The 13-Game stretch that will make or break the 76ers season

   

Weeks after the Philadelphia 76ers went through a pretty significant roster turnover in free agency, their full 82-game slate for the 2024-25 regular season has finally been released. As the case is with all teams, fans now have an initial idea about how the team could fare in the upcoming campaign, taking into account the easier and harder stretches of the schedule.

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The 76ers will be on national TV for a total of 27 of their games, which is around the expected ballpark at this juncture. For a bunch desperate to win a title, though, the coaching staff can now start plotting the points for a successful season, though there is a particular 13-game stretch could make or break their campaign.

This 13-game stretch could decide how the season could unfold for the 76ers in 2024-25

Some early prognoses point to the 76ers having one of the more laidback schedules in the NBA, but it’s absolutely not without its asterisks. Heck, Philly will see one of the more brutal stretches in the middle of the campaign, and how they fare could ultimately determine their fate in the regular season.

Bookended by a couple of back-to-backs, from January 15 to February 6, Philadelphia will square up against 13 teams, 12 of which were firmly in the playoffs last season. Nine of those will be at home, but all figure to be tough matchups and even feature both of the Finalists from last season in Boston and Dallas, as well as the top seeds in both conferences.

Jan. 15 vs Oklahoma City
Jan. 16 vs New York
Jan. 19 @ Indiana
Jan. 20 @ Milwaukee
Jan. 22 @ Denver
Jan. 25 vs Cleveland
Jan. 26 @ Chicago
Jan. 29 vs LA Lakers
Jan. 30 vs Sacramento
Feb. 01 vs Denver
Feb. 03 vs Boston
Feb. 05 vs Dallas
Feb. 06 vs Miami

That 13-game stretch includes a staggering five sets of back-to-backs, all against pairs of teams consisting of pretty competitive squads. Meanwhile, the lone non-playoff team here, the Bulls, will be playing at home. The amount of back-to-backs the 76ers will have to play would be a gambit, especially with the team not necessarily known for having iron men nor the fountain of youth on the roster.

The Philadelphia 76ers do have the talent that matches, if not surpasses, most of those teams, but a lot can happen at that point in the season, Hopefully, the team won’t sustain any major injury and manages to come out of that brutal stretch relatively unscathed to set the tone for a strong finish to the season in the waning months.