Tobias Harris on Sixers’ Tough Stretch: ‘We Need This’

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Philadelphia 76ers run into their toughest test of the year. Not only are they set to hit the road for 15 of their final 25 games, but the strength of opponents is significant.

On Thursday night, the Sixers returned with a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies. As the second seed in the Western Conference, the Grizzlies entered Thursday’s matchup confident and ready to bring physicality to the Sixers, who were searching for a fifth-straight win.

At first, it seemed the Grizzlies had Philadelphia’s number. With a 17-point lead as early as the first quarter, Memphis put the Sixers in a steep hole.

But the Sixers weren’t down and out. By outscoring the Grizzlies 63-46 in the second half, the Sixers formed a comeback and put Memphis away with a 110-105 win. The Sixers got the day off on Friday and will return to action on Saturday night. This time around, the road gets even more challenging.

The Eastern Conference’s top dogs, the Boston Celtics, will be in the building at the Wells Fargo Center. In two matchups between the Sixers and the Celtics earlier this year, Boston got the best of Philly, even while shorthanded in the second matchup.

Then after the Celtics, the Sixers find themselves in a stretch where they’ll participate in back-to-back games with the Miami Heat before paying a visit to the Dallas Mavericks and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Sixers understand the difficulty of the stretch they continue on Saturday night, but a veteran like Tobias Harris embraces the challenge coming his way.

“I think just playing against tough teams, our schedule is tough,” said Harris on Thursday night. “A lot of games in a short amount of time. We need this to prepare us and get us ready mentally and physically. This is a good stretch for us to really embrace it and really come out of this a better group than we started.”

Being a playoff team for the last five seasons, the Sixers will inevitably punch their ticket to the postseason for the sixth-straight time this year. While they know they are bound to reach the playoffs, they must be prepared for what’s to come. A game similar to Thursday’s was a perfect scenario.

The game was physical, and nothing was going right for Philly in the first two quarters of the game. Yet, they stayed focused and turned the tables in the second half, managing to climb back from a 17-point deficit to scoop up a five-point win.

“I forgot who it was at the free throw line, but the arena was so loud that I was like, ‘This is like playoffs,’" Harris said. “This is like playoff basketball right here.”

The Sixers will look to build on top of that tough victory on Thursday with a matchup against another title contender on Saturday night.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.