December primetime games on TNT kick off with a marquee showdown between two of the NBA’s most substantial organizations, as the Philadelphia 76ers look to improve their NBA-best home record against the visiting Denver Nuggets at 8 p.m. ET.
The duel of the 14-7 squads takes place in the city of Brotherly Love and the Sixers want to keep the city-wide winning attitude going since their neighbors across Broad Street in the Philadelphia Eagles got a win under the bright lights against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
Philly is just beginning to mesh, and by the looks of it, the process of growing their chemistry amongst their new starting five is going swimmingly. Joel Embiid hasn’t done anything that’s been outstanding other than his regular two-way nightly effort, but what hasn’t been a disappointment has been the play of Tobias Harris. He’s finally finding his groove, scoring 19.2 points per game off 49 percent shooting. He successfully overcame the defensive stiffness of Toronto’s physical frontcourt, scoring inside and outside en route to a 26-point outing.
Over the past two weeks, he’s really been quieting all of the negative headlines coming out of all Philly media outlets, dropping an average of 21.5 points and a consistently impressive 41.4 percent shooting from downtown.
Star forward, and trade asset by virtue of the Miami Heat, Josh Richardson comes back to a lineup sore for perimeter depth on the offensive and defensive end and it’s at the right time. The Sixers are coming off a season milestone in getting a big win over the Toronto Raptors at home (even though they almost blew an 18-point lead) and could go 13-0 at home if they atone for their prior loss to the Nuggets back on November 8 in the Mile High Pepsi Center.
As it goes for the Denver Nuggets, they aim to go 2-0 against the Sixers on Tuesday in a big matchup between two elite big men in Sixers star Joel Embiid and Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. This will be the final time Denver plays Philly this regular season, and the only time Jokic and Embiid battle again will have to be during the Finals in June.
The last time Denver played the 76ers, they rallied and knocked off the then 5-3 Sixers on their home hardwood thanks to the heroics of Jokic via a deep fadeaway mid-range jumper off the catch in the waning seconds of the game. Philadelphia will be looking for a little revenge on Tuesday night.
There aren’t any names on the injury report for both teams, but a fun battle between two teams with multiple All-Stars and a defensive chess match of two insightful coaches await NBA fans who can’t wait to see Ernie, Chuck, Kenny and Shaq in this two-game TNT doubleheader on the second night of the new week.
Recent Comments