3 storylines as Joel Embiid gets the night off vs. Trail Blazers, Sixers unveil beautiful new Spectrum-themed uniforms
Photo by Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports
Right off their best win of the young season Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, the 76ers welcome the Portland Trail Blazers to Philadelphia.
Here’s three storylines.
Embiid takes the night off
Joel Embiid will rest for the first this season. He’s been affected by right knee soreness after a knee-to-knee collision in the opener. Embiid has played 30 minutes per game, averaging 21.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.
Ben Simmons (personal reasons) and Grant Riller (left knee injury recovery) are also out.
Andre Drummond will, hopefully, start and go against Jusuf Nurkić. Based on what we saw during the preseason, Paul Reed and Georges Niang will be the main center selections after Drummond.
How will Lillard perform?
Portland will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing Sunday to the Charlotte Hornets and falling to 3-3.
Damian Lillard shot 2-for-14 from three-point range in that game, dropping his three-point percentage to 23.2. Of course, the Sixers will have to be aware of a breakout performance from the six-time All-Star.
The team didn’t do anything to extreme Saturday on Trae Young as they were relying hard on Tyrese Maxey to be solid on the ball, stay in the play after being screened and avoid excessive fouls. Lillard’s known for his range and Drummond doesn’t mind venturing out behind the arc, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Sixers double team Lillard.
The new glorious uniforms
The Sixers released their new city-edition uniforms Monday morning, and I mean my goodness.
The uniform, in honor to the Spectrum featuring the original Spectrum colors and logo and a Sixers wordmark from the 1970s, is an absolute beauty by the design folks.
I mean, just look at this thing:
You can’t do it any better than that.
The overall design is pleasantly uncluttered, allowing each individual element to breathe — which is great, because each individual element rocks.
The font for both the Sixers wordmark and the jersey number is crisp and clean. The red/white/blue piping around the neck and the arms is minimal, but it gives the jersey the definition it needs. The Spectrum color stripe down the sides is perfect. The full-color Spectrum logo on the shorts is an unvarnished throwback, no unnecessary tweaks, just pure uncut nostalgia. And the cherry on top is the Spectrum logo “S” on the waistband of the shorts.
It’s perfect and I can’t wait to buy a jersey, hat, and hoodie immediately.
Here are a few more looks at the jersey and the details:
The Sixers also unveiled the custom floor they’ll use for their “Spirit of 76” nights this season, the first of which is November 3 against the Chicago Bulls to go with the uniforms:
Beautiful.
“The Spectrum holds a very special place in our franchise lore, having served as the 76ers’ home arena for nearly three decades,” Philadelphia 76ers President of Business Operations Chris Heck said in a release Monday. “The memories made at America’s Showplace, including the historic 1982-83 championship season, are priceless, and will be relived through the 2021-22 Nike NBA City Edition uniform. We’re also excited to display the colors of the Spectrum logo, which represent the teams that our fans love and support here in Philadelphia.”
City Edition merch will be available for purchase starting Monday, Nov. 15 on SixersShop.com and at the official team store at the Wells Fargo Center, the team announced.
Anyway, back to the game Monday night here the…
Essentials
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
