After a thoroughly entertaining thrashing of the LA Lakers last game, we can get back on the tank train, and what better team to do it against than the 38-22 Philadelphia 76ers! They've won 3 of their last 5, and while that's not some hot streak, be aware that this has kind of been the Sixers all season: they haven't had any 9 or 10 game win streaks or anything, they're just consistently winning something like 3 or 4 out of every 5.
Tonight, they're missing Joel Embiid, and AD is playing, so there is an advantage there, but with any luck AD shouldn't play any more than about 20 minutes across the entirety of the game. Also missing for the Sixers are Furkan Korkmaz, and Zhaire Smith. Missing for us, Darius Miller and E'twaun Moore.
The Sixers are obviously down their best player, but they do still have Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris, and Ben Simmons on the roster, so it's not as if they're strapped for talent. They can still put out a really high octane squad, and it would be very surprising to me if we were to beat them. It's worth noting that since January 21st, we have actually had the league's 17th best defense. That is not phenomenal, but it's such an improvement on the season up until that point that I feel it's worth highlighting, and I think a large part of that can be attributed to the intensity that the team plays at without AD.
It should be a fun game, but I'm not expecting to win: which is good! I just hope to see Diallo, Kenrich, Frank, and Jrue play more good basketball, and enjoy watching the team grow. Let's go and #DoItFairlyLargelyButNothingAbsurd!