Everything has broken right for the Sixers and Joel Embiid. Now they need to capitalize.

Turn on the television, turn down the volume, turn up the music. That’s Tobias Harris’ routine. Nothing against the announcers, but when he’s in scouting mode, he doesn’t want outside observations that might cloud his view.

“I watch how other teams are playing, their pace, late-game situations, how they are coached in crunch-time situations,” the Sixers forward said. “That’s how I watch the game.”

In that regard, Thursday night was shaping up to be like most of the rest of the nights this week. Thanks in large part to old nemesis Trae Young, Harris and the rest of the Sixers have been spending their recent evening hours parked in front of their home theater setups, monitoring the action elsewhere as they wait for their own playoff run to resume.

» READ MORE: The Sixers remain mum on Joel Embiid’s knee sprain and second-round status

What they’ve seen is an Eastern Conference that has broken in their favor in almost every way possible. On Tuesday night, Young’s 30-footer with 1.8 seconds left capped a wild collapse by the Celtics and gave Joel Embiid an extra couple of days of rest for his sprained knee by pushing the start of the Eastern Conference semifinals to Monday. The following night, the top-seeded Bucks officially became a non-factor, as Jimmy Butler followed up his 56-point effort in Game 4 with 42 points in Game 5 to eliminate Milwaukee from the postseason. Suddenly, the Celtics are the only thing standing in the way of the Sixers and home-court advantage throughout the rest of the postseason.

That, and Embiid’s knee.

Oh, right. That.

There’s a glimmer of hope even there. According to coach Doc Rivers, Embiid was scheduled for a doctor’s appointment on Thursday. Although Rivers did not offer any hint about the nature of that appointment, it is worth noting that a doctor would typically need to evaluate and clear an injury such as a sprained LCL before a player returns to basketball activities. So, make of that what you will.

To date, the Sixers have neither looked nor sounded like a team that is anticipating being without its MVP in any material way. Assuming that Embiid is on the court in some form for Game 1, the big question becomes how much of a workload he can carry. The Sixers struggled mightily against the Celtics in their last two regular season meetings whenever their big man was on the bench. In those two games, backup Paul Reed posted a combined -27 in about 14 minutes.

“Let’s say Joel is 100% — we’re still going to have an hour of practice on how to play without Joel,” Rivers said earlier this week. “Because those 10 or 15 minutes of the game are probably the most important part of the game.”

» READ MORE: Jalen McDaniels soaking in first playoff run — and auditioning for new deal

If you could guarantee that Embiid would be able to play 40 minutes per game for the duration of the series, you could easily talk yourself into thinking that the Sixers had as good of a shot at the NBA Finals as they’ve had since he first broke into the league. Regardless, their best option at this point is to act as if that is the case.

With all due respect to the Heat and Butler, whose 96 points in Games 4 and 5 were the most by a player in back-to-back postseason games since some guy named Michael Jordan, the Sixers are now one of two teams that are head and shoulders above the rest of the Eastern Conference field. They are much better than they were last year at this time. Miami is more or less the same team that split the four conference semifinals games that Embiid was on the court. That’s really all there is to it.

Assuming Embiid will be ready to go, the conference title is there for the taking. You could hear it in the energy that permeated through practice Thursday morning, which saw the Sixers engage in a series of spirited scrimmages as they attempted to retain their edge.

By the time Game 1 of their conference semifinals series tips off on Monday, eight days will have passed since they last played a game. That’s their longest postseason layoff of the post-Process era. In fact, it’s the longest break for any team coming off a series sweep since the Warriors entered the 2019 NBA Finals on nine days of rest.

It’s notable that Golden State lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals after its long layoff. Rhythm and conditioning are two critical components in the game of basketball. Both have a tendency to slip after a certain amount of time off the court. Of the last eight teams to sweep a postseason series — not including the 2020 “bubble” — six have gone on to lose Game 1 of the next series.

“This whole time is just about everyone getting healthy, staying sharp,” Harris said. “That’s our main focus.”

That said, if rust is a downside for what has unfolded, the Sixers will be happy to shake it.

» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey has struggled against Boston. He expects to play better if they meet in the second round.