Will the 76ers’ magical season take them to the NBA Finals?

After five long seasons of missing the playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers have returned, brandishing their No. 3 seed as one of the youngest teams in the postseason storms into mid-April. The Process has paid its dividends. The Sixers’ 52-30 record is its best since Allen Iverson guided his team to the NBA Finals in 2001.

And given the year Philadelphia sports has had this far, it seems only right the 76ers make a deep playoff run. You’ve heard the chatter. You’ve seen the headlines.

The 76ers have a real shot. They’ve positioned themselves to avoid both LeBron James and the Toronto Raptors in the second round. If all goes well, Philly should have an easy ride to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Whether Philly can beat the Rockets or Warriors in a seven-game series is one thing. But whether the Sixers can maneuver the Eastern Conference to position themselves for an NBA Finals appearance? You can actually make that case.

Here’s what they’re road to the Finals would look like.

The 76ers face a tough Heat team in the first round, the same Heat team that’s beaten them twice in the last two weeks. But even though the Heat have a veteran roster, a battle-tested and proved head coach in Erik Spoelstra, and one of the league’s stingiest defenses, the Sixers still have a good chance at coming out on top.

Miami and Philly have split their season series two apiece, but the 76ers didn’t have Markelle Fultz for any of those games. Fultz is coming off of his best game of the season in Philly’s 35-point win over Milwaukee: A triple-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. There’s no reason he’d slow down now.

The Sixers are also entering the playoffs the hottest team in the NBA. They’ve won 16 straight games, and even though a good chunk of their opponents weren’t anywhere close to playoff contention, Philly’s steamrolled its way to building momentum into the postseason.

Joel Embiid is expected to miss at least the first game of the first round recovering from an orbital fracture, but there’s no way he sits an entire series against Hassan Whiteside.

The Bucks have a better chance at coming out on top in the first round since the Celtics have lost Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart, and Daniel Theis to injury. But Boston is no walk in the park. With or without their key players, the Celtics still hold the league’s best defense. And any team coached by Brad Stevens has a chance in a playoff series.

But the Sixers are deep enough to battle Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, and they’re explosive enough to power through Boston’s stingy defense. Sure, this is a lot of pressure on a young Philly team, but they’re so young and inexperienced, they might not even realize how big the moment is. They’re just excited to be in the playoffs at all.

Antetokounmpo poses a unique challenge for Simmons, but with a healthy Embiid and the wealth of shooters available at Philly’s disposal, the Sixers should be able to gun their way past Milwaukee.

The Raptors are a totally different basketball team theoretically than they were last season. But on paper, they’re the same team the Cavaliers swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The opposite can be said of the Cavaliers, who have blown their roster to smithereens but run an offense primarily through LeBron James, Kevin Love, and whoever else is hot on the night.

The playoff Raptors haven’t shown us much in the past two years, and even though they’re playing a completely different brand of basketball, it’s hard to bet against James in the playoffs.

That means the 76ers have a date with the same Cavs’ team they’ve beaten twice this season, including one game they led by as many as 30. It’s a present vs. future matchup between LJames and Ben Simmons, one that could be the best NBA series we’ve seen in a long time.

Philadelphia has had a magical season, and for the first time in six years, the season is dragging on past Game 82. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a bet against James in the playoffs, especially before the NBA Finals.

It would take some serious good fortune, luck, mojo, whatever you want to call it, for the 76ers to make it to the NBA Finals, and even if they made if there, they’d still have their hands full with either the Rockets or Warriors. It’s a tall order, but their playoff run this season only sets the table for them to run it in the future.