Normally, playing the Philadelphia 76ers twice in just over two weeks wouldn’t be cause for excitement. Unless back-to-back blowouts wins are your thing. And hey, they’re fun and valuable and important, but not the most edge-of-your-seat viewing.
In this case, though, there’s one giant reason for excitement: The Process. Joel Embiid unfortunately sat out the last meeting between the two sides, but he’ll be in uniform and in the starting lineup for this one. There are very few opposing players who can make Toronto Raptors games “must-see” beyond the normal urge to watch the Raptors ether the entire NBA to the tune of the No. 1 adjusted net rating in the league, but Embiid qualifies. The 22-year-old rookie has emerged as one of the league’s most fun and interesting views, averaging 18.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2.5 blocks in just 23.5 minutes while hitting 44.2 percent of his threes. There hasn’t been a prospect like him forever, and while coaches and players and analysts reach for comparisons – Dwane Casey called him Shawn Kemp “but bigger” yesterday – Embiid has the feel of a true original.
Getting to see him up against the Raptors’ bigs makes an otherwise ordinary December rematch between two unevenly squared teams is turning this otherwise ho-hum Wednesday night into a promising one. AND Embiid is starting at the four, not the five, which we’ll talk about more in a second.
The game tips off at 7 on Sportsnet One and TSN 1050. You can check out the full game preview here.
Raptors updates
Everything’s fine on the Raptors’ side of things, with DeMarre Carroll healthy and rolling. The hope here is obviously that a blowout paves the way for more minutes for the bench, particularly Norman Powell, but that will liekly be a game-flow call and not a given. You know how the matchups go otherwise, with the Raptors needing to focus on closing out on shooters, because they’ll likely be doubling or trapping aggressively in the post, where Philadelphia’s best two offensive players reside.
Who guards those bigs and how, though, is suddenly a less straight-forward question. The Sixers are starting Embiid and Jahlil Okafor together for the first time, and there’s really no telling howq that may look – the pair have played just 15 minutes together all season, with Philadelphia playing to a plus-3 in those minutes. Given his range, ball-handling ability, and passing, it stands to reason that Embiid will be the more perimeter-focused of the two, which would mean Pascal Siakam draws that assignment while Jonas Valanciunas handles Okafor (there’s also the matter of Siakam’s strength disadvantage against Okafor, so this alignment makes sense both ways).
That’s good news for Valanciunas and may mean a sticky offense for the Sixers – talented though he is, the ball “sticks” with Embiid, per Brett Brown, and he’s the proud owner of an astronomical 37.3-percent usage rate. You want him using a lot of poesssions if you’re the Sixers, but it gives the Raptors an opportunity to trap or even double aggressively and force Embiid to make adjustments. The Sixers as a whole do pass a lot, though, so don’t expect too much Embiid-watching.
UPDATE: Lucas Nogueira is not with the Raptors due to a sore right knee. He apparently hurt the knee in a game and the team is just being very cautious because it’s December. The team released this information a little under an hour before tip-off. It gives the team one less option against the very large frontcourt and represents a major opportunity for Jakob Poeltl to flash his defensive versatility. Nogueira would have been a nice weapon opposite Embiid, so as strange as it would have sounded even a month ago, this is a pretty big hit. Poeltl’s solid, though, and this is an opportunity to show some growth since his last stint.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred Vanleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll, Terrence Ross
PF: Pascal Siakam,Patrick Patterson, Bruno Caboclo
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl
ASSIGNED: None
OUT: Delon Wright, Jared Sullinger, Lucas Nogueira
76ers updates
Perhaps as interesting as the offensive alignment in the frontcourt is what happens on the defensive end for Philadelphia. With Embiid the nominal power forward, you could make the case that the Okafor-Valanciunas battle should be allowed to wage on at both ends. But that would take Embiid away from the paint and out of the pick-and-roll, and those are important places for him to be in. The guess here is that Embiid draws Valanciunas, the Raptors try to screen a lot with Siakam to help put Okafor in tough positions, and Okafor can otherwise “hide” and help off of Siakam as required. The 76ers can be a little more aggressive than the Raptors in flipping that matchup as required, though.
Embiid will also surely see time at the five, and Okafor as the lone big. It only makes sense to stagger their time, all due respect to Richaun Holmes. Embiid will be limited to 28 minutes, by the way, and the right elbow inflammation he’s been dealing with will be monitored.
Elsewhere, Nerlens Noel (ankle) and Jerryd Bayless (wrist) are out, while Sergo Rodriguez (illness) is in.
PG: Sergio Rodriguez, T.J. McConnell
SG: Gerald Henderson, Nik Stauskas
SF: Robert Covington, Hollis Thompson, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
PF: Joel Embiid, Ersan Ilyasova, Dario Saric
C: Jahlil Okafor, Richaun Holmes
ASSIGNED: None
OUT: Ben Simmons, Nerlens Noel, Jerryd Bayless
Assorted
- I’d expect VanVleet, Poeltl, and Caboclo to draw the assignment to the 905 for Thursday’s game. The Raptors will be back home without a game, and while the 905 have been rolling, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for them to get some extended run and keep the conditioning up, especially with a lengthy road trip coming up. No promises, though.
- That may not be the case for Poeltl any longer, given he’ll be in action for the Raptors tonight. It will likely depend on how much he’s used and what the status of Nobueira’s knee is for Friday.
The line
The Raptors are 8.5-point favorites on the road, with the line touching nine throughout the day. The over-under has dropped from 206.5 to 205 after a brief jump early on.
