The 18-7 Sixers will seek a seventh win in eight games on Thursday night, when playing the 13-10 Trail Blazers.
Here are the basics for tonight’s game:
- When: 10pm EST with Sixers Pregame Live at 9pm
- Where: Fashion Center
- Streaming: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Live broadcast: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the MyTeams app
And here are three stories to watch:
Adjustments for the Sixers bench?
Shake Milton, the No. 3 Sixers’ top scorer so far, was listed as doubtful in Wednesday night’s injury report with a sprained left ankle. He appeared to have sustained the injury on a drive at 2:12 the end of the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s victory over Kings.
Seth Curry also appeared on the injury report with a sprained left ankle, although he was listed as available. Mike Scott remains out with swelling in his right knee, while double-hitting players Paul Reed and Rayjon Tucker are with the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League bubble.
If Milton is out of the game on Thursday, it would make sense for Tyrese Maxey to use some of his typical minutes. Maxey did not play on Tuesday night, the first time in the entire season. The Sixers’ second unit was very good without it, surpassing that of Sacramento by a margin of 32-21. Matisse Thybulle was goalless, but played a strong defense towards the end of the game against De’Aaron Fox.
Portland’s CJ McCollum, Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic are injured. Damian Lillard and Ben Simmons are expected to be available after they both lost the Blazers’ victory over the Sixers last week.
Kicking in a higher gear
When the game is tight and they need stops, the Sixers seem capable of raising their defense to an elite level.
Statistics confirm this perception: the Sixers have a defensive rating of 98.8 in the fourth quarters, according to NBA.com/Stats, which is 3.5 points better than the Raptors in second place. The team’s net rating of 13.7 in the fourth quarter is also the best in the league, four points higher than Toronto.
Simmons had a simple explanation of why the Sixers’ defense improved from the first to the second half against the Kings.
“Just concentrating,” he said. “Literally just focusing. When we’re focused and controlling our stuff and moving the ball, and then defensively when we’re stuck and communicating, I don’t really see many teams beating us when we’re playing like this. When we’re playing moves, it’s difficult. We look great when we do all of this. “
How long can this last?
The Sixers have yet to lose to their starting lineup on opening night. When Simmons, Curry, Tobias Harris, Simmons and Embiid play together, they are 14-0 and have a net rating of over 16.6, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Although it is at the beginning of the year and playing during a pandemic has resulted in many games in which one or both teams are well below their maximum limit, this undefeated mark is still a significant validation that the president of operations’ off-season approach basketball, Daryl Morey, made a lot of sense.
The Sixers have faced a relatively easy schedule, yes, but it is undoubtedly a good sign that the team has won every time its best lineup has fitted, although this should not continue for an entire season.