Philadelphia 76ers: Everything you need to know as the final stretch of the NBA season begins tonight in South Philly

The Philadelphia 76ers will return from the NBA All-Star break tonight at home against the New York Knicks.

By the Numbers: Season Averages

• Tyrese Maxey has averaged 25.7 points, 6.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 49 games.
• Buddy Hield has averaged 22.3 points, 7.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in 4 games.
• Tobias Harris has averaged 17.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 48 games.
• Cameron Payne has averaged 10.8 points, 4.8 assists, and 2.3 rebounds in 4 games.
• Kelly Oubre Jr. has averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 42 games.

Kyle Lowry has averaged 8.2 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 37 games this season and will make his Philadelphia 76ers debut tonight against the Knicks.

Eastern Conference Standings 

The 76ers entered the NBA All-Star break in fifth place in the Eastern Conference Standings and currently have a 2.5 game cushion on Miami and Orlando in 7th and 8th

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Reminder: Playoff Seeding Doesn’t Matter

Look, it’s way too early to look ahead at playoff seeding in the first place but for you sickos out there, the 76ers should be eyeing the 2, 3, or 6 seed in the playoffs if they want to have the “best path possible” to the Eastern Conference Finals. That will avoid the Celtics until the ECF. Obviously, you want to avoid the play-in game too and as we saw the final few weeks before the All-Star break, it’s hard to win basketball games with Joel Embiid on the sideline. 

Philadelphia 76ers – Injury Updates

Yesterday, Nick Nurse spoke with the media, saying that Robert Covington should be ready to return to the court in roughly three weeks. Nico Batum should be available tonight and De’Anthony Melton who was questionable, will be good-to-go against the Knicks after a positive full practice yesterday. 

Joel Embiid Injury Update

Yesterday, Joel Embiid attended team practice and the organization remains optimistic about his return before the playoffs. That’s positive news and dare I say, could set up the Sixers with a healthy Embiid come playoff time – something that as we all know, rarely happens. 

Assuming Embiid’s rehab is going well and he’s on the typical recovery timeline for a lateral torn meniscus, that would bring him back to the Sixers lineup with roughly seven games in the regular season.

Joel Embiid Potential End-of-Season Ramp Up Period

That being said, it’s hard to ignore the fact that those six-seven games could be extremely important in getting the motor running again so Embiid is in perfect “game shape” for the first round of the playoffs. 

Plus, Brian Windhorst had this to say in regards to Joel Embiid this morning on ESPN…

“Actions over words, I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face, the Sixers don’t make that Buddy Hield deal, a guy who’s a free agent, basically a rented player potentially, unless they believe Embiid comes back, and unless they believe they can make a deep playoff run.”

Almost sounds too good to be true, right?

Home Stretch – Robbing Season 

When you lose the reigning NBA MVP, basketball games are tough to win. The 76ers are 6-14 without Embiid this season and have continuously struggled to find consistency (looking at you, Tobias Harris) without their All-NBA center in the lineup. 

Plain and Simple: The Sixers are going to have to steal more than a few basketball games to survive until Embiid hopefully returns for the playoffs. 

The Sixers will host the New York Knicks tonight at the Wells Fargo Center followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second night of a back-to-back tomorrow. From there, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks come to South Philadelphia on Sunday before hitting the road to face the Boston Celtics next Tuesday night. 

Survive. Get Embiid Ready. #RunWithUs in the NBA Playoffs.

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