The Philadelphia 76ers are in Phoenix Monday night to take on the Suns as the highly anticipated arrival of Paul George in the lineup seems to be close to a reality for the team. As George had his status updated and is now listed as questionable for the game, the likelihood of seeing George suit up for the team is at the highest it’s been to start the season. The Sixers could definitely use the addition of George, as they’ve started off the season with a 1-4 record.
Paul George says he’s around 90 percent sure that he will make his season debut tonight in Phoenix against the Suns
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) November 4, 2024
He said he’s cleared all the hurdles. He will go through shoot this morning and make sure the knee is sound
Sixers game information
Who: Philadelphia 76ers (1-4) at Phoenix Suns (5-1)
When: 10:15 pm EST
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Latest on the Sixers
With the highly anticipated arrival of Paul George in the lineup, the Sixers will be as close to complete as they still await the return of Joel Embiid. Embiid, as he’s ramped up his participation in practice, may find himself missing more games than the team had hoped after an altercation on Saturday night with a reporter in the Philadelphia locker room.
Not much has gone right for the Sixers to start the season, and the latest situation surrounding Embiid looks to keep things cloudy for the foreseeable future. The good news for the team is that George looks to be healed from his knee injury suffered in the team’s preseason opener. The addition of George to the lineup would, theoretically, move Kelly Oubre Jr. or Caleb Martin to the bench.
Guard Tyrese Maxey has been scoring a lot for the team, giving everything he’s got to try to get the Sixers into the win column. Despite shooting 38.5% from the floor and a horrendous 26.3% on his three-point attempts, Maxey is still tied with Denvers Nikola Jokic for 5th in the league at 29.8 points per game. Maxey has just been given the impossible task of leading an incomplete team through the start of the season, and teams have been targeting him to prevent him from taking over for the Sixers.
If George does, in fact, play, it should give the Sixers a huge weapon against a Suns team that’s currently in 2nd place in the Western Conference and on a four-game winning streak. They’ll need George to come out of the gates in mid-season form if they’re to give the Suns a game. Kelly Oubre Jr., Caleb Martin, Kyle Lowry, and rookie Jared McCain are all going to have to step up if the Sixers are going to sneak out of Phoenix with a win.
Latest on the Suns
The Suns are at home, looking to extend their winning streak to five games, after narrowly beating the Trailblazers in Portland, 103-97 on Saturday. The team is mostly healthy, with only Bradley Beal appearing on the injury report as “questionable.” Beal has been playing with elbow soreness and has still managed to play the past two games. If they don’t have Beal, which, against a poor Sixers team, might not be a bad time to rest him, they’ll have Ryan Dunn to take his place in the starting lineup.
Kevin Durant is the obvious leader of the Suns, and Durant, at age 36, is giving the Suns 25.6 points and seven rebounds per game on 55.1% shooting and 44.1% on his three-point attempts. Durant is defying the age limits that some encounter and is second on the team to Devin Booker, who averages 26.7 points per game, along with 4.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists. The Suns, with their own big three in the lineup, have looked unstoppable, with the exception of a 123 – 116 loss against the Lakers in the second game of the season.
Phoenix can go without Beal against the Sixers and still come out on top, as Dunn has fared well in his place when Beal has missed two games already this season. In addition to their big three, the Suns have Tyus Jones, Royce O’Neale, Jusuf Nurkic, and Grayson Allen to throw at an undermanned Sixers team.
Jones is averaging 10.3 points and 6.8 assists in the young season, and Nurkic is helping out with 8.2 points and 8.7 rebounds so far. Allen has shot just 35% on the season on his three-point attempts but shot 4-7 on them Saturday against the Trailblazers on his way to 18 points in just 19 minutes on the floor.
What to watch for
The obvious excitement around the anticipated start to Paul George’s Sixers career is all around the team, despite not knowing what the immediate future holds for Embiid. George gives the Sixers a bonafide star that other teams will have to account for all over the floor. Without slighting Kelly Oubre Jr. or Caleb Martin, Paul George is on a whole different level. The Sixers will need him in the lineup if they’re going to compete against the Suns.
While the game could be a good one, the Suns haven’t blown anyone out of the water and have seen all of their wins be be small margins, the Sixers are entering the Footprint Arena as one of the worst teams in the league to start the season. The two teams couldn’t be further apart.
The Suns are sixth in the league in three-point shooting, while the Sixers are second from last. Whereas the Suns rank toward the top of the league in most offensive and defensive categories, the Sixers are near the bottom in almost everything, with the exception of steals and turnovers, where they’re ranked twelfth in the league in both categories.
The Sixers need a positive on this road trip before the season gets too far out of control and the playoffs start looking out of reach. With Embiid and George, the team would be one of the top three in the conference and maybe the league, but without two of their biggest stars, they’re a lottery team and not built for competing. The difference in the team when Embiid plays versus when he’s out of the lineup is drastic and seems to be even worse this season compared to last.
After the incident on Saturday, the All-Star center will have more investigations and technical fouls this season than games played. The Sixers need to get things right and they need to get it done quickly, the anticipated return of Paul George should get them going in the right direction although it doesn’t seem like that’s going to get them wins, especially against a tough Suns team.
Prediction
Sixers 103 – Suns 119
