Tonight, for the first time since 2001, the Sixers will host a Game 7 in their building. That Allen Iverson-led team actually played two Game 7s at home that postseason. First, the Sixers watched Vince Carter’s shot fall off the mark to advance over the Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and then AI poured in 44 to secure the victory over Milwaukee and send Philadelphia to a meeting with the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Knowing the nostalgia surrounding that early-2000s team, those are the type of historic stakes we’re dealing with tonight as the current iteration of the Sixers looks to put away Atlanta.