The 9-4 Sixers’ road back-to-back this weekend against the Grizzlies and Thunder will begin Saturday night in Memphis.
Here are the essentials for their matchup with the 5-6 Grizzlies:
- When: 8 p.m. EST with Sixers Pregame Live at 7 p.m.
- Where: FedEx Forum
- Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the MyTeams app
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And here are three storylines to watch:
Howard in the spotlight
Neither Joel Embiid (right knee pain) nor Mike Scott (right knee soreness) traveled with the Sixers. Seth Curry and Vincent Poirier are sidelined by the NBA's health and safety protocols, while Furkan Korkmaz remains out with a left adductor strain. Ben Simmons was upgraded to available on the NBA's 1:30 p.m. injury report Saturday after being listed as probable with left knee swelling the previous night.
Point guard Ja Morant, the Rookie of the Year last season, will return. He'd been sidelined since Dec. 28 with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain.
NBA
Jaren Jackson Jr. hasn’t played yet this season after suffering a torn meniscus in August, and Justise Winslow has been out following a July hip injury.
Embiid is clearly the most significant absence Saturday night. Dwight Howard, who has 1,047 NBA starts, has already replaced Embiid in the starting lineup twice this season, losses to the Cavs and Nuggets. He'll likely square off against Jonas Valančiūnas, who’s averaging a double-double with 14.9 points and 10.7 rebounds. It should be a physical contest, and avoiding foul trouble will be important for Howard.
Simmons setting up shooters
Simmons’ teammates have combined to shoot 52 for 124 (41.9 percent) from three-point range off of his passes this season, per NBA.com/Stats, compared to 236 for 656 last year (36 percent). The Sixers have made nearly five three-point shots from Simmons' passes per game through his first 11 games, and they converted nine Thursday night during Simmons' triple-double performance vs. the Heat.
The primary takeaway from those numbers is that the Sixers should be thrilled if the team keeps shooting over 40 percent on long-distance shots from Simmons’ passes. Also, though we’ve known this to be true for quite a while, it’s worth emphasizing that Simmons’ value as a facilitator goes beyond the traditional box score.
Ultra-efficient Milton
Shake Milton has made 14 consecutive free throws and shot 25 of 37 from the floor over his last three games.
Tyrese Maxey stayed in the starting lineup Thursday, meaning Milton came off the bench and continued to look very confident in that role after a three-game absence for health and safety reasons. Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle also returned and played well in the finale of the Sixers-Heat mini-series.
“Riding the hot hand” is a popular idea in basketball, but the Sixers haven’t needed to do that with Milton. He’s mostly found his own shots, drawn fouls at a high rate and ran the second-unit offense very well after a brief shooting slump.