There are many ways one can go about ranking moments. This particular list, which will highlight the 10 best moments for the 2019-20 Sixers before the NBA season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, is not a scientific one. 

We tried to factor in entertainment, basketball quality and broader significance — is this something that we might remember in a few years? — but there’s no exact criteria. Any disagreement is exceedingly fair.

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Matisse Thybulle had been excellent defensively at the Sixers’ Blue x White scrimmage and during the preseason, but he had a difficult test on Opening Night against Kemba Walker.

Though he made a few mistakes early, Thybulle was impressive. He picked up two steals and two blocks — including a memorable, gliding rearview rejection — and helped hold the All-Star guard to a 4-for-18 night.

“It was intimidating at first,” he said, commenting that Walker was someone he’d played with in NBA2K.

Thybulle actually led the NBA in steals and deflections through the Sixers’ first four games of the season, and he currently has 18 more steals than any other rookie.

“I have not seen a rookie come in with his defensive skills,” Tobias Harris said that night. “The only guy I would say is Kawhi [Leonard] as a rookie — everybody knew he was a top defender.”

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The Sixers moved to 10-0 at home with a 103-94 win over the Jazz on Dec. 2. Harris scored a team-high 26 points, Ben Simmons and Thybulle bothered Donovan Mitchell, and Al Horford had a strong performance, posting 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

None of the above information was nearly as memorable as what James Ennis did in the second quarter.

With the Sixers on a big run, Ennis made a three from the right wing to give the team a 57-31 lead. He fell to the ground after a foul by Bojan Bogdanovic and decided he’d stay there for a moment. He then did three push-ups. 

Was that a new celebration?

“I did them back in Australia, but it was nothing,” Ennis said. “I just did it because it was an and-one. I just wanted to show my strength a little bit.”

Ennis knew he was being labeled as a “hot guy” in scouting reports and was clearly feeling very good about himself, but he ended up scrapping the push-ups moving forward because he missed the subsequent free throw. 

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This shot trimmed the Sixers’ deficit against the Knicks to 11-10 in their 14th game of the regular season.

It felt much more important than that for obvious reasons. A former Rookie of the Year and All-Star, Simmons had played 171 NBA games without making a regular-season three. He’d done it in the preseason against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions, but this shot counted, and it came out of nowhere. Despite saying he’d take threes if they were open at media day, Simmons was still opting not to attempt jump shots.

But, without any apparent hesitation, he let this one go.

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Joel Embiid had 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on Dec. 10 in the Sixers’ win over the Nuggets, but Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal were far from satisfied.

On NBA on TNT, the two Hall of Famers criticized Embiid for not being dominant enough.

“If you want to be good, keep doing 22 points,” O’Neal said. “You want to be great, give me 28, give me 30. You want to be great, watch Giannis [Antetokounmpo] — he wants to be great.”

Embiid told reporters before the Sixers played the Celtics that he thought Barkley and O’Neal were right, then played his best game of the season to that point. He scored 38 points on 21 field goal attempts and grabbed 13 rebounds. Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis were overmatched whenever the Celtics tried defending Embiid 1-on-1, and the Sixers’ All-Star center also found his teammates well when double teamed, recording six assists. 

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Shake Milton can shoot. He made 42.7 percent of his three-pointers in three seasons at SMU and 38.4 percent in 33 total G-League games.

During a historic stretch, he apparently forgot how to miss.

Presented with another chance in the starting lineup because of Ben Simmons’ back injury, Milton made 13 consecutive threes across three games, tied for the most ever in the NBA.

The streak finally concluded with a third-quarter attempt off the side of the backboard, but the 54th pick in the 2018 draft introduced himself to a national audience with his 39-point performance against the Clippers.        

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Simmons did a little bit of everything in the Sixers’ win over the Nets on Jan. 20 — a lot of everything, to be more precise.

This was his stat line: 34 points (12 of 14 from the floor, 10 of 14 from the foul line), 12 rebounds, 12 assists, five steals, two blocks. He was incredible.

With Embiid out because of a torn ligament in his left ring finger, the Sixers had success using Simmons at center in the second half, deploying him very effectively as a screener and roller. Nicolas Claxton struggled against Simmons, and he committed a flagrant foul on him late in the third quarter. Simmons took the hit from Claxton and walked away from the scene as if nothing had happened, while the rookie crashed to the floor.

It was a bizarre play, but also, in the context of Simmons’ dominant afternoon, not surprising that the player who took a flagrant foul on him would come away from the incident worse off. 

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Embiid reached a career-high 49 points on Feb. 24 vs. the Hawks with a three-pointer in John Collins’ face. First, with a big smile on his face, he simply put a hand to ear, nodded his head, and asked for more noise from the Wells Fargo Center crowd.

Then, as he heard the music in the background, he figured a little dance couldn’t hurt — the Milly Rock, specifically.

The mood hadn’t been nearly as joyful in the third quarter, when the Sixers allowed the Hawks to score 40 points, and Embiid acknowledged he’d heard the boos.

“Well, they were still booing,” he said. “They booed in the third quarter. But it’s cool. Passionate. I have a lot of love for them. Doesn’t matter, they might have me in a lot of trade machines and all that stuff, they might boo, but it’s still all love.

"We’ve had a very, very deep connection since I’ve been in Philly and I’ve always appreciated everything they’ve done for me and all the love they’ve given to me.” 

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The Sixers trailed by 21 points in the third quarter, Embiid was serving a suspension and Damian Lillard was shooting 27-footers like they were free throws. They had no business beating the Blazers.

But, on Nov. 2, the last undefeated team in the NBA improved to 5-0 because of Furkan Korkmaz’s jumper with 0.4 seconds left. 

For Korkmaz, who’d had his third-year option declined by the Sixers and didn’t re-sign with the team until July 24, it was a lot to process.

"Even still, I don't know how to feel, how to act,” he told reporters after the game. “It was the biggest shot in my career. But I knew that Al (Horford) was going to set a good pick and try to get me open to make the shot. … I was wide open. I just let it fly, and I made it. That was also a huge comeback from double digits (down). Horford, I think, made a lot of shots.

"And then from a huge comeback, to make the buzzer beater and get the W, it's incredible. It's like a dream."

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Simmons (26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists) and Embiid (26 points, nine rebounds) both had strong games in the Sixers’ win over the Clippers on Feb. 11. Perhaps more significantly, they were very good together in Al Horford’s first game off the bench since his rookie season.

“It’s arguably the best game those two have paired up with since I’ve been the coach here,” Brett Brown said. 

Simmons’ circus shot in the third quarter — a quasi-backhanded flip on Paul George as he was falling to the floor — was probably the highlight of the night, but the complete team performance was the primary takeaway. An aggressive Simmons hit Embiid on high-lows and teamed up on snug pick-and-rolls, Tobias Harris provided early offense, and Josh Richardson frustrated George and scored 17 fourth-quarter points.

George, who shot 3 for 15, was fined for saying the Sixers had received “home-court cooking” from the referees. 

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The reigning MVP shot a season-worst 8 for 27. The Sixers made a season-high 21 three-pointers and only turned it over eight times. Embiid had 31 points, 23 in the first half.

There’s not much to add other than it was a lively, fun game to watch, and that it seemed on that afternoon like the Sixers really might be built for the playoffs. 

(Honorable mentions: Korkmaz's big weekend in wins over the Grizzlies and Bulls; Simmons' three steals in the final 13.9 seconds against the Pacers; Embiid's game-winning dunk vs. the Cavs; Richardson’s revenge vs. Miami; shorthanded win over the Lakers.) 

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