The Philadelphia 76ers continue their 2019-20 season restart inside the bubble in Orlando as they take on the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. They began their restart schedule with a bad loss to the Indiana Pacers where their defense absolutely failed them and they will be looking to bounce back and get on track.
The Spurs are fighting for their playoff lives as they are just two games back of the Memphis Grizzlies for the 8 seed in the West. Normally, San Antonio has a playoff spot wrapped up by now, but with injuries ravaging the roster, they are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
With that said, let’s get into the preview to this one:
How to watch Sixers vs. Spurs
- Date: Monday, August 3
- Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
- Location: VISA Athletic Center Orlando, FL
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Injuries
- Sixers: OUT: Mike Scott (right knee soreness) DOUBTFUL: Glenn Robinson III (left hip pointer)
- Spurs: NOT YET SUBMITTED
Storylines
Sixers need to be tougher
One of the biggest criticisms that came out from the loss to Indiana was the lack of toughness from Philadelphia. They did not make an adjustment to defend T.J. Warren and they then allowed an undermanned Pacers team drop 46 points in the fourth quarter. Coach Brett Brown was appalled at his team’s effort and it was something that cannot be accepted.
“For me, you look at the defensive intensity coming out in the third period. I liked what I saw,” said coach Brett Brown. “I liked watching Ben Simmons sit in a stance and get stuck into T.J. Warren at times. I liked watching J-Rich (Josh Richardson) stalk the Holiday brothers around. Then you fast forward and you say ‘A 46 point closeout period?’ That’s not acceptable. You’re not going to do anything of value unless you fix that so that’s where my head is at.
Sixers encourage Shake Milton
Milton had his first official start as the team’s starting point guard on Saturday and it was not a good one. The young guard out of SMU went scoreless, he only took one shot, and he had three turnovers as he crippled under the pressure that the Pacers sent at him. Tobias Harris wanted to make sure that the young man keeps his head up after the tough game.
“Stay confident,” said Tobias Harris. “We all have confidence in Shake. It’s one game, the first official game really, running the unit. He’s a great player. He’s going to continue to get better game after game, but the biggest thing is to hold his confidence up all the way throughout and I’ll reaffirm on that and keep him right.”
Prediction
Technically, the Sixers were the road team on Saturday despite it, obviously, being a neutral site. So that could explain why Philadelphia lost! They’re listed as the home team on Monday so this could change things! All jokes aside, the Spurs will be missing LaMarcus Aldridge in this game as they will be running DeMar DeRozan at power forward. This is another game that Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Al Horford should dominate down low. The Sixers should be able to use their size and bounce back in this one.
Pick: Sixers because they’re listed as the home team.
Sixers vs. Spurs season series
November 22: 115-104 Sixers
August 3:
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