Things are looking up for the Sixers. Their stars are finally healthy, Paul George is suspension free, and they’ve won their last two games to start getting on track as each win becomes increasingly important in the Eastern Conference standings.
After beating the Bulls and Hornets, next up the Sixers are heading to Miami to take on the 39-36 Heat, now down at ninth place in the East.
The Heat will also be at a rest disadvantage, as they’ll be finishing a back-to-back following a hefty 135-118 loss
to the Pacers on Sunday.
Meanwhile for the Sixers, I can write a phrase that’s rarely been uttered for a long time: Philly will have their full rotation for this game. The recovering Johni Broome is the only player on the team’s injury report.
The Sixers are coming off the kind of win we needed to see in Charlotte. It was a glimpse of what this team was meant to be this season, before injuries, suspensions and bad vibes (from all the above and things like the Jared McCain trade) derailed it. George looked good physically on both ends and tallied 26 points and 13 rebounds, Joel Embiid got to the line like his usual self and scored 29 points, and Tyrese Maxey easily dropped 26 points and eight assists on 10-of-18 shooting (3-of-6 from three).
Throw into that the accompanying performances — from Kelly Oubre Jr. off the bench, to Andre Drummond’s strong minutes and VJ Edgecombe’s sharp complementary play at both ends — and the strong finish late in the third quarter and through the fourth to overcome a 15-point deficit, and it was actually a fun night.
It’s been hard to remember what a healthy and fun team looked like, so let’s see if they can keep it rolling. The Sixers should have another winnable game ahead of the them.
Norman Powell, the Heat’s All-Star, has been having a quality season. He’s taken on more on-ball duties, especially during all Tyler Herro’s absences, and has put together the best year of his career as a result. He’s put up 22.1 points per game with a 61.1 true shooting percentage, while gunning away from three with 7.1 attempts per game at a 38.4 percent clip.
However, Powell was out on Sunday with a upper respiratory infection. We’ll need to wait until closer to tip-off for Miami’s injury report, but Powell is the clearly the biggest name to look out for.
If Powell is available, it’ll be particularly helpful now that Kelly Oubre Jr. and George are back to help contain him. George was spry and moving well on Saturday, while Oubre’s agility and size advantage over Powell making him a pretty good defensive matchup too.
Another good matchup will be Jaime Jaquez Jr. against George and Oubre whenever they’re squared up. The Heat’s sixth man has been having a very well rounded year, putting up by far the best numbers of his young career with 14.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game with a 56.3 true shooting percentage (albeit lacking three-point efficiency) and reliable defense.
Handling Bam Adebayo is the other main challenge for the Sixers in this one. With Embiid back, though, the frontcourt battle in this one goes from being tough to a clear advantage. Embiid has always had the upper hand against Bam when they’ve faced off, utilizing his plethora of face-up and post-up moves and superior size and strength. Even if Embiid doesn’t have a big scoring night, he only needs to bully Adebayo a bit to force help and double teams to come in order to free up the extra three-point shooting the Sixers have again now George and Maxey are back.
The Herro matchup will be an interesting one to watch, especially if Powell’s out and guys like Herro (plus Andrew Wiggins and Pelle Larsson) get more touches as a result. Even though Herro’s been scoring an efficient 20.9 points per game this season (on 60.5 percent true shooting), his defense still remains an issue for an otherwise strong Miami defense that ranks ninth in the league. Especially now that Maxey is back alongside Edgecombe, it’ll be fun to see if/how they use ball screens to get matched up against Herro more often and use their explosive drives to attack him downhill.
To avoid better defenders in Davion Mitchell, and wings with more size like Jaquez Jr. and Wiggins, let’s see what Maxey and Edgecombe can cook up.
Hopefully for the Sixers, Saturday’s game against Charlotte was a sign of more positivity to come. Now that they have star power, health, and some depth on their side again, it’s time to see if they can start making that more of a regular thing.
Game Details
When: Monday, March 30, 7:00 PM ET
Where: Kaseya Center, Miami, FL
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
