The Philadelphia 76ers may be at their lowest point of the year regarding health as they head to Dallas to take on the Mavericks, who are in the same boat. Anyone on both teams is out, with the Sixers missing Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr., and a host of others, while the Mavericks are without Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Dante Exum, and another six to eight players.
Sixers game information
Who: Philadelphia 76ers (22-44) at Dallas Mavericks (33-35)
When: 1 p.m. EST
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
Watch: ABC
Latest on the Sixers
The Sixers are coming into today’s game just a half-game behind the Brooklyn Nets for the fifth-worst record in the league and a better chance to retain their first-round pick in this year’s draft. While the Nets play a very winnable game against the Hawks today, the Sixers have to lose to the Mavericks, and there’s virtually no chance of that happening.
While the injury list is long and includes all three of the team’s centers, Guerschon Yabusele will take on the role and will be looking to pair with Quentin Grimes, who’s returning from a one-game absence, to take down the Mavericks. Grimes has done nothing but stand out since arriving in Philly.
Yabusele and Grimes will be the main focus of the Sixers’ off-season, as they’ll both need to be re-signed. It just doesn’t seem that Daryl Morey imagined the cost of Grimes would go up with each game he plays. Against this version of the Mavericks, Grimes, and Yabusele will pair with Jared Butler and Justin Edwards to take down their opposition today. Just those four may be enough, with the Mavericks barely able to field a team.
Latest on the Mavericks
You can say the same things about the Mavericks that we have about the Sixers. They’re 2-8 over their last ten games, decimated by injuries, and what could have been their two best players on the floor today, Quentin Grimes and Luka Doncic were both unloaded at the trade deadline.
The Mavericks traded for Anthony Davis with the expectation that he would be the Anthony Davis that the league has known for years now. The problem is that they forgot that the other side of Davis is that he isn’t always on the court. In 13 seasons in the league, Davis has played over 70 games just three times, and two of those seasons were almost 10 years ago. Davis being out after being acquired is a huge blow to a team that dealt Doncic despite making the NBA Finals just one season ago.
In addition to Davis, Kyrie Irving was lost with an ACL tear soon after the deadline, leaving the team bereft of the two stars that they were sure would lead them deep into the post-season for a second year in a row. With the absence of their two stars, the Mavericks will be relying on Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, and Max Christie, which could be enough against the current version of the Sixers.
What to watch for today
Quentin Grimes.
I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say regarding this Sixers team or the matchup against an equally decimated Mavericks squad. Over the last month, Quentin Grimes has played himself into a lucrative contract at the end of the season, and if Daryl Morey doesn’t ask his AI application to assess the situation, the team may actually re-sign him and pair a young, talented guard with Tyrese Maxey for the next several seasons.
Hopefully, while Grimes is balling out today, Justin Edwards will be able to regain his shooting touch that he seemed to have left in Boston at the beginning of the month. Grimes, Edwards, Yabusele, and Butler will make for a good run today, and this should propel the Sixers to victory. The only chance that Dallas wins the game is if Klay Thompson somehow goes back to 2017 and drops 40+ points, and the Mavericks draw the Sixers into a long-distance shootout, the latter of which isn’t a stretch at all.
Prediction
Sixers 119 – Mavericks 108
