Lets have a quick lesson from good old Coach Lou Brown before we get into the preview:
That's right folks, the Sixers are gunning for a WINNING STREAK tonight! No easy task though, as they face off with the 23-7 Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden Moda Center (naming rights are the worst), where they are 12-2 on the season. The Blazers currently sit in 2nd place in the Western Conference, and are generally considered to be quite good at basketball.
But hey, don't sleep on those 76ers! Last time these two teams met, the Blazers pulled off the 114-104 victory in Philly, but the Sixers actually led that game 52-50 at the half and played the blazers pretty tight. Unfortunately they really had no answer for LaMarcus Aldridge, who led the way for the Blazers with a robust 33 pts on 13/20 shooting to go with 11 boards. Clearly you can't sleep on Damian Lillard either, but I think the matchup with LMA is key tonight. Brett Brown has been going with some small lineups lately due to an injury-shortened rotation, and I'd expect to see some funky defensive assignments tonight. Nerlens or Sims would be the obvious choices, but the Blazers typically run two bigs at a time, and Brett has tried to separate Sims and Noel of late. That means you might see some Jerami Grant or LRMAM banging down low with LaMarcus. The frontcourt chess match will be interesting to watch unfold.
That last matchup was right around the time the Sixers really started showing some improvement, just a couple of games before their first win. Much has been made of the Sixers greatly improved defense, currently ranking 11th in the NBA in defensive rating as per NBA.com stats. That solid D was on display on Monday when the Sixers overcame a 23-pt deficit against the Heat by shutting down DWade and company to the tune of only 30pts in the second half. Kudos to Nerlens, who while having quite the under developed offensive game, is definitely a defensive presence in the paint. The Sixers are long, young (youngest in the NBA), and athletic, and even with only 8 guys playing were able to run the visibly tired Heat (7th oldest team in the NBA) into the ground.
The Sixers won't have quite the same advantage tonight against the Blazers, who are fairly young and atheltic themselves. The Blazers also own the 3rd best defensive rating in the NBA, and the 10th best offensive rating, so …. yeah, they are quite good at basketball. The Sixers also figure to still be somewhat shorthanded tonight, as Wroten, Hollis, Furkan Aldemir were all still questionable at press time. One positive for the Sixers, oddly enough, is they seem to be better at basketball on the road than at home. All four of their wins have come on the road, where they hold opponents to 12 fewer points per game. MCW tried to sum up the Sixers success on the road recently, saying "I'm not sure what it is. I know when we are struggling, it's a little bit easier for us to come back together just because everyone is against us on the road. So all we have is each other."
✈️We All We Got✈️ pic.twitter.com/1JjauFsyx2
— Tony Wroten (@TWroten_LOE) December 22, 2014
Indeed, they have each other (love that pic) and the potential for a WINNING STREAK. Hopefully that's enough to put our boys over the top.
Game Notes:
- LaMarcus Aldridge is averaging 22.9 pts and 10.6 rebs per game on the season, and Damien Lillard is averaging 21.9 pts, 5 rebs, and 6.2 assists per game. Quite the dynamic duo for the Sixers to deal with.
- On Tuesday the Sixers waived Ronny Turiaf to make room for signing PF Malcolm Thomas in an attempt to try to beef up that depleted front court. This is Thomas' second stint on the Sixers this year. He started the year on the squad, playing 5 games averaging 14 mpg and 4 ppg. Expect to see him out on the court tonight banging with that Blazers frontcourt.
- Remember that amazing series clinching 3pt shot Damian Lillard hit at the buzzer in last years playoffs against the rockets? Well he hit the same exact shot on Tuesday to force overtime against the Thunder, in which the Blazers ultimately won. Dude is CASH.
Projected Lineups:
Sixers
PG Michael Carter-Williams
SG JaKarr Sampson
SF Robert Covington
PF Luc Mbah a Moute
C Nerlens Noel
Trailblazers
PG Damian Lillard
SG Wesley Matthews
SF Nicholas Batum
PF LaMarcus Aldridge
C Joel Freeman
Injuries: Sixers: Joel Embiid (Out, shmoney), Jason Richardson (Out, but coming back soon??!?), Tony Wroten (Questionable, knee sprain), Furkan Aldemir (Out, plantar fasciitis), Hollis Thompson (Questionable, respiratory infection).
Blazers: Robin Lopez (Out, hand).
Prediction: The Blazers' duo of Aldridge and Lillard is going to be a lot for the Sixers to overcome, and I see them falling in Portland tonight 108-92.
