By Sean Kennedy
Having lost a tank-tastic four straight games, and eight of their last nine contests overall, the Sixers return home to take on a Magic team that pulled away from them late last week in Orlando. Since defeating Philadelphia 105-94, Orlando has lost its last two games, at home against San Antonio and last night on the road to the Wizards. Though the Sixers will catch Orlando on the second game of a road back-to-back, no member of the Magic played heavy minutes last night in their blowout loss, so fatigue may not play much of a role.
Tobias Harris remains out for Orlando with a troublesome high ankle sprain; he didn’t even make the road trip with the team. Philly native Jameer Nelson is not expected to play after spraining his foot in that game against Philadelphia. E’Twaun Moore has been starting in his stead, but basically acts as a spot-up shooter off the ball. However, don’t be surprised to see him fill the role of random guy who kills the Sixers from beyond the arc, as he’s a career 36.0% three-point shooter and 44.4% on the season. Taking over the majority of the point guard duties is first-round pick Victor Oladipo, who is a viewer’s delight, always creating some sort of action, be it positive or negative for his team. His performance against Philadelphia was the perfect epitome of the Oladipo experience as he had 18 points, including a couple highlight-quality finishes, 5 assists, and 5 steals, but also 8 turnovers. When the former Hoosier is on the floor, expect plenty of fast breaks in either direction, which I’m perfectly fine with.
You may also recall that ex-Sixer Nikola Vucevic had a huge performance in the first match-up between these teams, finishing with 21 points and 16 rebounds while recording a double-double in the first half. Vucevic is the backbone of a Magic squad that limits opponents to the third-lowest opposing offensive rebounding rate in the league. Spencer Hawes was inactive for that meeting so hopefully for Sixers fans, the big Conservative can do a better job of keeping Voose in check Tuesday night. It will also be up to Thad Young, who leads the team in offensive rebounds at 2.7 per game, to stay active on the glass to overcome that area of strength for Orlando.
The Sixers were right there in the previous game with Orlando until midway through the fourth quarter. Not having Hawes in that contest really hurt their defense on Vucevic, as well as their spacing on the offensive end. Like it or not, it’s the Sixers 7’1″ center that often pulls opposing big men out of the paint and frees things up for Michael Carter-Williams and Evan Turner. Philadelphia comes in rested against what may be a tired Magic opponent. If there was ever a situation for the Sixers to break their losing streak, this would be it.
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