The Philadelphia 76ers have made it back to the Eastern Standard time zone, thankfully.
The Sixers are back home in South Philadelphia after a five-game roadie to host the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. The Sixers went 3-2 on their trip out West and have not played at home since the passing of the trade deadline.
The sad irony of the team returning home after the trip away, however, is that it wouldn’t be surprising for the crowd to not be overwhelmingly Sixers fans. The Knicks fans have, to their
credit, comfortably taken over the Xfinity Mobile Arena for a number of more recent matchups there. After the last week or so, I’m not sure if the Philly fandom is feeling particularly engaged or enthused with the organization to combat that.
But I digress. The Sixers themselves have a chance at being seriously shorthanded for this one with Joel Embiid (right knee injury management), Quentin Grimes (illness) and Dominick Barlow (illness) all questionable as of Wednesday morning. We will keep you posted on the definitive availabilities for those three.
That same trio was sidelined for Monday’s contest against the Portland Trail Blazers as well. It wasn’t pretty. The Sixers fell 135-118 to the Blazers and, frankly, it wasn’t even as close as that score might make it seem. Just to give an insight into how shorthanded Philly was, Kyle Lowry was the eighth man in the rotation for Nick Nurse and had to play 18 minutes.
Just about the only positive from Monday’s clunker was a decent Sixers debut for MarJon Beauchamp, a two-way contract player with the team since December that has spent most of his time in the G League with the Delaware Blue Coats. In 20 minutes, Beauchamp put up 10 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Otherwise, it was a game the Sixers will want to flush from their memory quickly. A rough end to a long road trip.
The Knicks are coming to Philadelphia on the second leg of back-to-back after falling to the Indiana Pacers in overtime at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. Jalen Brunson led for New York with 40 points and eight assists. Josh Hart put up a 15-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double and Karl-Anthony Towns added a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double in the loss. Brunson played nearly 42 minutes and Hart played over 40.
Prior to last night’s loss, the Knicks had won nine of their previous 10 contests. At 34-20 on the season, New York fell to No. 3 in the Eastern Conference, now half a game behind the Boston Celtics for the no. 2 spot, so they’ll be itching to get back in the win column on Wednesday night.
This being a back-to-back for New York means their official injury report will not be available until this afternoon. For whatever it is worth, though, the Knicks absences last night were OG Anunoby (toe), Miles McBride (core muscle surgery) and Mitchell Robinson (left ankle injury management). Anunoby has missed the last three contests for that injury and McBride is out long term. Robinson, however, has simply not played in both legs of back-to-backs this season, so it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see him back available for the Knicks on Wednesday.
The last time the Sixers and Knicks met (in Philadelphia, a Saturday afternoon game on Jan. 24), New York left victorious by a score of 112-109 featuring a wild, close ending. For a bit, though, it had looked like it was over much before that after the Sixers put up just 13 points to the Knicks’ 30 in the third period. Philadelphia failed to score a single point for over five full minutes of the frame. The fact that the Sixers were able to pull back within three points in the final moments after that was borderline incredible, having trailed by as many as 17 points in the early stages of the fourth.
It wasn’t enough, however, in a loss for Philadelphia that ended with a number of officiating calls and long reviews in the final minute. (Let me be clear, the Sixers lost that game when they put up 13 points in an entire period. Those calls didn’t lose that game. The last minute of officiating just became a big part of that discussion following the contest.)
Embiid put up 38 points on 13-for-21 field goal shooting and Brunson led for the Knicks with 31 points on 6-for-12 shooting from long range in that meeting. New York out-rebounded the Sixers 53-37 and the Philadelphia bench was outscored 29-12 by the Knicks.
All that being said, I’m sure it was a loss to a conference rival that left a sour taste in the Sixers’ mouths. Hopefully they can use that to motivate them on Wednesday with the Knicks posing a big challenge for the Sixers, especially if they are shorthanded again.
The Sixers and Knicks tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Game Details
When: Wednesday, February 11, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: ESPN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
