The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a feel-good weekend back-to-back, taking care of business against the Brooklyn Nets and upsetting the Portland Trail Blazers at home. Now they’ll pack their bags and head west, kicking off a three-game road trip that’ll take them through Denver, Sacramento and Salt Lake City. First up: the Nuggets.
Denver has put together a strong season despite battling the injury bug for most of it. Sitting fifth in the loaded Western Conference and comfortably above .500, this is a team that’s found ways to win even when shorthanded. Nikola Jokic, Peyton Watson, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson have all missed time at various points, which makes what they’ve accomplished all the more impressive.
The tip of the spear is, as always, Jokic. He’s once again stuffing the statsheet — 28.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 57.3/38.8 splits in 34.8 minutes. Without Embiid, the Sixers are going to have a genuinely miserable time trying to contain him. Best of luck to Adem Bona and Andre Drummond on that assignment.
The injuries around Jokic have opened the door for Jamal Murray to have the best season of his career. Murray earned his first All-Star nod this year, and the numbers back it up: 25.4 points, 7.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds on 47.9/42.2 splits across 63 games. He’s been the engine keeping Denver afloat every time one of their key guys has gone down, and he’ll be a handful for a Sixers backcourt that’s been stretched thin.
On the Philadelphia side, the injury report remains bleak, but there have been some genuine positives worth acknowledging. With Tyrese Maxey sidelined by a finger injury, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes have taken over the backcourt — and it’s gone better than most would expect. Grimes in particular has been filling it up. Over his last seven games he’s averaged 22.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals on 47.4 percent shooting. The three-ball hasn’t been falling — he’s shooting just 19 percent from deep in that span — but the overall production has been a welcome surprise.
Edgecombe, meanwhile, has seen his role expand significantly, which as expected has come with mixed results. He’s now regularly facing primary defenders and actively learning when to attack versus when to defer and swing the ball. That’s a hard line to walk for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old rookie. He’s coming off a career high in rebounds with 12, and will again need to fill a jack-of-all-trades role if the Sixers have any hope of hanging in this one, let alone stealing a win on the road.
Outside of the backcourt, Justin Edwards has quietly been one of the more encouraging stories of late. He dropped 21 points on strong efficiency in the win over Portland and has scored in double digits in four of his last five games — the one outlier being the Memphis game, where he saw just six minutes of action. Edwards often gets lost in the shuffle on this roster, but it’s worth remembering he’s still only 21 years old, and he’s shown enough flashes to suggest there’s a real player in there. Beyond the scoring, he’s been disruptive on the defensive end too, averaging 2.4 steals over that five-game stretch. He’ll look to carry that momentum into Denver.
Buckle up for the lengthy injury report. The Sixers will be without Maxey, Embiid, Kelly Oubre, Paul George and Jabari Walker (illness). Two-way player Dalen Terry is questionable with a shoulder impingement. For Denver, the key name out is Watson, who is working his way back from a right hamstring strain.
The Sixers have done well grinding out victories despite being majorly shorthanded, but they’ll need some luck to bridge the talent gap in this one. The law of averages might be at play, though. The Nuggets were themselves shorthanded when these two met in Philly, and somehow came away with the win despite the Sixers being mostly healthy. If that’s a real thing, the basketball universe has a chance to balance things out. That’s the way it works, right? Let’s see if Edgecombe, Grimes, Edwards and company can do the impossible.
When: Tuesday, March 17, 10:00 p.m. ET
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers
