The Philadelphia 76ers have beed pretty mediocre as of late. After a notable 4-0 start, the team has since cooled off, losing eight of its next 14 outings. But to be fair, the injury bug has once again continued to wreak havoc on this team. Currently, they are missing a handful of key players, most notably Joel Embiid.
After appearing in six of their first nine games (only missing those three games as they were on the second leg of back-to-backs), Embiid has gone on to be absent in their last nine outings. After a minor issue with his right knee, he has had a day-to-day status, but the medical staff has yet to clear him to be in uniform.
Fortunately for the 76ers as a collective — and not just Embiid — strange circumstances have gifted them a much-needed break in order to recuperate and have time to practice. After all, their schedule moving forward will feature a ton of breaks, leaving them with ample time not only to recover, but to get back to the drawing board after an exhausting start to the season.
The 76ers catch a scheduling break thanks to the NBA Cup
A week from now after hosting the upstart Los Angeles Lakers, the 76ers will be on deck for only a couple of games in the subsequent 11-game stretch. Those contests will come against the bottom-dwelling Indiana Pacers and the middling Atlanta Hawks, and Philly will likewise be at home for those games.
This is definitely a very rare scheduling quirk, but this is probably a result of the NBA Cup forcing those teams that did not qualify to have more games off. But even more interestingly, it is only by virtue of them not qualifying for the quarterfinals of the in-season tourney that the Pacers and Hawks games were added to their slate.
While this reflects a scheduling imbalance that will later manifest itself, the 76ers, at least for now, could not have a more dire use for it. The team is currently ravaged by injuries left and right, and with the sheer amount of back-to-backs they have had, their practice sessions have been reduced to a minimum. This will be a huge opportunity for the to recuperate and regroup.
Hopefully, the 76ers can take advantage of this rare break. After all, it does not take a bright mind to deduce that this team is much better off operating at full strength.