The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off arguably their worst two-game stretch of the season, a dreadful performance in a home loss to the Brooklyn Nets, and then a late-game collapse to see a victory slip through their fingers in Chicago. It would be nice if the Sixers had a soft landing spot coming up with which to right the ship. (Checks schedule.) Oh. Oh no.
That’s right. The Sixers are off to Oklahoma City to face the defending champion Thunder, who have an NBA-best 26-5 record on the season. That record even
looked a lot better a week ago before Oklahoma City lost consecutive games to the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs beat the Thunder three times in three different cities over the span of two weeks (including the NBA Cup semifinal), and now the Thunder are saying things like how they need to refocus and play with the same hunger as last season. Yes, the team still on pace to win 68 games. It’s as far from a “catching them napping” opportunity as you could get if you’re the Sixers.
To make matters worse, Joel Embiid will not be available due to a right ankle sprain and the usual knee injury management.
Meanwhile, the Thunder’s injury report is fairly clean for the top end of the rotation. Jaylin Williams and Ousmane Dieng generally see deep bench minutes, but that’s about it.
With Embiid out, a bench unit that was just outscored 59-12 by the Bulls will play an even bigger role. Points are already extremely difficult to come by against the Thunder, who have by far the best defensive rating in the league (104.6 with second-best Detroit all the way at 110.7). Tyrese Maxey shaking off a couple poor shooting games and going back to scoring at an All-NBA level would certainly help, as would Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain hitting some shots. Over their last three games, Grimes is just 4-of-17 from the field (1-of-10 from three) and McCain is 9-of-31 from the floor (2-of-11 from three).
On the other end, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is putting together another MVP-worthy season, with averages of 32.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.5 assists. Add in Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren as overqualified second and third options, and the deepest roster in the league, which has seen Ajay Mitchell enter the Sixth Man of the Year conversation, and the Sixers defenders will certainly have their hands full. VJ Edgecombe recently slowed down Jalen Brunson quite well in New York, so I’m eager to see what he can do when up against the reigning MVP SGA for the first time.
The Thunder are 15.5-point favorites as of this writing, per FanDuel. Rationally, I don’t think the Sixers are going to keep this one close, but if they have had one superpower this year, it’s making sure their games come down to the final minute in one way or another. Seeing some crunch time basketball against the best team in the league would sure be fun. Let’s see what Philadelphia can put together this afternoon.
Game Details
When: Sunday, December 28, 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
