The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Game Preview – San Antonio Spurs @ Philadelphia 76ers

By Rich Martirez

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The Philadelphia 76ers welcome the San Antonio Spurs to Philly, and seek their second win of the season following a heartbreaking loss.

San Antonio Spurs (17-4) @ Philadelphia 76ers (1-20), 07:00pm, Wells Fargo Center

Another late lead built up… another late lead squandered.

The Philadelphia 76ers are at home Monday night to face the San Antonio Spurs, and are coming off a game on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets where they were outscored 12-4 in final minutes to lose the game. Building up leads in the game, only to see them vanish in the closing minutes has been an unfortunate habit for the Sixers this season. Numerous games have been lost by this young team that needs to learn how to close out games, who is better than their record indicates evidenced by their Expected Wins from Basketball-Reference to be 4-17. Tony Wroten also made his debut for the Sixers on Saturday after missing the start of the season, getting 4 points in 13 minutes.

On the other side we see a team playing to their full potential in the Spurs. They come in with the second best record in the NBA, behind the undefeated Golden State Warriors, with an offense based on ball movement and sharing the scoring load, and a defense based on hard outside challenges and funneling the help defense to Tim Duncan in the middle.

The Spurs are coming off a win on Saturday against the Boston Celtics which showed how deep a team they are. That game was won by the Spurs’ bench, who scored 54 points with Boris Diaw and Manu Ginobili leading that squad.

What To Watch For

The first question on Philadelphia fans’ minds is whether or not Jahlil Okafor will be back for tonight’s game, after serving a two game suspension for his participation in a fight while in Boston. Even though his second game was finished against the Nuggets on Saturday, he did sit out practice on Sunday to take care of a respiratory infection, as per CBS and Keith Pompey.

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Another player who has been tearing it up recently has been Robert Covington and is showing that he will be a main contributor for the team going forward. He has been scoring lights-out for the Sixers since coming back from injury and has been bringing a lot of effort on the defensive end as well. The guy can ball and I’m sure is close to the top of the Spurs’ scouting report on defending the Sixers.

Final Take

There are too many weapons on the Spurs for the Sixers to have a legitimate shot of winning this game. San Antonio boasts players Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, who are all capable to taking over a game by themselves. The Sixers can only boast Jahlil and RoCo on their best nights to do the same, so it will take special circumstances for the Sixers to pull this one out.

Prediction – Speaking of special circumstances, I believe that the Spurs will rest most of their key players for tonight’s game, since the Sixers normally do not pose as a major threat. The Sixers will take advantage of this and get their second win of the season, which also doubles as Gregg Popovich’s early Christmas present to Brett Brown.

Where To Catch The Game

  • CSNPhilly is broadcasting the game
  • 97.5 has the game on the radio
  • NBA League Pass is available for anyone out of market or anyone who needs to stream