April 12, 2023
The Sixers' first-round schedule against the Brooklyn Nets has been revealed, and if you're looking to carve out some space to watch Philly start their run toward the Finals, I hope you enjoy 1 p.m. games and spending time with your family at night.
Here's how it lines up for the Sixers. Away games are in italics.
Game 1: Saturday, 4/15 at 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 2: Monday, 4/17 at 7:30 p.m. (TNT)
Game 3: Thursday, 4/20 at 7:30 p.m. (TNT)
Game 4: Saturday, 4/22 at 1:00 p.m. (TNT)
Game 5 (If necessary): Monday, 4/24 TBD
Game 6 (If necessary): Thursday, 4/27 TBD
Game 7 (If necessary): Saturday, 4/29 TBD
That's a nice two-day break between games two and three with minimal travel to do between New York and Brooklyn, a two-day break between the fifth and sixth games if either of those is necessary, and overall a fairly leisurely pace to the series. There are no late-starting games — 8:30 tip-offs are a real pain in the butt on every level, speaking from experience — and we could all emerge from this series with improved sleep schedules. I see this as an absolute win. It's about as easy of a start to the playoffs as the Sixers could probably ask for, weighing for their opponent, rest days, and their ability to go through the first round without getting on a plane (even if they still might, and fly charter regardless).
Easing into the playoffs should be useful for the Sixers and for James Harden specifically, as the Sixers' veteran guard was looking slightly off the pace coming down the stretch of the regular season. Though there is an element of dialing things back with more important games on the horizon, Harden dealt with Achilles soreness in the final weeks and only sporadically looked like himself physically, so any days of rest they can find between games will carry extra value for Philadelphia at the start of this run.
This is just one writer's opinion, but if we have to worry about start times and TV scheduling for the sixth and seventh games of this series, something has gone wrong, as the Sixers appear to have significant talent and matchup advantages against the Nets. Those early start times could allow a younger Nets team to jump on the Sixers, so Philadelphia must be prepared to put fires out early and squash Brooklyn's hope before it can develop.
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