We are witnessing the downfall of the Philadelphia 76ers in real time and it’s not looking pretty. They’ve now lost 4 games in a row and as a result they’re down to the 5th seed after the Knicks and Cavaliers have taken them over in the standings. More importantly though, we’re still unsure what the status of Joel Embiid will be moving forward. After being bothered by a knee issue for the majority of the month, Embiid suffered another setback in the loss to the Warriors when Jonathan Kuminga fell on his left leg, causing him to miss the rest of the game. Chances of him playing tonight are slim to none, we’re not aware of the extent of the injury at this time. Without their floor leader and best player, the Sixers are in trouble here. Prior to the Warriors game, they went 5 straight games of single digit threes scored, you cannot win games in today’s NBA without an outside shot. There is optimism that Tyrese Maxey could return from an ankle injury, but the jury is still out on that.
Utah doesn’t have any injury issues at the moment, plus unlike the 76ers they’ve been fairly consistent from beyond-the-arc knocking down at least 112 threes in 8 of their last 10 games. They’re going for the season sweep here, these two teams met earlier in January in Philadelphia and the Jazz came out on top 120-109, the Sixers were without Embiid in that game as well. After a hot ending to 2023, the Jazz have cooled off a bit in their last 10 games going 5-5 SU, that’s dropped them to 10th in the West standings, but they still have a pretty decent shot at one of the play-in tournament spots. Home form is one of the big reasons for their success this season – in their last 10 games they’ve lost only once at the Delta Center, while against the 76ers they’re an impressive 15-3 SU in the last 18 meetings in Salt Lake City.
