Will the Sixers Tie the Worst Record Ever?

Brett Brown’s Sixers team needs to win one more game to avoid tying the record for the fewest wins in an 82 game NBA season | Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Brett Brown’s 9-66 Philadelphia 76ers team has just seven games left to get a win, and prevent tying the mark for fewest games won during an 82-game season in NBA history.

It was a position few expected the Sixers to be in just a few months ago.

After beating the Brooklyn Nets 103-98 on February 6th, the Sixers stood at 8-43, a relatively lofty record by this team’s standards. The team has won just one of their twenty four games since.

In order to tie the record, the the 9-73 mark set by the 1972-73 76ers, the Sixers would have to lose their remaining seven games, a limp to the finish which would, fittingly, match their dreadful 1-30 start to the season.

Obviously, everybody wants to avoid that. Which games do the Sixers have the best chance of pulling out a victory in?

(Note: Odds are just off-the-cuff guesses.)

Friday, April 1st @Charlotte
Season: Record 43-31 | Net Rating +3.0
Home: Record 27-11 | Net Rating +6.7
Last 10: Record 7-3 | Net Rating +5.6
Season Series: 0-3
Injury status: Michael Kidd Gilchrist is out with a season-ending shoulder surgery, Lin is questionable with a sore lower-back.
Thoughts: This is a tough opponent for the Sixers. Charlotte has been playing extremely well of late, and has been very difficult at home all season. The Sixers haven’t been particularly close in any of the three previous match-ups (losing 88-113, 99-119, and 85-100). The Sixers have had no answer for Kemba Walker (22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists against the Sixers), and I don’t see that changing now.
Odds of winning: 5%

Saturday, April 2nd vs Indiana
Season: Record 39-36 | Net Rating +1.6
Road: Record 16-21 | -0.1
Last 10: Record 4-6 | Net Rating -3.3
Season Series: 0-2
Injury status: Ty Lawson: Questionable for Saturday’s game against the Sixers.
Notes: Indiana has been struggling a little bit of late, with some bad losses to the Nets and Magic recently. Still, the Sixers have had little luck cracking Indiana this year and Paul George has had his way against the Sixers, averaging 24.5 points and shooting 40 percent from three, on 7.5 attempts per game, against the Sixers. The Sixers do get some bump since they’re playing at home, and with how the Pacers are playing of late, but I’m still not particularly confident.
Odds of winning: 15%

Tuesday, April 5th vs New Orleans
Season: Record 28-47 | Net Rating -3.7
Road: Record 8-29 | Net Rating -7.2
Last 10: Record 4-6 | Net Rating -3.9
Season Series: 0-1
Injury status: Everyone, pretty much. Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans, Alonzo Gee, Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday, and Quincy Poindexter will all miss the remainder of the season with various injuries.
Thoughts: The Pelicans are absolutely decimated with injury. Anthony Davis scored 34 points against the Sixers in their first match-up, but he’s out. Ryan Anderson’s 26 point performance isn’t something to worry about. Neither is Jrue Holiday’s 24 point performance against his former team. The Pelicans starting lineup in their last game: Toney Douglas, Jordan Hamilton, Luke Babbitt, Dante Cunningham, and Omer Asik. In an NBA game. New Orleans has been struggling of late on the court, naturally, with both their record and net rating buoyed by wins over the Kings, Nuggets, and struggling Knicks. If there’s one game to get, it’s this one.
Odds of winning: 55%. Yeah, that’s right. I’m making the Sixers the favorites in this one. That’s how decimated the Pelicans are.

Friday, April 8th vs New York
Season: Record 30-46 | Net Rating -2.8
Road: Record 13-26 | Net Rating -4.1
Last 10: Record 3-7 | Net Rating -6.6
Season Series: 0-3
Injury status: Kristaps Porzingis missed his last game with a shoulder injury. It is unknown whether he’ll be back by next Friday. Jose Calderon is also questionable for their next game with a right quad contusion.
Thoughts: New York has lost three in a row and six of their past eight. They’ve been playing as poorly as any non-Sixers team in the league, and the Sixers have actually played the Knicks relatively well this season, despite their 0-3 record against them, including a double-OT loss in mid-January. Carmelo Anthony is still playing at a high level, and Kristaps “The Unicorn” Porzingis has had his play bounce back since his mid-season slump, averaging 17.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, with a 53 percent true shooting percentage, over their last 10 games.
Odds of Winning: 25%

Sunday, April 10th vs Milwaukee
Season: Record 31-44 | Net Rating -3.0
Road: Record 9-29 | Net Rating -6.2
Last 10: Record 4-6 | Net Rating +0.1
Season Series: 0-2
Injury status: Michael Carter-Williams, O.J. Mayo, and Steve Novak will all miss the remainder of the season.
Thoughts: The Bucks are a tough nut to crack ever since starting the point-Giannis experiment. They just broke a five game losing streak with a win over the Suns, and have really struggled defensively. Still, they’re undeniably an incredibly interesting team to watch, and Giannis and Jabari Parker are have been tough to match up against.
Odds of Winning: 15%

Tuesday, April 12th @Toronto
Season: Record 50-24 | Net Rating +4.2
Home: Record 29-9 | Net Rating +5.2
Last 10: Record 6-4 | Net Rating +2.9
Season Series: 0-3
Injury status: DeMarre Carroll has not yet returned from knee surgery performed in January.
Thoughts: The Raptors are good. Really good. The only real chance the Sixers have is if Toronto has no real incentive to play hard, which has a very distinct chance of happening. The Raptors are pretty firmly entrenched in the 2nd seed in the East, 3 wins behind Cleveland and 5 wins up on Atlanta. With that being Toronto’s second-to-last game of the season, there’s a chance it doesn’t mean anything for them.
Odds of Winning: 25%, mostly because I think they’ll have nothing to play for.

Wednesday, April 13th @Chicago
Season: Record 38-37 | Net Rating -2.0
Home: Record 24-14 | Net Rating +1.4
Last 10: Record 5-5 | Net Rating -4.6
Season Series: 0-3
Injury status: Joakim Noah will miss the remainder of the season. Derrick Rose had an elbow contusion and is questionable for Saturday’s game.
Thoughts: The Bulls are in a little disarray as well, with rumors that they may look to trade Jimmy Butler this offseason. They’re currently a game out of the 8th seed in the playoffs, which makes placing odds on this game virtually impossible until you know whether they’ll have something to play for on the last game of the season. If they do, they should handle the Sixers pretty easily. If they don’t, they’re the type of team that could come in and give no effort on the final day of a hugely disappointing season.
Odds of Winning: TBD

Derek Bodner covers the 76ers for Philadelphia magazine. Follow @DerekBodnerNBA on Twitter.