinated status. This game would mirror the Sixers’ experience in the 2022 playoffs, when Thybulle couldn’t travel for the first-round postseason meeting with the Raptors. This could be an early test for the Sixers, who will slot Thybulle as a key fifth starter or sixth man.

This game will feature more intrigue than any the Sixers will play in the regular season. The Simmons saga has been one of the most prominent storylines in basketball, and it can’t fully be buried until the former Sixer takes the court at the Wells Fargo Center. In essence, the Sixers’ trade of Simmons and agreement on the grievance to recoup the $20 million he lost last season brought that to a close. But fans in Philly won’t fully let this go until Simmons gets between the four lines.

» READ MORE: Sixers back on short list of NBA commodities as schedule bets big on Embiid, Harden

Sitting far behind Simmons as a storyline here is the Sixers’ interest in Kevin Durant. When his trade demand was active, front-office decision-makers reportedly wanted to put together a package for Durant. There is also Durant’s relationship with Harden, which appears repaired after they failed to rekindle their magic as teammates in Brooklyn.

The Sixers demolished the Hawks in their first regular-season matchup last year. But after that, Atlanta played them much closer. The final two games of the series was split, with only two points separating the victor from the loser in each instance. Now that the Hawks have added Dejounte Murray — who has looked uncharacteristically riled up in the offseason — this rivalry could be intensified. The game in question, which comes between six Sixers road games, is also a spot where Atlanta could catch Embiid and Co. slipping if they aren’t careful.

In the eyes of the NBA, the Sixers earned a place among its showcase franchises. The Knicks, popular as they might be, rarely earn their stronghold on the Christmas Day slate. After a disappointing 2021-22 season, this iteration that will play at MSG is no different. So it’ll be important for the Sixers to make a statement and show that there is a clear delineation between the Knicks, a team hoping to make the postseason, and the Sixers, a franchise expected to contend in the East.

Couched near the middle of the Sixers’ longest West Coast trip is their matchup with a Clippers team with hopes of mounting a resurgence after a lost season with injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Both players now appear healthy, and the Clippers added John Wall in the offseason, who will be on a mission as well. The Clippers will also be energized for this matchup against the Sixers, a game that comes at the end of their five-game homestand. It’ll be incumbent on the Sixers to fight this rising tide.

The Sixers need to win this home game against the Heat before setting off to Miami to play a game that sparks a five-game trip that includes trips to Dallas, Milwaukee, and Minnesota. The game holds further significance in that it’s the final game before a particularly brutal stretch in March. As previously noted by The Inquirer, March is the Sixers’ toughest month of the regular season, and it’ll be imperative for them to enter that gauntlet on the backend of a strong February.

» READ MORE: https://www.inquirer.com/sixers/kevin-durant-trade-request-brooklyn-nets-sixers-20220823.html

The Bucks didn’t make it to the NBA Finals last season, falling to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals in seven games. Milwaukee has one of the best players in the world in Giannis Antetokounmpo but his effort was not enough after Khris Middleton went down with an injury. The Bucks should be back to full strength when they face the Sixers at home, with Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and former Sixer Jrue Holiday. I really can’t stress enough how tough the month of March is going to be for the Sixers.

This is one of those games that tests a team’s mettle. From March 22 through the remainder of the season, things do not let up for the Sixers. That includes their toughest stretch of the season with three road games in four days against the Suns, Warriors, and Nuggets. So the Sixers play the two best teams in the West — and two of the best in the league — and are awarded with the opportunity to face off against the back-to-back MVP in Nikola Jokic on the backend. Embiid will be key here as he’s likely got some frustration pent up from finishing twice as the NBA’s MVP runner-up to Jokic.

The Sixers end their season with a well-timed jaunt up to Brooklyn. Star players rarely take the court in games this late in the season, and that will likely be the case for players with the injury histories and ages of Embiid, Harden, Simmons, and Durant. But the NBA still put together an attractive finale on the schedule, and if those stars do take the court, there could be a little extra motivation because of their histories together.