The Philadelphia 76ers are nearing the end of a six-game homestand as they welcome Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets to town. Both teams last played on Tuesday, with the Sixers falling to the Phoenix Suns, 116-110, while the Rockets took care of the Spurs, 111-106, at home. The Sixers may have a slight advantage since they haven't had to travel, and Joel Embiid is expected to play tonight.
Who: Houston Rockets (26-15) at Philadelphia 76ers (23-19)
When: 7:00 p.m. EST
Where: XFinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBA League Pass
The Sixers need to find their identity, and they need to do it quickly as they're starting to lose steam. After splitting two games with the Raptors, they lost two in a row to the Cavaliers, then won over the Pacers and lost to the Suns on Tuesday. They seemed to have an identity forming early in the season, when the team was moving the ball, pushing the pace, and working together. Then, Embiid started getting healthier.
As Joel Embiid's health has improved, so has his play, and the number of games he's played has increased, which are all good things for a star who's been hurt more often than not over the past few years. What happens when Embiid is on the floor is that the team resorts to his preferred style of play with a lot of two-man actions, him handling the ball and grinding the game almost to a complete stop.
Basically, the opposite of everything the team was built to do moving forward as Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow, Kelly Oubre Jr., Quinten Grimes and Adem Bona can all get up and down the court quickly.
Speaking of falling stars, Kevin Durant will lead the Rockets as they look to put some space between themselves and the Lakers, Suns, and Timberwolves, who all sit right behind them in the Western Conference standings. While Durant is still a star, he's continuing a decline that started back in 2021 when he was with the Brooklyn Nets.
Durant, on the season, is averaging 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game and still shooting 51.1% from the field. While he's slowing down at the age of 37, he's an absolute menace to play against, as he's been his whole career. Looking at him, statistically, and that's a wonderful line that anyone would be happy with, but for Durant, it represents his lowest scoring total since the 2016-17 season with the Warriors, and his line has decreased each season over the past five years.
With Durant leading the way, the team has a group behind him that is going to be special over the next few years. Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson, and Reed Sheppard are all having good years. The team is sixth in the league in three-point shooting, fifth in offensive rating and 11th in defensive rating. The Rockets are one of the more well-rounded young teams in the league, and they're creating problems for the opposition wherever they go.
With Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid both on the court, you'll be treated to watching two of the best scorers of all time go head-to-head, hoping to lead their teams to a victory. Will the Maxey and Edgecombe duo be enough to outduel Thompson and Sheppard? Will Oubre Jr. and Barlow be able to counter Durant and Smith Jr.? If both teams play, as they truly can, this is going to be one of the more exciting games of the year.
For Nurse, he has to get his team together and perform a miracle. He has to get Joel Embiid to buy into being a rotational piece and not the main focus. It appeared that Embiid was handling it well, earlier in the season when his minutes were restricted, and his health was coming back, but now he's allowed the team to go back to their old ways of doing things, just to keep the former MVP happy.
The hope for tonight is that Edgecombe, Maxey, Grimes and Oubre Jr. all find their touch from deep to help them keep pace in this firing competition against this Rockets squad. Ball movement, pace, and defensive intensity are the three big keys for a Sixers victory tonight, and short of that earlier-mentioned miracle, I can't see that happening.
Rockets 123 - Sixers 111
