The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Justin Anderson Talks About Guarding LeBron James

By Josh Wilson

Mar 3, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson (23) reacts after defensive stop in the final seconds of the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won 105-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 3, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Justin Anderson (23) reacts after defensive stop in the final seconds of the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won 105-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Philadelphia 76ers wing and top-tier defender Justin Anderson talked about how he’s going to go at LeBron James on Friday night.

The Philadelphia 76ers face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road on Friday night.

Any team in the NBA that has the Cleveland Cavaliers next up on their schedule dies a little bit on the inside when they look at the next up. At least that’s what one would think. LeBron James, the leader of that team, is almost undoubtedly the most dominant and best player in the NBA, and is coming off of a season where he led his team in the NBA Finals down from a 3-1 deficit to a win in game 7.

This late in the season, you really just hope James is resting leading up to the playoffs if you have to face up against him. For the Sixers, they won’t have that luxury.

The biggest question is always, “who will guard James?” On Friday night, when the Philadelphia 76ers face off against him, it will be a lot of Justin Anderson doing his best to contain him.

Keith Pompey caught up with Anderson before the game and asked him how he felt about the matchup.

"“Being able to use my quickness, and being able to just disrupt, you know a guy like that, he’s so strong, he’s so physical, he’s also tall, he’s like 6-8, 6-9, so he can also see over you sometimes. So, my biggest thing is just playing big tonight, you know, having hands up on everything, just trying to contain him. He’s a big passer, you know, he really likes to pass the ball so it’s not always about me trying to stop him one-on-one, because once he does that, he gets past the first line of defense, you put pressure on your other teammates to come over and help, and he just drops it off for dunks and threes and things like that, so we have to obey our contacts and we have to just contain him and contain other guys around him.”"

Anderson knows the game, and knows what he has to do. Something that’s been gathered in the first few weeks with him on the Sixers is that he’s really no dummy, he knows what to do and is incredibly intelligent when it comes to the Xs and Os.

While that’s great, facing up against James is a tough task no matter how prepared you are, and Anderson definitely won’t have a perfect night trying to guard him.

Next: A Progress Report for Nik Stauskas

While one would think that games against the Cavs are typically blowouts for Philadelphia, that’s not the case. The Sixers played them twice early in this season, and lost by two points one time, and four points another, for an average loss of three points each game this season. The Sixers have stuck around against good teams this year, and even without a lot of players due to injury, there’s reason to suspect that they won’t give up without a fight.