PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — They warned everyone it wasn't going to be easy.
Throughout the week, Doc Rivers and his 76ers talked about how the Washington Wizards were a much improved team and would be a dangerous first-round opponent. The Wizards gave the Sixers a tough time in Game 1 of their playoff series, but the Sixers still managed to pull out a 125-118 victory.
Washington led by one at the half before the Sixers pulled ahead by 11 in the fourth quarter. The lead was down to five in the closing minutes until Rivers' squad sealed the game at the free throw line. Joel Embiid wasn't surprised he and his teammates had their hands full with the Wizards.
"It's the playoffs," said Embiid. "There's no bad teams. If you've made it to this level, it doesn't matter if you're the first seed. It doesn't matter if you are the eighth seed. Teams are good. That's why Washington made it this far."
Embiid finished with 30 points despite dealing with early foul trouble. The Sixers received a big boost from Tobias Harris, who had a game-high 37 points. Harris scored 28 of his points in the first half when the Sixers needed someone to step up with Embiid on the bench with three fouls.
"I looked at it like how we looked at it the whole year when Joel would go down with an injury," Harris said. "What do I need to do for our team to win games at that point? He goes out with three fouls and it was just the same mentality."
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Harris also wasn't surprised that the eighth-seeded Wizards gave the Sixers a tough game. Harris said he expects every game in this series to be close even with the Sixers as heavy favorites. He used the rest of the NBA playoff games as an example of how tight the league's teams are this season as compared to past playoff years.
"I was watching all of the NBA games Saturday," said Harris. "I was kind of surprised. All of these games were really close. There really wasn't a real big spread in any of them. I think this whole playoffs, game in and game out, you're going to see dogfights around the league."
The Sixers aren't worried about style points. Their only concern is getting past the Wizards no matter the margin of victory in each game. They can take a two games to none lead in the series on Wednesday night when the two teams get together for Game 2.
The team hopes to get another big boost from the home crowd. With capacity back up to 50% at the Wells Fargo Center, Rivers said the 11,000 fans in the building made a huge difference in the game.
"It felt like 30,000 people in the stands," Rivers said. "They are amazing. Let's keep it going. It's so nice to have that at home."