Yahoo Sports Sixers address having to play 7 of their next 8 games on the road
PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers are sitting at 45-22 on the season and they are the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with 15 games to go. They are about to embark on one of their tougher stretches of the season as they will play seven of their next eight games on the road.
They will begin a three-game road trip on Wednesday when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers before heading to Charlotte and Indiana before coming home on March 20 to host the Chicago Bulls. They then will go on a four-game trip which will begin against those same Bulls on March 22 before heading to Golden State, Phoenix, and Denver before coming home.
That is an extremely tough stretch and the Sixers will have a lot to handle as they prepare for the playoffs.
James Harden on the trip
“One game at a time. We’ve been pretty solid on the road all year long. So one game at a time no matter who we’re playing. Stick to what we do and try to be the best 76ers team we can be.”
Joel Embiid on the trip
“We gotta win those games. That’s a good test for the playoffs. You got to go out on the road and steal a couple and that’s our goal. I think, obviously, we’ve been good. We got a couple of good tests coming up. So just gotta be ready and make sure everybody’s on the same page.”
Shake Milton
“I think you prepare all year to handle something like this. Right when you get the schedule, you kind of know where you’re going and what the schedule is looking like and we knew the month of March is gonna be pretty hectic for us. I think guys are all ready for the challenge of being on the road. A different atmosphere not having the fans behind you. I think everybody is looking forward to that challenge and we’ll all be prepared. We’ll be ready.”
Georges Niang
“I hadn’t really thought about it until actually I’m like ‘Oh yeah, we do come back and play Chicago and go to Chicago’. That is a pretty unique thing. Like any other thing, I feel like, to be successful, there’s always going to be challenges, and I feel like this is just another challenge that we have to take on the chin and that’s gonna continue to mold us and be better. I mean, since I’ve got here. we’ve had to deal with all types of adversity.
So I don’t think we’re ones to sit around and be like, ‘Oh, poor us, like, look at this schedule that we got’. I think it’s how can we improve? How can we get better? How can we constantly keep our eyes on the prize of being at our peak when we’re in the playoffs? Whether that’s shorter practice time, longer practice time, conditioning sessions. I mean, you should see after every game, I mean, every guy is in the weight room lifting after every game. I think this is the most focus group I’ve been around towards our goal of winning a championship and I think that all stems from the disappointment that we felt last year and I think guys are even taking a month or two weeks in advance to be like, ‘Alright, we’re not playing for today. We’re playing for what’s going to happen in April, May June.'”
Coach Doc Rivers
“It’s nuts and we saw it when it came out. We tried to change it, which never works, especially that one. Just too many moving parts to try to change. That’s part of it, but we even complained like let’s not come back. If we’re out there, let’s just stay out on the road and finish it up. Coming back to change luggage is basically what we’re doing and that one game is such a trap game. You play three games, you come back from one, and then you’re back on the road the next day. I mean that game concerns you as much as the road games did so, but we know it’s there. We’ve talked about it, we don’t even talk about it anymore, and we’re just going to try to get them through get through all of them healthy and fresh, if that’s possible.”
