Sixers @ Nets

Ben Simmons is scheduled  to play.  7:30 est on NBA TV.

Looking at the first half, there were some good plays by Simmons.  Good to have him back.  He's seems humbled to the core.  As always, we'll see.  

Defense will be their key and whether BS can stay on the court.  Same for his two cohorts.  

I hate to point out to BKN that Joel was nowhere to be found.  Even after a 65-61 first half, pretty much the definition of No D, the scrubs blew it in the 2nd half.  The final score was indicative of what this game would have looked like had Embiid been in the line up.

If BKN can make it through without injury to their Big 3 or a Give the Whales a Chance to Live and Grow movement starts up, they stand a chance to be right in the pack maybe 3-5th in the East.  But anything comes along and upsets the proverbial apple cart, back to the play-in game or worse. Just blow it up at that point and quit kidding yourselves.  I'll push all-in on the House of Cards getting a hurricane-force wind in the next 3 months before before Christmas to wrap up this 2-3 year experiment gone horribly awry.  

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The Sixers where without both Embid and Harden.  Both teams want to play fast.  They still won 127-108 in Crooklyn.

Since we play the Sixers on opening night I was interested in seeing how they look with their new add ons.

They added PJ Tucker and Melton  and more recently Montrezl Harrell who apparently beat his weed case.  PJ did not play, Melton was so so.  Harrell looked good.  He is a very energetic center but at 6' 7" he is also limited as a big and has no perimeter game to speak of.  No way to get a real take on this team with 2 of their stars in the DNP mode.  Maxey also continues to get better.

The Sixers are good but I think Boston has added to and increased the size of their core group.  The ball pounding James Harden will slow them down on offense and remains a big liability on defense.  I like our chances.

Ben Simmons looked like Ben Simmons.  He remains a challenged shooter out side of 5 feet and also went 0-2 from the line.  His defense is really good and I think that will be his biggest contribution.  The Nets added a bit more defense with Royce O'Neal and Markieff Morris.  Joe Harris is back.  Stephen A declared this morning on First Take that the  Nets and Bucks are the teams to beat.  Whatever.