Flawless at home
The Philadelphia 76ers remained perfect at home this season following Sunday’s 119-116 win over the Indiana Pacers. They are now 9-0 on their floor and 14-6 overall.
Despite allowing 116 points in their last game, the Sixers are still posting solid defensive numbers across their last eight outings as opponents are only averaging 99 points per game in that span. It was also a relentless, hounding defense that sealed the last victory, with Ben Simmons collecting three consecutive steals in the game’s last few possessions.
Such hyped wins is needed as they try to get back at the Utah Jazz, whom they lost to in early November, 106-104. Simmons only played 10 minutes in that game due to a sprained shoulder and we should see him try to make up for that minimal presence. He will be coming in with all-around averages of 12.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 8.4 assists, and 2.3 steals.
Joel Embiid will be engaging in an exciting match-up with Rudy Gobert. We’ll see if he can bounce back from the previous meeting’s struggles, where scored 27 but only shot 5-for-16 from the floor.
The Sixers’ All-Star big man has been on a mission to redeem himself from last week’s scoreless night against the Toronto Raptors. He’s putting up 30.7 points and 14.7 boards in his last three.
Coming off a beating
It’s one elite East team after another on consecutive nights for the Jazz – and that first night didn’t look pretty. They got smashed by the Toronto Raptors, 130-110, and even went down by as much as 40 points.
The Jazz are parading a very solid core in Donovan Mitchell (25.5 PPG), Rudy Gobert (13.4 PPG, 13.9 RPG), Bojan Bogdanovic (21.8 PPG), Mike Conley (13.6 PPG), and transitioning sixth man Joe Ingles – it’s a group that’s capable of attacking anywhere on the floor. The year-to-year consistency of their team defense cannot be stressed enough as well as it has finished top five in scoring defense in each of the last four seasons.
There’s a couple of reasons not to trust the Jazz tomorrow, though. Along with being on the second night of a back-to-back, they are a below average road team that will be visiting one of the best home teams in the league.
The Jazz are 12-8 on the season and only 4-8 on the road.
PREDICTION:
The Sixers win, 111-100, to continue their winning ways at home.
