GRADES: Portland Trail Blazers 124, Philadelphia 76ers 121
By Ashley Foltz
Welcome to the NBA bubble, where Ben Simmons has to leave for knee surgery and Joel Embiid injures his ankle at the start of a game leaving the Philadelphia 76ers to find their own way.
Oh, to be a Philadelphia 76ers fan.
While watching this game I had many flashbacks to the Process days. With Ben Simmons out with a partially dislocated kneecap and needing surgery and then Joel Embiid hurting his ankle early in the game, Brett Brown was forced to run some interesting lineups. One of my “favorites” included a lineup of Norvel Pelle, Alec Burks, Glenn Robinson, Furkan Korkmaz, and Matisse Thybulle.
The Sixers seemed pretty disjointed even during the short time that Embiid was on the court. Then it just got worse over the first quarter and even bleeding into the second quarter. In a surprising turn of events, the mismatched Sixers then started to find their stride. With help from Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, and even Al Horford, they went from a deficit of 16 to seven in what seemed like no time at all.
A. <strong>23 mins | 20 pts | 5 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 8-14 FG | 1-4 3PT| 3-3 FT | 0 PF | +1 | </strong><p>Burks really came to life towards the end of the game. He fought hard for every single basket. It’s refreshing to see someone in a Sixers uniform shoot off the dribble as well.</p>. SG. Philadelphia 76ers. ALEC BURKS
A+. <strong>38 mins | 34 pts | 5 reb | 6 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 3 TO | 13-20 FG | 6-10 3PT| 2-2 FT | 3 PF | +1| </strong><p>Josh Richardson put his haters to SHAME as he lit up the court from all over. He became red-hot from beyond but was hitting plenty of jumpers from the field to lead the team in points.</p>. SG. Philadelphia 76ers. JOSH RICHARDSON
A-. <strong>22 mins | 15 pts | 6 reb | 5 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 4 TO | 6-9 FG | 3-4 3PT| 0-0 FT | 5 PF | -7 | </strong><p>This was probably the best game for Horford in the bubble so far. He stepped up when he needed to, especially once Embiid left the floor. He got a good amount of rebounds and assists to help facilitate the offense, which contributed greatly to the success of Richardson.</p>. C. Philadelphia 76ers. AL HORFORD
A-. <strong>33 mins | 2 pts | 9 reb | 3 ast | 3 stl | 1 blk | 2 TO | 1-3 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 4 PF | +4 | </strong><p>Though Matisse didn’t have the best game points-wise, he did a play huge part for the team on the defensive end. His energy on defense has been amazing. His quickness and focus help out the Sixers immensely when they can’t get a bucket. I seriously cannot comprehend some of the things he does defensively.</p>. SG. Philadelphia 76ers. MATISSE THYBULLE
C+. <strong>25 mins | 11 pts | 0 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 4-10 FG | 0-3 3PT| 3-4 FT | 0 PF | -4|</strong><p>I wasn’t too impressed with Shake in this game. When we needed people to step up, he wasn’t one to really turn it up a notch. He helped out with ball movement a lot but other than that, there wasn’t much that stood out from this game from him.</p>. SG. Philadelphia 76ers. SHAKE MILTON
All the Richardson haters were completely put to shame after he lit it up from all areas of the court. He became red-hot from beyond as his teammates looked to get him the ball to knock a quick 3 down. Burks then caught fire and was hitting shots left and right while having crazy focus to get a bucket.
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With a momentum-gaining three by Horford, the Sixers came within one to win with 12 seconds left. In the end, the goal to get the ball to Richardson fell short as the Trail Blazers anticipated this tactic. This was not the game I was expecting, especially when Jo went out. It was very much a Sixers move to come back in that fashion but not finish the job.