Sixers Going to Disneyworld

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Actually, they’ve already been there, as several Sixers players were said to be going to Universal Studios after practice in Orlando yesterday. Tonight, the Sixers will be up against one of the handful of teams in the league Philadelphia has actually outplayed lately. The Magic have lost three straight and seven of their last eight games. In the process, Orlando has dropped out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, now finding themselves one game back of Boston for the 8th seed.

The Sixers will receive a couple breaks on the injury front tonight. First, Nik Stauskas is expected back after missing two games with a bruised shoulder. Hopefully, the minor injury doesn’t show any lingering effects for the second-year guard, who was on fire before suffering the blow late in the Chicago game. Stauskas had been shooting 15-26 (57.6%) from three over his last six games. (Update: Stauskas has since been ruled out for tonight’s game. Tough break for the Sixers.) Perhaps more importantly, the Magic will be without do-it-all shooting guard Victor Oladipo, who missed Orlando’s last game against Atlanta with a sprained right knee and has already been ruled out against Philadelphia.

With Oladipo out, even more of the play-making responsibilities will fall to once-briefly-a-Sixer Elfrid Payton. Payton has made some strides as a shooter in his sophomore season (improving from 26.2% from three as a rookie to 34.2% this season). Still, he’s only shooting 41.8% from the field, which limits what he can do in pick-and-roll situations, as defenders are happy to just go under screens and dare him to shoot it.

Another former Sixer (this one who actually appeared in games for Philadelphia) leads the Magic in both scoring and rebounding. Nikola Vucevic continues to display a very soft touch shooting the basketball, while also possessing a nice array of post moves. One weakness for him is that he noticeably shies away from creating contact. Vucevic averages only 1.5 attempts from the foul line per game, a comically low total for a starter center who plays 31 minutes per game. It’s a big reason the Magic are far and away the worst team in the league at getting to the free throw line.

Tonight is certainly a game the Sixers can steal on the road. Although Payton is a strong defender and has the speed to hang with Ish Smith, the Magic have no shot-blocking presence around the rim (no Orlando player averages more than 1.0 block per game). As a result, Smith’s forays into the paint to create offense for both himself and others should be met with little resistance.

The occasions where Orlando plays Tobias Harris at the four could present a problem for the Nerlens Noel-Jahlil Okafor front court combination, but head coach Scott Skiles has been using sharpshooting big man Channing Frye at power forward enough that Brett Brown should be able to tinker around with matchups and be alright. If guys like Covington stay hot from the outside, and Chef Jah keeps cooking around the painted area, the Sixers might leave the Most Magical Place on Earth with a win.