Scene Setter:
The 76ers (1-27) will take the floor at Quicken Loans Arena for the second and final time this season on Sunday at 3:30 PM EST. They’ll be catching Cleveland (17-7) at a juncture of its schedule where the Cavaliers aren’t just gaining momentum, but they’re also getting healthier. The tilt starts a stretch during which the Sixers play on the road seven times in eight games. The Sixers came up short in an Atlantic Division rivalry match-up with the New York Knicks on Friday at The Center. The visitors held a lead as large as 30 points in the opening stages of the fourth quarter, a gap that the Sixers didn’t have enough time to close. The Sixers’ reserve corps had a productive night, generating 50 points in the team’s 107-97 defeat. The loss was the Sixers’ third in a row to New York.At the start of December, Cleveland, which boasts the Eastern Conference’s best record, found itself facing adversity, having lost a season-high three consecutive games. For a club with NBA championship aspirations, that type of slide could create cause for concern. The Cavs, however, have since responded in kind, snapping off four straight victories. Their latest outing, which came on Thursday, might have been their most impressive win. Trailing Oklahoma City by four points heading into the final frame, and having faced a deficit for a majority of the evening, Cleveland charged back to topple the Thunder, 104-100. LeBron James deposited 11 of his game-best 33 points in the period, providing a close-out performance. The Cavs have been idle for two days, and are expecting All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to make his long-awaited season debut against the Sixers.
Series:
The Sixers and Cleveland have already grinded through two hard-fought contests this season. On November 2nd at The Center, the Sixers stormed out of the starting block, racing their way to a 32-18 advantage by the end of the first quarter. The Cavaliers sliced the deficit to five points by halftime, and then relied on their starting group to quickly overtake the Sixers for good at the outset of the third quarter. Even though they outscored the Cavs 21-8 over the final 4:30 of regulation, the Sixers were downed 107-100. Two games later, the Sixers and Cavaliers met for a second time, doing so in Cleveland. The Sixers again found themselves in front at intermission, but again fell victim to a strong third-quarter from the Cavs in a 108-102 setback. Between the two meetings, Jahlil Okafor totaled 42 points. LeBron James, meanwhile, has generated 53 points, 24 assists, and 13 rebounds versus the Sixers.
Subplots:
No rookie has scored in higher volume this season than Jahlil Okafor, averaging 17.9 points per game. As has been recently documented, the Duke product is currently enjoying an especially strong offensive spurt. He’s reached the 20-point mark five times in six outings, manufacturing 21.3 points per game amidst this resurgence. The lone contest that was the exception came last Wednesday in Atlanta, when he posted 19 points. Okafor has also been shooting at an impressive rate, converting 54.3 percent of his field goal attempts (25-46) in the Sixers’ previous three games. “It’s my teammates and the coaches,” said Okafor on Friday, giving an explanation for the increase in his offensive output. “They’re putting me in easy positions to score. They’re tell me to go out there and try to dominate, and if they see me hesitate or not take a shot I’m supposed to take, they’re always on me. They just constantly tell me to be aggressive, and the credit goes to my teammates and the coaches.”Six games into Okafor’s career, Brett Brown had already seen enough scoring prowess from the big man to state on November 9th that the rookie could “score 20 points in his sleep.” Nearly 80.0 percent of Okafor’s field goal attempts have been made with at least one defender playing him tight, according to stats.nba.com. Additionally, almost 62.0 percent of his buckets have been unassisted. Okafor has proven that, regardless of whether he isolated or double-teamed, he can, for the most part, be steady. “I think it’s an advantage either way,” Okafor said of the different coverages opponents deploy against him. “Even if they double, we have amazing shooters in Rob Covington, Nik Stauskas, and Isaiah Canaan. So either way, it’s an advantage for the team.”
In their previous two games, the Sixers have given up their two highest first-half scoring totals of the year. In Atlanta on Wednesday, the team spotted the Hawks 66 points between the first and second quarters. Then on Friday, at The Center, the Sixers had yielded 65 points to New York by the time the break had rolled around.”They hit some shots, they hit some tough shots to say the least,” Nerlens Noel said Friday, assessing the factors that allowed the Knicks to take a 21-point lead into intermission. “I think we should have been a lot more conscious in the first half of their capabilities on the offensive end. They’re a veteran team that can hit those types of shots. I think we did a decent job in the second half. Our style, it’s an adjustment, but it’s got to be an all game thing.”The Sixers did fare better in the second half, permitting 43 points. Brett Brown feels that his group has struggled to defend on the wing and in the backcourt, due in part to a recent influx in personnel, as injured players have returned. Noel echoed that sentiment. “I just think it’s part of the process,” said the second-year power forward. “You just got to understand we have some new additions to this team this year. So guys got to learn, and guys go to start building that chippiness and toughness that when we do get scored on, we have to feel something, know that it’s not right. That’s something that this team is developing.”Per stats.nba.com, Noel ranks first on the Sixers with a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 102.0.
At 2:05 PM EST Saturday, Kyrie Irving confirmed the news that Cleveland fans have been eagerly awaiting since he originally sustained a fractured left kneecap in overtime of Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals. Using only nine characters, the three-time All-Star and 2012 Rookie of the Year tweeted simply, “I’m back.” Eight hours after its posting, the prompt had generated nearly 55,000 “retweets,” and another 50,700 “likes.””I’m excited to play,” Irving told reporters following the Cavaliers’ practice on Saturday. “There is no specific reason why now. Just wanted to take the doctors’ precautions and the team’s precautions. I let go of all of my selfish inside emotions, and did what was best for my body, and best for the team.” It was initially reported that Irving would make his first appearance of the campaign last Thursday, when Cleveland hosted Oklahoma City. “There was no rush to it,” he said. “I’ve been ready to play, but biomechanically, we just wanted to make sure everything was good so I wasn’t putting myself at high risk.”Irving logged a career-best 75 regular season contests last year. He averaged 21.7 points and 5.2 assists in 36.4 minutes per game. As for what he learned rehabbing from the injury he suffered almost seven months ago?”Patience. A great deal of patience. You wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”
Sixers Health Report:
Carl Landry (right wrist)
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