The Philadelphia 76ers are at home Monday night to take on the visiting San Antonio Spurs after being blown out by the Cavaliers Saturday in Cleveland. The Sixers will have Joel Embiid in the lineup after the All-Star center missed the Cavs game as part of his management program. Meanwhile, the Spurs are coming off a huge victory over the Trailblazers on Saturday night.
Sixers game information
Who: San Antonio Spurs (15-13) at Philadelphia 76ers (9-17)
When: 7 p.m. EST
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia PA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBA TV, Bally Sports Southwest
Latest on the Sixers
The Sixers need to get something going with the whole team. They’re one of the worst offensive teams with one of the worst records in the league this season. While injuries have decimated the team through its first 26 games, it’s no excuse for performing as they have, given the amount of talent throughout the roster.
While Joel Embiid seems to be getting back his usual MVP form, the Sixers center just can’t catch a break unless it’s to his sinus. During the season, Embiid appeared in only seven games, averaging 22.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. His play over his last three games, even having appeared in just a half before getting injured against the Pacers ten days ago, has been encouraging, but he’s not been there for the team this season.
Paul George, the huge splashy signing from this past offseason, has looked less like himself and more like a more expensive version of Tobias Harris. Over his past five games, George has shot 43.5% from the floor and 33.3% on his three-point attempts.
In his last two games, even those numbers have dropped to 25% from the floor and 18.2% on his threes. The man who was supposed to be the third star and help get the Sixers closer to a title just isn’t pulling his weight. To put it into perspective, he’s averaging 16 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists compared to Harris last season, averaging 17.2 points. 6.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists. PG has also missed 10 games already as well.
The bright spot for the Sixers is that All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey seems to have found his shooting rhythm of late, hitting 44.2% of his shots and 42% of his three-pointers over the last five games. While it may have been a case of Maxey trying to overcompensate early in the season with PG and Embiid missing, he’s seemed to have worked his way out of it and is getting back to the nightmare he was last season for opposing teams.
Latest on the Spurs
Coming into Philadelphia, the Spurs are 4-1 over their last five games with wins over the Pelicans, Hawks, and twice over the Trailblazers. The Spurs are a middle-of-the-pack team in almost every sense of the word, as they currently sit in ninth place in the Western Conference. Their team stats all hover around the mid-point of the teams in the league,e with the exception of being second in the league in blocks. That may have something to do with having Victor Wembanyama on the team.
Wembanyama continued his assault on the league when he was just 20 years old. Last season’s Rookie of the Year was also on the All-Rookie First and All-Defensive First teams. He led the league in blocks and is leading the league again in the category, averaging 3.8 blocks per game. Combine that with 24.7 points and 10 rebounds per game, and you’ll see why he’s one of the best young players in the league.
The Spurs feature seven players all scoring in double figures, and veteran point guard Chris Paul is right behind that group, averaging 9.8 points per game. Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan put up 16.2 and 14.7 points, respectively, while Paul is sixth in the league in assists with 8.4 per game. The team, while not overwhelming, has good depth, and they can come at you in a number of ways.
What to watch for tonight
With all of the attention and well-deserved accolades that Wembanyama has received since entering the league, he’s going up against Joel Embiid on Monday night. The last time these two met, Wembanyama put up 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks on the Sixers. On the other side of the court, almost in order to show how dominant he can be, Embiid gave his team 70 points and 18 rebounds. The height difference isn’t that great between the two, but Embiid has such mass and skill that he can push Wembanyama around almost at will. Something that most teams aren’t able to do.
With Embiid on the court, Maxey should be able to continue his hot shooting, hoping that Paul George will start to find his stroke. As the trio continues to grow together, better results should come for the team, but they’ve been rare this season, almost as rare as the trio playing together. At some point, they’re going to have to play consistent games and minutes together if the team is going to get close to sniffing the playoffs.
While Embiid has been getting back to normal, Maxey is heating up, and George is freezing over, the team is going to need some bigger contributions from players like Kelly Oubre Jr. and Caleb Martin, the other big signings for the Sixers this past offseason.
While Martin isn’t lighting up any stat sheet, he brings energy, hustle, and veteran leadership to the floor while making all the little plays that help keep the team in games. If they can figure out some sort of steady rotations, bringing in KJ Martin, Ricky Council IV, Guershon Yabusele, and Andre Drummond, the team may find itself winning more games as they face only a few tough teams over the next few weeks.
The key now, with Embiid seemingly back and only one set of back-to-backs over the next two weeks, head coach Nick Nurse is going to have to do a much better job with his rotations and lineups. Having all three of his star players makes many choices easy, especially with the talent level the three possess, but the real coaching job has to come when he’s unable to use those three. His choices to start the year have been head-scratching at best and miserable at worst. That has to improve if this team is going to have a shot at making the playoffs this year.
Prediction
Sixers 117 – Spurs 109
