Pre-Game 76ers

This could have been another inflection point game.  Now it's just a game between two teams in the middle-end of the pack fighting in quicksand.  I'd be remiss if I didn't take a swing at ol' Ben.  He and the one whose name we can't mention on this site have gone completely silent/AWOL.  For two people who absolutely live to have their name in flashing lights all the time because of their quirkiness and way out in left field personalities, this complete back-turning by the the rest of the NBA and world has to at least started them thinking to themselves..."Whoops!!  Hadn't accounted for the cold shoulder routine and that my dumbass might be completely wrong and FOS!!"

OK, something like that.  PHI started out this season like those teams that run out to a 13-0 lead to start games.  Yeah, we don't need Ben, we're in first place, blah, blah, blah.
Don't turn off the TV yet. Well, at least two wheels have come of that wagon.  They need something like we do.  

We're both 11-10 as of today.  We're 4 games behind in the loss column at the quarter-way point of the season.  Not too bad but that difference is insidiously getting away from us and others that want to at least move up in the standings and get out of Mediocreville, Mass.  Think tractor pull.  

Marcus Smart is just someone you can't do without on a team.  Warts and all.  His heart is greater than the sum of everyone else on the team.  You also have to love what a no-name player (all due respect) like Grant Williams did over the summer to improve his completely non-existent 3-point game to not only save his job, but to begin to make himself...irreplaceable.  Yes.  You have to love that Al Horford changed his breakfast cereal to Wheaties over the summer as well.  You have to love you are beginning to see the future for Jason Tatum.  Drive, shoot and get fouled for an And1 or drive and dish out for wide-open, uncontested threes or passing out of double teams gang ups for more open shots and trusting his teammates.  You gotta love Menace, turnovers and all.  The kid can shoot, shoot accurately and drive unabashedly to the hoop.  

RWIII and JB haven't been on the court consistently enough in which to pass judgment.  Now when RWIII is in, he's a rebounding, shot blocking, easy basket scoring pogo-stick jumping excellent player.  Still could eat a few more cheeseburgers and add some more muscle ala Embiid.  Not too much lest he lose that pogo stick spring in his step for sucking up rebounds like a vacuum.  When JB is in, he looks good.  Still working on his FT's.  He can put up 40 just like JT (and possibly Menace).

This game would have to be even money with the Celtics having an ever so slight edge.  Let's go with the Celtics (-1.5).  

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You know, really we're only 2 games out of 2nd place. That's easily achievable! But you can't come up with lame excuses and make up that ground.

BKN about to fall like a house of cards anyway!

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This will be a fun game to watch. Hopefully RWill is back. We will need the troops against Embiid.