Fresh off an entire day at Hershey Centre for the D-League Showcase, I’m back on-desk as the Toronto Raptors visit the Philadelphia 76ers on the second night of a back-to-back.
Kyle Lowry simply doesn’t lose in Philadelphia, which is probably part of the reason the Raptors opted to rest him Tuesday instead of Wednesday. That the Sixers are a much better team than the Nets probably also factors in. Some have asked if the plan calls for DeMar DeRozan to rest in turn Wednesday, and he may, but DeRozan’s played (slightly) fewer minutes than Lowry as is, and the Raptors could be down to just 10 bodies if DeRozan were to rest. The team probably won’t let us know until 6:30 or so.
We won’t go much deeper than that, because we did a huge preview today and there are lots of little updates to get to.
The game tips off at 7 on TSN 1/4/5 and TSN 1050. You can check out the full game preview here.
Raptors updates
As if the Raptors weren’t thin enough in the frontcourt already, Lucas Nogueira took a shot to the head in Tuesday’s game and did not return. He reported having blurred vision and was entered into the league’s concussion protocol, which made him unlikely for this one. The Raptors got out ahead of it and announced he was out well before Dwane Casey’s media availability. Expect the Raptors to take the cautious approach here (not that they have any choice with the league’s protocol, but the Raptors are generally wise with respect to injury handling).
Patrick Patterson also remains out, at least until he’s back in. There’s been no sense of when he might return – he’s missed seven of the last nine games with a knee strain – but it never seemed likely he was going to play Tuesday. Whether or not he goes Wednesday is a question we don’t have enough context to answer, and the lack of a shootaround on a back-to-back scenario will leave us in the dark until close to tip-0ff. Delon Wright and Jared Sullinger, meanwhile, remain sidelined until we hear otherwise, and they’ve still only gotten one full practice day in.
It’s going to be a weird game, rotation-wise, if all these injured bigs are absent. Weird is fun, though! I’d guess Pascal Siakam starts at power forward. He looked good last night! Maybe he’s over the rookie wall. We’ll get an idea if he is or not, anyway.
Check back before tip-off for updates.
UPDATE: UMMM EXCUSE ME, Jared Sullinger is making his season debut tonight, the Raptors announced at 6 p.m. He’ll be on a minutes limit, but he’s available. Amazing! Obviously, Sullinger’s return is a huge boon for the team, both because they’ve bin thin up front and because, well, they’re about to get their marquee free agent signing back on the floor. His rebounding should be a welcome addition, as will his size and physicality inside. The conditioning and the defensive fit with Jonas Valanciunas will be works in progress for some time, I would think, but he’s ahead of most expectations, so there’s even more time than anticipated to get him acclimated to the team. This is just awesome, awesome news.
UPDATE II: Patterson sits again.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll, Terrence Ross
PF: Pascal Siakam, Jared Sullinger, Bruno Caboclo
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl
Assigned:
TBD:
OUT: Delon Wright, Lucas Nogueira, Patrick Patterson
76ers updates
The 76ers could have been thin up front, but it sounds like they might be just fine. Jahlil Okafor (ankle) will play, Nerlens Noel (ankle) will return to the lineup, and T.J. McConnell (wrist) is going to gut it out.
And Joel Embiid is playing! The Process was questionable after missing shootaround with an illness. I know some people are in the camp where you take every opponent injury as a positive and a chance to stack Ws, but I don’t really feel that way here in January. Embiid is a boatload of fun, and he’s a really nice test for the Raptors’ young bigs defensively. With the defense as a whole still trying to find its way, I’d rather they be tested and improve rather than just easing through a light schedule. I might be in the minority, but I want Embiid out there, for a bunch of reasons. So I’m glad that he’s going to give it a go. Plus, if the flu acts up, he’ll probably make the Vine hilarious.
This is basically as close to full-strength as the Sixers get. Their most-used lineup on the season has only played 103 minutes together, and its halfway through the season. Their best lineup is in tact here, too – the starters with Nik Stauskas in Gerald Henderson’s place. That group has hammered opponents by 19.4 points per-100 possessions in an 84-minute sample. That’s a lot of shooting around the McConnell-Embiid pick-and-roll.
PG: T.J. McConnell, Sergio Rodriguez, Chasson Randle
SG: Nik Stauskas, Gerald Henderson
SF: Robert Covington, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Nerlens Noel, Dario Saric
C: Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor
ASSIGNED: Richaun Holmes
TBD:
OUT: Ben Simmons, Jerryd Bayless
Assorted
- None of the Raptors were assigned for the D-League Showcase this week, with the team a) being light on bodies, and b) feeling it’s an event for the D-Leaguers first. Some teams do it differently, and you can’t fault them, but I like this approach from the Raptors. if you’re looking ahead to the next potential assignment date (including, perhaps, for Delon Wright on a rehab stint), Jan. 25 is your day.
- Here’s Kyle Lowry on his impending free agency in a great interview with Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN:
Lowry’s also sticking to his non-answering of free agency questions, if anyone was wondering. pic.twitter.com/TrONoJhFGS
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) January 18, 2017
- I’ve got nothing. Quiet day for the Raptors. But the Showcase has been a ton of fun so far. I’ll be there all week.
The line
The Raptors are only 4.5-point favorites, down from 5.5 earlier in the day, while the over-under has hung around 214.5. That the Raptors are only small favorites isn’t all that shocking – it’s the second night of a back-to-back, they’re almost out of frontcourt players, and DeRozan could conceivably rest, while all the questionable/probably tags on Philly’s side fell the right way for them. I still think the Raptors will pull it out (and cover!) but I’m going to hold off on a prediction until we get a firm lineup from Toronto.
