Liberty Ballers<\/a><\/p>\nA Potential Test for Clingan. Donovan Clingan dominated the glass in the two recent wins over Memphis. He grabbed 36 total rebounds, including 15 at the offensive end, during those games.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll have a very different assignment Monday night if former NBA MVP Joel Embiid, who is listed as questionable as of press time, is good to go. Embiid features prominently in the 76ers\u2019 offensive game plan. He\u2019ll set high screens and pop to the three-point line to draw Clingan away from the basket, but he\u2019ll also mix in some old-school back-to-the-basket bully ball.<\/p>\n
Embiid is tied for the league lead in post-ups per game and remains one of the league\u2019s craftiest interior finishers. He ranks fifth in the NBA, earning 8.6 free throw attempts per game.<\/p>\n
Clingan has done well to protect the rim and limit his fouls this season, but will face one of his toughest tests tonight if Embiid is able to play.<\/p>\n
Serious Speed. Both teams will feature lightning quick guards, so expect a fun, fast-paced game, particularly if Embiid is inactive or when either team\u2019s gargantuan center rests.<\/p>\n
Blazers fans are likely familiar with Tyrese Maxey, who was recently voted a starter in next weekend\u2019s All-Star game and is one of the most electric scorers in the league (28.8 points per game, sixth in the NBA).<\/p>\n
Alongside Maxey in the backcourt, the Moda Center crowd will get its first look at VJ Edgecombe, who has already taken on a crucial role for his team. Edgecombe is third among rookies in scoring at 15 points per game to go along with 5.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and a rookie-best 1.5 steals per game. In most seasons, Edgecombe would be a strong Rookie of the Year candidate, although Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks and Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets have separated themselves from the pack in that race.<\/p>\n
Not to be outdone, the Blazers have a couple of guards that can keep up with anybody in a foot race. Blake Wesley has played the past four games after missing the previous 43 with a foot injury. Scoot Henderson is listed as probable and expected to play in his second game of the season after scoring 11 points and dishing out nine assists in his season debut Friday against Memphis.<\/p>\n
Sources of Reliable Scoring. The 76ers can light up the scoreboard. During their recent stretch of six wins in seven games, they have the league\u2019s best offensive rating and are making 39.9% of their three-pointers.<\/p>\n
The Blazers will have to keep up despite playing without at least one of their two leading scorers. Shaedon Sharpe (21.4 points per game) is out with calf soreness while Deni Avdija (25.5 points per game) is questionable. With other Blazers getting opportunities to play, who will carry the offensive burden?<\/p>\n
Former 76ers Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday are both prime candidates. They scored 29 and 21 points, respectively, to lift the Blazers over the Grizzlies Saturday night. Can they step up again? Can Henderson shake off enough rust to lead the offense? Or will an unexpected contributor have a big game?<\/p>\n
Bench Production. The 76ers have the third-lowest bench scoring average (30.4 points per game) in the NBA. They are heavily reliant on Maxey, who plays a league-leading 38.9 minutes per game, to spark the offense. When he rests, the 76ers\u2019 offense sputters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Blazers have looked to their bench for scoring, particularly in the games that Avdija has missed. They are averaging 44.6 points per game off the bench in their past four games.<\/p>\n
Can the Blazers win the battle of the backups? And can they take advantage of the rare minutes with Maxey off the floor?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t expect to see former Blazer Jabari Walker on the court for the 76ers. Walker is on a two-way contract in Philadelphia, but just reached his 50-game limit and will need a standard contract before he can appear with the 76ers again. Adam Aaronson of Philly Voice asked General Manager Daryl Morey about it:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portland Trail Blazers welcome the Philadelphia 76ers to the Moda Center tonight to close out their five-game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,56618,37790,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-592932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-blazers-game-previews","11":"tag-blazers-gameday-coverage","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-portland","14":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","15":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","16":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116041915047772024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}