Sixers Fans Sound Off on Twitter as Bulls-Pistons Game Gets Postponed
"They hate the process," Joel Embiid said on January 10, 2021, via Twitter. While the Sixers superstar never went in-depth regarding what he was tweeting about, everybody could figure it out considering the timing.
Last season, the NBA saw its fair share of COVID-19 cases, which affected several teams throughout the year -- especially the 76ers. Philadelphia had a handful of players miss games early on due to positive COVID cases and contact tracing.
At one point, it seemed the Sixers were destined to have a game get postponed early on in the process. Every team needed a minimum of eight players available. The Sixers had just seven players available for their Denver Nuggets matchup in January of 2021.
Instead of the NBA postponing the matchup, they told the Sixers to suit up veteran forward Mike Scott, who was nursing a knee injury and had no chance of playing. The Sixers proceeded to play with just seven players and fell short to the Nuggets by losing 115-103.
Not too long after the Sixers were forced to play highly undermanned, the NBA started postponing other matchups across the league as other teams were hit bad by COVID as well. That led Embiid and Sixers fans to sound off on the league.
Fast forward to December of 2021, and Sixers fans are still frustrated with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league's decision-makers.
Not only have the Sixers dealt with another team-wide COVID outbreak this season, which they've had to play through once again, but the Chicago Bulls have also been hit hard recently, leading the league to cancel their upcoming matchup against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. On Monday, Philly fans didn't react positively to the news.
The Reactions
The NBA's decision to make the Sixers unfairly play through their team-wide COVID outbreak last year was undoubtedly a bad look. Unfortunately, the Sixers got the short end of the stick as the league learned from their mistakes when it came to the 76ers.
Making the Chicago Bulls play while having ten players in the NBA's health and safety protocol just because the Sixers had to go through a similar situation last year doesn't right the league's wrongs.
The Sixers should've received the same benefits last year as the Bulls just did this season. While there is no telling whether Silver and the NBA would do it differently for the Sixers this time around or not -- the league is doing the right thing regardless.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
