After Friday’s loss in New Orleans, Sixers look to take OKC seriously in second of back-to-back
The Sixers admitted after Friday's loss that they took the Pelicans too lightly.
For the second night in a row, the 76ers will be facing an undermanned team with a losing record on the road.
The Sixers can only hope the outcome is different.
After Friday’s 101-94 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center, the Sixers turn around and face the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
While the Pelicans (23-29) are batting to get in the Western Conference play-in round, the Thunder (20-32) are playing for the future.
OKC has lost five in a row and eight of nine following Thursday’s 129-102 home loss to Cleveland. For the Sixers game, Thunder leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (23.7 ppg.) is listed as out with right foot plantar fasciitis.
Defensive stopper Luguentz Dort (12.6 ppg.) was originally listed as out due to concussion protocol, but he is now listed as available on the most recent NBA injury report.
The Sixers basically admitted after Friday’s game that they took the Pelicans too lightly.
After the loss, coach Doc Rivers said the Sixers were “mentally weak.”
Danny Green, who scored eight points, had no argument with his coach.
“Yeah, I don’t think we came to play tonight, the way we should have,” Green said. “I think we just kind of eased into the game and thought it was going to be, not given to us, but we thought we were going to win on our sheer talent and by the time we tried to turn the switch on, it was too late.”
There is always a question as to whether Joel Embiid will play in the second game of a back-to-back, especially after he recently missed 10 games with a left knee bone bruise.
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After returning from his 10-game absence in last Saturday’s 122-113 home win over Minnesota, Embiid sat the next night, a 116-100 loss to visiting Memphis. The reason he was out - left knee recovery.
In Friday’s loss, Embiid took a spill and seemed to hurt his knee, but continued to see action.
“All plans were to play Joel (Saturday) but he fell awkwardly, so now we will have to wait and see,” Rivers said.
For what it’s worth, Embiid, who shot just 5-for-16, was shooting after the game. Colleague Keith Pompey recorded part of his post-game workout in this video.
Embiid is not listed on the the latest NBA injury report for tonight’s game. Green (left hip soreness) and Tobias Haris (right knee soreness) are listed as questionable).
The Thunder are on a youth movement. After a 116-107 home loss to Memphis on March 24, the Thunder decided that former Sixer Al Horford would not play the rest of the season so the younger players could develop. The Thunder and Horford issued these statements about the situation.
Horford, who has two seasons left on a four-year $97 million contract that he signed with the Sixers as a free agent, is now expected to be traded in the offseason.
He had enjoyed a solid season, averaging 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
Among the key young players for the Thunder’s future is first round draft choice Aleksej Pokusevski, a 7-foot power forward from Serbia.
The 19-year-old Pokusevski, who was selected 17th overall, has averaged 15.2 points in his last nine games.
Still, it’s an OKC lineup that won’t scare anybody. The Thunder are last in the NBA in offensive rating, averaging 104 points per 100 possessions and 24th in defensive rating, allowing 112.3 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com stats.
Despite this, the Sixers shouldn’t be overconfident, especially after Friday’s loss, where they committed 19 turnovers and had just 20 assists.
“We’ve got to take anybody seriously, any night in this league you can lose to anybody,” Green said. “As we have seen, we got to respect every opponent so hopefully we don’t [get] into any more games like (Friday), because it is going to be a tough hole to dig out.”