The Philadelphia 76ers have had themselves a wild experience inside the bubble thus far. Their fourth-quarter defense has been putrid and the team still has some questions that need to be answered. They will be looking to get that done on Wednesday when they take on the Washington Wizards in Orlando.
The Wizards are on the outside looking in at the playoff picture and they are fighting for their playoff lives at the moment. They are missing star guard Bradley Beal while also missing Sixers killer Davis Bertans so that should help Philadelphia in this situation. Either way, the Sixers better be at the top of their game as they have not lived up to expectations thus far.
With that said, let’s get into the game preview to this one:
How to watch Sixers vs. Wizards
- Date: Wednesday, August 5
- Time: 4:00 p.m. EST
- Location: The Arena (WWOS) Orlando, FL
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Injury Report
- Sixers: OUT: Mike Scott (right knee soreness) DOUBTFUL: Glenn Robinson III (left hip pointer)
- Wizards: OUT: Garrison Matthews (Not with team)
Storylines
Embiid passing out of double teams
In the team’s win over the San Antonio Spurs, Joel Embiid did a terrific job of identifying the double teams he received quickly and making the right decision a majority of the time. He was able to find his teammates getting open for layups and he did a helluva job of attacking when he clearly had mismatches against Drew Eubanks and Jakob Poeltl. Coach Brett Brown was happy with his big man’s passing in the win.
“I thought Joel was great tonight with the exception of that one late where it was a one-handed pass cross-court, it got stolen,” Brown said the game. “I thought Joel was great, not good. He was great tonight and we really tried to make him a focal point, and they either had to double team him or he pretty much had his way most times.”
Milton with a big shot
While Embiid led the Sixers in scoring and he was a big reason why the team won, they were only able to pull it off due to a big shot by Shake Milton with seven seconds left to give the Sixers the lead. The second-year guard out of SMU stepped up big time in the clutch and he knocked it down which was impressive after he had such a terrible game against the Indiana Pacers to open the restart.
“I’m happy for him just because, this is his first go-around of doing it on this stage and he’s a great young player,” said Tobias Harris. “He works really hard and this is all about confidence and keeping yourself upright and knowing who you are and tonight he was able to really establish that and make big shots for us so that was key.”
Prediction
The Wizards might not send as many double teams Embiid’s way in this one due to the fact that they have Thomas Bryant and Rui Hachimura to throw at the big fella, but that also doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t dominate either. Embiid is so skilled and so dominant that he should still have his way down low with the Wizards. With Washington so short-handed, this is a game that the Sixers really should win. However, this team is so unpredictable so who knows what to expect?
Pick: Sixers are technically listed as the “road” team in this one, but they should still come away with a win
Sixers vs. Wizards season series
December 5: 119-113 Wizards
December 21: 125-108 Sixers
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