76ers vs. Magic Preview 1/5
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid goes up for a dunk during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The 20-16 Sixers take on the 7-31 Orlando Magic tonight at 7:00pm est. The Sixers will be playing their second straight game without Tyrese Maxey as they look to improve their win streak to five games. The Magic will be without players like Jalen Suggs and Robin Lopez, take a look at the full 1:30 injury report here:
76ers HC, Doc Rivers, has cleared health & safety protocols and will return to coach the Sixers tonight in Orlando. Assistant coach Dan Burke filled in for Doc Rivers for the past couple games and did a great job going undefeated including a statement win against the Nets. A lot of 76ers fans are actually upset that Rivers will be returning to the team and would like to keep Burke at HC.
Star center Joel Embiid has been on an absolute mission over his last 7 or 8 games. Last game against the Rockets Embiid recorded just his 3rd career triple double. With bigs like Jonathan Isaac and Robin Lopez out, Embiid should have no problem scoring against this Magic team. Embiid has scored 30 points in 6 straight road games averaging about 36 ppg on the road in that stretch.
With Tyrese Maxey out, Isaiah Joe and Paul Reed will both likely get extended playing time. Not to mention Furkan Korkmaz who scored 24 points at home last game. Seth Curry struggled a bit towards the beginning of the Rockets game but by the 4th quarter he had found his rhythm. Hopefully he can get hot straight out the gate and get this team off to a good start.
The Sixers have been notorious for making easy games like this into long stressful games that go into first and second overtime. Us fans can only hope that the Sixers handle business like they did against the Rockets and blow by this depleted Magic team as any contending team should.
