Sixers Try to End Skid in Boston

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

One night after the Golden State Warriors broke the record for longest winning streak to start a season, the Philadelphia 76ers will look to avoid their march toward the longest losing streak. To do so, they’ll return to Boston where this ignominious regular season began with a 112-95 defeat at the hands of the Celtics in the season opener.

You may recall Jahlil Okafor had a mostly strong performance in his professional debut, tallying 26 points and 7 rebounds, although he did struggle with 8 turnovers. However, you might recall he did most of his damage against Tyler Zeller, who has since almost completely fallen out of Coach Brad Stevens’ rotation. Instead, the stouter Jared Sullinger has been soaking up more of the froncourt minutes, and doing a nice job, averaging a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game.

The Sixers were also without Robert Covington in that first contest against Boston. Covington has looked to finally be over his knee injury, scoring at least 18 points in each of the last two games. It will be up to he and Jahlil to carry the offense for the Sixers, a task made more difficult by the fact that Boston is the 6th-best defensive team in the league this season. They are forcing easily the highest opposing turnover rate in the league at 19.1%. With Philadelphia far and away the worst team at committing turnovers themselves, it would seem to be a perfect storm for another Sixers defeat.

A couple things are working in the Sixers’ favor, however. Boston will be on the second night of a back-to-back, having played last night in Atlanta, where they were blown out by the Hawks to fall to 7-7 on the season. Also, perhaps the Celtics’ best defensive player (Jae Crowder might have an argument), Marcus Smart, is out with a leg injury.

Fortunately for Boston, this is where having so much depth comes in handy. With Smart sidelined, they have been running out a starting backcourt of Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley. Bradley is having his best offensive season of his career, shooting 43.9% from three on over 5 attempts per game. Meanwhile, Thomas, who had 27 points in that earlier win against the Sixers, continues to make Danny Ainge look like a genius for taking him off Phoenix’s hands, averaging 20.6 points and 6.1 assists on the season.

The Sixers have played much better the past two games, leading in the fourth quarter in both of their losses to Miami and Minnesota. Boston is certainly not some insurmountable juggernaut, especially with tired legs having played the night before and traveling back for tonight’s contest. The key to the game will be controlling those turnovers and not letting a Boston offense which has struggled a bit this season get easy points in transition. If the Sixers can do that, they might stand a chance to finally earn a tally in the win column.