Philadelphia 76ers: 3 players to watch against the Portland Trail Blazers

The Philadelphia 76ers will have their hands full guarding one of the best back courts in the NBA playing against the Portland Trail Blazers.

This road matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers is the first of four straight away games that the Philadelphia 76ers will be playing. The Sixers enter this matchup at 4-0 and the Blazers are 3-2. This contest will be missing both the team’s best big men.

The Sixers won’t have Joel Embiid as he has a two game suspension as a result of his fight with Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Last time Embiid missed a game, Matisse Thybulle started in his place, might be the same case again. Besides Embiid, the 76ers won’t have Shake Milton due to a knee injury. Reported by Serena Winters of NBCSPhilly, Trey Burke is day-to-day with gastroenteritis and Josh Richardson is day-to-day due to a toe injury.

The Blazers have a plethora of injuries. They are without Jusuf Nurkic due to recovering from a fractured leg, Pau Gasol because of a broken foot and Zach Collins due to a shoulder injury. Hassan Whiteside is questionable with a knee issue. The Blazers come into this game with a very shallow center rotation.

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Despite the game not having Embiid or most of the Blazers centers, this should still be fun matchup due to perimeter players.

Rodney Hood

Throughout his career, Rodney Hood has either been very hot or cold as a scorer. This season he’s starting for Portland and has provided the best 3-point shooting of his career thus far. He’s averaged 12.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals, while shooting 47.6 percent from downtown. His 3-point shooting percentage is currently the 29th best in the NBA.

Hood is very much the x-factor for the Blazers in this matchup. If he gets hot and has a 20-plus point outing, then it could be a difficult game for the Sixers. Thybulle and Richardson will be busy guarding the duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. That would most likely leave Ben Simmons on Hood. Simmons is an elite defender in his own right, so containing Hood shouldn’t be too difficult for him.

Damian Lillard

Of course the star of the Blazers is going to be on this list. He’s a top 5 point guard in the NBA that is having a very good season early on. He’s averaging 29.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.4 steals, while converting 32.6 percent from the the 3-point line. He’s a career 36.8 percent shooter from deep, so expect him to improve upon that as the season moves on.

Expect the combination of Richardson and Thybulle to guard the four-time All-Star. Both have had success guarding dynamic point guards thus far this season. If they manage to do so again, then there’s a strong likelihood that Philly comes out with a win.

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Ben Simmons

After an impressive first game of the season, in which Ben Simmons scored 24 points, the 6-foot-10 point guard hasn’t been too impressive beyond his career production. Thus far this season, he’s averaging 16.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 2.8 steals, while making 54.7 percent of his field goals. Portland doesn’t have anyone that can matchup well against Simmons, so he needs to take advantage in this game.

With Embiid out, this is Simmons’ chance to assert himself as a scorer. Even if Simmons still isn’t attempting outside shots, he needs to be aggressive scoring. In the event that Whiteside plays, the Blazers center could make things difficult for Simmons in the paint. Whiteside is known as a shot blocker and is averaging 1.2 blocks this year. Regardless if Whiteside ends up playing or not, Simmons needs to be more aggressive offensively in this game.

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This should a fun matchup for fans despite the Philadelphia 76ers and the Blazers missing players. Agree or disagree with the list of players? Comment below if you think there are any other players that need to watched in this game.