Every Game Counts: Sixers Visit DC in Midst of Atlantic Race

Share

Remember when it was safe to just presume that the Sixers were gonna
cruise to the Atlantic Division crown? Yeah. Good times. Certainly is
less than certain these days, with the Celtics joining the Sixers at
28-22 and the Knicks just two and a half games behind both at 26-25. The
good news, for tonight at least, is that the Sixers have by far the
easiest Friday matchup of the three—visiting the 11-39 Wizards in D.C.,
while the Celtics travel to Minnesota to take on the 25-27 Timberwolves,
and the Knicks travel south to the ATL for a match with the 30-22
Hawks. Every win is crucial at this point as the Ballers hope to take
the Atlantic Division and avoid a potential 7th seed and first-round
matchup with the Heat—again.

The Wizards, then. They're a little better and a little tougher than the
first three times three times we saw them this year—which we won all
three of, by an average of over 21 points, so maybe that's not such a
bold statement. But they've traded talented-but-forever-raw prospect
center JaVale McGee for the much more solid, much more proven center
Nene, and since that trade...well, they've still basically sucked,
losing their last five games, but maybe a little less so, since all but
one of those losses were by less than five points, including to playoff
teams such as the Pacers, Hawks and Celtics. The Sixers shouldn't expect
them to be the pushovers they saw in the previous three (five if you
count the pre-season) meetings this year.

As for the Sixers, All-Star Andre Iguodala is again a gametime decision
after missing two games with tendinitis. It's hard to say how much the
Sixers have missed 'Dre in his absence since they've done exactly as
we'd expect they would anyway in those two games without him—they lost
by a lot to the Spurs and then won by a lot against the Cavs. One
undoubted positive about his injury, however, is that it appears to have
allowed Jodie Meeks a chance to get back on track, as he exploded
against Cleveland for a career-high (and team season-high) 31 points,
hitting seven of ten threes and reclaiming the stroke that has eluded
him for much of the season. We could certainly use a hot Jodie down the
stretch.

7:00 tip from the Verizon Center. “We know we’re resilient, we know what we have to do,” Coach Collins
said of the team's final stretch of the season. “We’ve just got to play. That’s all it is. Whether the game is road or
home.” I don't think we know just how resilient this team is yet, but I suppose we're about to find out.

Contact Us