Sixers’ recent play worthy of celebration, but the next two games could indicate their success in the postseason

The vibes are now on point, and have led to recent consistent play.

It isn’t just about basketball. It’s the other stuff that has made the 76ers a team that is worthy of being celebrated.

When talking about James Harden, Joel Embiid said he’s never played with a playmaker quite like the 10-time All-Star.

Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton have remained each other’s biggest supporters even while things were awkward with Melton replacing Maxey as the starting shooting guard. And despite being in and out of the rotation, Danuel House Jr. keeps reminding teammates, ”This is a we season, not a me season.”

» READ MORE: Sixers vs. Raptors takeaways: Tyrese Maxey’s ‘underrated’ defense; Paul Reed’s energy

Playing for a common goal has enabled the Sixers (51-26) to come a long way from the team that opened the season with three consecutive losses and were 12-12 through their first 24 games.

For that, radio host Devon Givens has a point.

Givens, who hosts the Devon Givens Show on WPEN-FM (97.5), is a big believer that regular-season success should be celebrated. He separates what happens in the regular season from what a team does in the postseason.

Yours truly has argued the exact opposite. My take was the only thing that matters is what happens in the playoffs. With that being said, this season will ultimately be a failure if the Sixers suffer another second-round exit. And we may get a glimpse of how successful they can be in their next two games.

The Sixers, who are third in the Eastern Conference, will face the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at Fiserv Forum. In addition to being first in the East, the Bucks own the league’s best record at 55-22. Afterward, the Sixers will entertain the Boston Celtics on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center. Not only does Boston (54-24) have the conference and league’s second-best record, the Celtics are 3-0 against the Sixers.

“It’s a regular-season game — that’s the approach I take, you know?” Embiid said. “You’ll use those matchups to see where you are at. But there is no more excitement, in my opinion, because you are playing the two best teams in the league.

“So you want to use those games to use where you are. And I think we’ve had some success against Milwaukee, being 2-1 in the series so far.”

» READ MORE: Ahead of Sixers’ tilt, Raptors coach Nick Nurse opens up about uncertain future, Toronto turmoil

Embiid also feels pretty good about the Sixers’ chances against the Celtics. We’ll find out Tuesday and possibly in the upcoming playoffs.

But at this point, one has to give credit where credit is due.

The Sixers are in the midst of their fourth straight 50-win campaign during a normal 82-game season. Even that feat isn’t enough to illustrate the team’s sustained success since the 2017-18 season.

They finished 43-30 during the 2019-20 campaign, which was interrupted by the pandemic. The Sixers, who resumed the season in the bubble, played 73 games that season. The next season, the NBA scheduled a 72-game regular season. The Sixers finished, 49-23, while nabbing the conference’s No. 1 seed. And that was their most-dominant regular-season campaign during this stretch.

“For me, it’s fine,” Embiid said of the dominant six-year stretch, highlighted by four 50-win seasons. “But I think for everybody else, the fans, it should mean a lot, because of how far the team has come since the years before I got here.

“You know, past the [Allen Iverson] years, I don’t remember the last time there was any team that got 50 wins in Philly.”

Prior to finishing 52-30 in 2017-18, the last time the Sixers won 50-plus games was when they went 56-26 during the 2000-01 campaign. That Iverson-led squad advanced to the NBA Finals.

The Sixers have only had 20 50-win seasons in franchise history. They won a team-record 68 games in an 81-game schedule during the 1966-67 season. Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, Chet Walker, and Hal Greer led that squad to the NBA title. Even the coach, Alex Hannum, was a Hall of Famer. The 1983 NBA championship team led by Hall of Famers Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Moses Malone, Bobby Jones, and Mo Cheeks recorded the second-most regular season wins with 65. They, too, were coached by a Hall of Famer in Cunningham.

But the Sixers’ current six-year run marks their best regular-season stretch since winning at least 50 games in nine out of 10 seasons from 1976-77 to 1985-86.

“Obviously, everybody is always basing everything on winning a championship,” Embiid said. “But that’s not all that matters. Obviously, you want to win a championship. But would you rather be in contention every year? Or would you [rather] be at the bottom and fighting to make the playoffs every single year?”