There are many concerns about the 76ers heading to the 2019 NBA playoffs, as expectations are extremely high after two blockbuster trades brought in Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris to form a starting five that has played all of 10 games together. Those worries are fair, but let's put them aside for a brief moment to appreciate the quality of basketball you've watched the past two seasons and how that stacks up against other seasons in recent Sixers history.
The 76ers picked up their 50th win Saturday night in a 116-96 win at the Chicago Bulls, one that ended a brutal three-game losing streak. Brett Brown has coached the Sixers to back-to-back seasons of at least 50 wins, the first time that's happened in franchise history since 1985-86, when the team went seven straight seasons of at least 50 wins, part of a stretch of nine out of 10.
The last time the Sixers had back-to-back 50 wins seasons, the following movies topped the box office:Top GunFerris Bueller's Day OffThe FlyCrocodile DundeeHoosiersBig Trouble in Little ChinaTonight was win #50, making it back-back for the first time in 33 years.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) April 7, 2019Brett Brown became just the third coach in franchise history to have multiple 50-win seasons with the 76ers. He joins Alex Hannum, who accomplished the feat twice with Wilt and Greer, and Billy Cunningham, who did it in 7 of his 8 seasons as an NBA coach during the Dr. J era.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) April 7, 2019"I know how difficult it is," Brown told reporters Saturday night, courtesy of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "And in the NBA when you can have a team that can find 50 wins, is unique and difficult. I give the group credit. We've gone through a few iterations of what the team looks like.
"We all kind of understand that the 50 wins sort of milestone goes away quickly and the playoffs begin and that's what people sort of, and fair enough, remember the most. But, as it sits, to get back-to-back 50 win seasons, is a great accomplishment for the players in that locker room."
Since 1986, and excluding 2017-18, the only other season the Sixers reached at least 50 victories was 2000-01, when Allen Iverson and a collection of gritty role players finished with a regular season record of 56-26, all the way to The NBA Finals.
The Sixers won 41 games in Doug Collins first season as head coach, which ended in a first round playoff exit to the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat.
A combination of Tony DiLeo and Maurice Cheeks got the 76ers to 41 wins in 2008-09, eventually losing in six games in the first round to the Orlando Magic, who also ended up winning the Eastern Conference Championship.
Jim O'Brien's lone season as head coach resulted in 43 wins, but Iverson and Chris Webber lost to Larry Brown's Detroit Pistons in the first round in five games. Ironically, Larry Brown took those Pistons to The NBA Finals as well. This is a weird trend.
Speaking of Larry Brown, his final season as head coach of the Sixers was a 48-win campaign in 2002-03, one that could've been at least 50, but featured a frustrating stretch of 14 losses in 18 games. That collection of Iverson, Eric Snow, Aaron McKie, Derrick Coleman, Keith Van Horn, Kenny Thomas and Tyrone Hill lost in the second round to the Pistons in six games.
Iverson's Sixers won 43 games one year after losing The NBA Finals to the Lakers, and 49 games the year before that happened. Prior to a 28-win lockout shortened 1998-99 season, the 76ers went seven straight seasons without playoffs, in which the highest win total was 35. That was Charles Barkley's last season in Philadelphia.
In 1989-90, Barkley and the Sixers, coached by Jim Lynam, won the Atlantic Division with 53 wins, but lost to Michael Jordan's Bulls in the second round, the first of back-to-back seasons Chicago's dynasty knocked out the 76ers in a five-game Conference Semifinals series.
And before Julius Erving's sensational era, the 76ers won 62 games in 1967-68, 68 games in the championship 1966-67 season and 55 games in 1965-66.
Back to the present day, this is a special era of Sixers basketball approaching a very critical stage. They will ultimately be judged on how this group does in late April, May and June. If, for some reason, they fall short of their postseason goal, a part of the fan base will want immediate, and maybe drastic, change. That's the wrong way to go about it. But, it's also the reality that back-to-back 50 win seasons can easily be forgotten, or viewed negatively, if the team doesn't take care of business in the playoffs. The Sixers need to go on a great run over the next couple of months to validate their accomplishments the past two seasons.
