Philly Front Office

The new look Warriors had been rolling since acquiring Jimmy Butler at the deadline, winning 7 of 8. Surely, they would have no problem dispatching the flailing and frail Sixers, right? Alas, it was not to be. As he is wont to do, Jimmy Butler was scratched a few hours before gametime for no ascertainable reason. I’m sure some of the calculus was sticking it to Sixers fans who paid to see him again to either cheer his half season or lustily boo his previous departure. He’s an a-hole like that.¹

Without Butler, the Sixers basically lead wire to wire. The Warriors made it close in the end but couldn’t get over the hump, losing 126-119. 44 points from Quentin Grimes will do that. As nice as it is to see Grimes has that in him, it would have been nice for tank purposes to have Butler in there to slow him down a bit. The Warriors win this game if Butler plays. Thanks again Jimmy. In the West, the Warriors sit with 5 teams jockeying within 1 game of #6. Worst of luck guys after giving that one away.

Lottery Odds

I can’t express how annoying it was to wake up and see that the Sixers held on. It is pretty bad in the overall scheme of things. With last night’s win, the Sixers moved to the 7 spot, .5 games up on Brooklyn who have lost 4 in a row. The last few days saw some near misses in the lottery odds section. The Raptors blew a 4-point lead with 3 seconds to play and the Hornets lost to Washington. At least the Pelicans have won 3 out of 4.

1 – 7.5%

2 – 7.8%

3 – 8.1%

4 – 8.4%

6 – 0%

Total – 32% chance to keep the pick (13.8% decrease)

Playoff Odds

After dropping a game in the standing to the Bulls 2 days ago, the Sixers are back to 2.5 games shy of the 10 spot.

(Note: If the Sixers qualify for the play-in but don’t end up making the playoffs, they still have a chance to win the lottery)

Per Basketball Reference, our current odds to finish in each place are:

10 or better – 24.5%

11 or worse – 75.5% (6.7% decrease)

Odds of winning the play-in and making the playoffs – 4.4% (increase of 1.2%)

For those who just want to watch the world burn:

63.6% chance of missing the playoffs AND not keeping a draft pick (increase of 12.6%)

Games to Follow Coming Up

Numbers in parenthesis is the number of games ahead and behind the Sixers in the standings. Sixers record is 21-38 with 23 games to play.

March 2

• Chicago (+2.5 games) at Indiana – The Bulls and Sixers seemed destined to be locked in a struggle to see which team can make their fans more upset. This will be an agonizing final 23 games.
• Toronto (-3.5) at Orlando – There are still high hopes in Chicago and Philly that Toronto can put both fanbases out of their misery.
• New Orleans (-5.5) at Utah (-6) – The Suck Bowl Game of the Day!

March 3

• Portland (+5.5) at Philly – I cannot stress how much of a must lose game this is. Kiss any higher hopes good bye with a win here.
• Detroit at Utah (-6) – Let’s hope this is 3 in a row for the Jazz. It won’t be.

1. Enjoying Jimmy Butler is much easier with no direct connection to him. He is entertaining like a heel wrestler. Him leaving was a weird situation and I don’t blame him for it even if he was also to blame. ↩︎