The Philadelphia 76ers continue life inside the bubble as they look to win their third in a row on Friday when they take on the Orlando Magic. The Sixers will have to do so without one of the game’s brightest stars in Ben Simmons who is out with a subluxation in his left knee.
The Magic are dealing with injuries of their own as they are missing Jonathan Isaac and possibly Aaron Gordon in this matchup. So while the Sixers are obviously shorthanded, Orlando will be missing at least one and possibly two of their main contributors in this one.
With that said, let’s get into the game preview in this one:
How to watch Sixers vs. Magic
- Date: Friday, August 7
- Time: 6:30 p.m. EST
- Location: HP Field House Orlando, FL
- TV: TNT, NBC Sports Philadelphia+
Injury Report
- Sixers: OUT: Ben Simmons (left patella subluxation) DOUBTFUL: Glenn Robinson III (left hip pointer) QUESTIONABLE: Mike Scott (right knee soreness)
- Magic: OUT: Jonathan Isaac (left torn ACL) DOUBTFUL: Aaron Gordon (left hamstring strain) QUESTIONABLE: Michael Carter-Williams (left foot strained tendon)
Storylines
Brown disappointed for Simmons
Coach Brett Brown has gone down this injury road before. He has experienced devastating injuries to multiple players during his long tenure as coach of the Sixers, but at some point, there can only be so much one man can take. Brown certainly did not hold back any emotions of frustrations when he found out the news about his All-Star forward especially after all the work he put in to prepare for this chance after the back injury he had in February.
“I was with him last night. We had an organization dinner,” Brown added. “There’s clearly disappointment because I don’t know if anybody really understood what he did to get ready to come play basketball again. He really invested time, he really was diligent during the whole pandemic about recovery and rehab and strength and conditioning and it’s monotonous some of the smaller things that he had to do to add up to be able to play NBA basketball again.”
More responsibility on Embiid
The Sixers are blessed to have not one, but two young All-Stars as this is now Joel Embiid’s time to step into the limelight and show just how valuable he really is. The big fella has had a terrific start to the restart and he now has even more responsibility thrust on his shoulders without Simmons.
“Offensively, he needs to get as many touches as we can give him,” Brown added. “I think that one of the areas of most noticeable growth is what’s he been doing passing out of the post. It’s probably the single thing that stands out most to me, offensively whether it’s Jo or just us as a team, I like our post spacing. I like Jo’s unselfishness, quarterbacking gyms, his ability to read where the double teams are coming from I think has been shown.”
Prediction
The Magic have had Philadelphia’s number in recent matchups. Nikola Vucevic is always a tough matchup and Markelle Fultz is an athletic guard out on the perimeter. However, even without Simmons, this is a game the Sixers should win. Philadelphia will have to lean even more on Embiid and Horford to get the job done, but it’s a game the Sixers should seriously come away with.
Pick: Sixers are listed as the home team in this one. They don’t lose home games.
Sixers vs. Magic season series
November 13: 112-97 Magic
December 27: 98-97 Magic
August 7:
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