The 76ers look to extend their winning streak to five games tonight vs Portland
The Philadelphia 76ers have all of the momentum in the favor heading into tonight’s game against the Portland Trailblazers. Last night, they earned another road win and defeated the Charlotte Hornets 118-111. Despite a few short stints where the Hornets were table to cut leads to single digits in the second half, Joel Embiid dominated the contest at both ends of the floor. Embiid scored 34 points on 11 of 18 shooting which included 3 of 5 from three.
The 76ers remain atop of the Eastern Conference standings with a 16-6 record. They are 2.5 games above the Bucks and Nets. Tonight, the Sixers will face the Blazers, who have lost three of their last five games and remain in 7th place in the Western Conference.
The Sixers are 10-1 at home this season and have won four straight games, three of which came on the road.
The injury bug has thrown the Blazers completely off course over their past 10 games. CJ McCollum has missed the last seven games, Zach Collin hasn’t played all season, and Jusuf Nurkic is out with a right wrist fracture. Derrick Jones Jr, Nassir Little, and Dame Lillard are also all questionable for tonight’s game.
I’ve reached the tipping point of not caring about back-to-back games anymore, even more so tonight against a Blazers team that is absolutely terrible on defense. Tonight would be a perfect night for Seth Curry to breakout of his recent slump against a Blazers team that’s allowing the fifth most three point attempts in the league. Offensively, outside of Lillard, there’s really nothing else the Sixers will have to worry about. Dame is going to score his points regardless, but the Sixers have Ben Simmons and strong defensive efforts from Matisse Thybulle to counter Lillard from completely taking over the game.
Embiid is not listed on the injury report and as we all know, opposing teams have to throw as many bodies as possible at Embiid to stop him in the paint. Enes Kanter can compete down low but certainly not on Joel Embiid’s level.
The spread on tonight’s game tells you everything you need to know. The 76ers are -10.5 point favorites. This Blazers team doesn’t have anyone that can match up with Embiid, let alone the 76ers starting lineup which remains undefeated when they are all healthy. There will be plenty of open shots along the perimeter tonight and the Sixers should be able to run away with this game easily and improve to 17-6 on the season.
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Mandatory Credit: The Philadelphia Inquirer
