Sixers-Pistons: things are going to look a little different this time around

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Good morning, folks!

The two teams sitting atop the Eastern Conference? Your 7-1 Sixers and the 6-1 Detroit Pistons.

Detroit is responsible for Philadelphia’s lone blemish. But the Sixers were down two starters in that game. 41-year-old LeBron James was playing center.

It’s going to look a little different this time around.

The lone Sixer listed ‘out’ for the game not named Ariel Hukporti is Dominick Barlow. Nick Nurse told reporters prior to Philadelphia’s triumph over the Chicago Bulls that Barlow was scheduled to meet with a specialist on Tuesday to evaluate the stress reaction in his low back. The team did not indicate that a formal update would be given after that meeting, but needless to say the Sixers haven’t said how that went. If it went well, the hope was to advance Barlow’s workouts beyond the light work he’s been doing.

But Joel Embiid, who was ‘questionable’ for Monday’s game against the Bulls with right plantar fascia injury management, is not listed on the injury report for this game. He is expected to play after missing the first battle between these two teams. Best of luck to you, Paul Reed.

But as important as Embiid playing — and Jalen Duren not playing (right hamstring strain) — is VJ Edgecombe being available this time around.

Now I don’t know what you remember from that first matchup, but let me sum it up in one sentence: Cade Cunningham did what Cade Cunningham inevitably does, but Duncan Robinson absolutely killed the Sixers.

I would suspect Edgecombe will see a good amount of time on Cunningham, seeing as he’s Philadelphia’s best point-of-attack defender. But that leaves another of the Sixers’ capable defenders to chase Robinson around. I think that’s huge.

This is where I go into story mode. Gather ‘round, children.

In my late 20s pushing early 30s, my game has changed quite a bit. I’m more of a Draymond Green. No, not amassing technicals and flagrants (I’ve been ejected from one game in my life for arguing, but I do believe in some flagrant fouling — that’s a story to be told over a couple of drinks some night). But I’m looking to pass the ball, put a little pressure on the rim, and set some picks. Maybe cut every once in a while or let fly on a three.

But in my younger days, man, I shot that thing. I shot it a lot. I shot it well. I never figured out how to get back spin on the ball and maintain my strength from distance. The form was crazy from time to time. But I had muscle memory. And because I was a shooter, I was obsessed with the finer details of shooting (ironic given that if any shooting coach ever saw my shooting process, they’d probably break me down to the basics and rebuild most of the shot).

So all of this is to say, I didn’t view guys such as JJ Redick as role players. I viewed them as specialists. Stephen Curry isn’t just a all-time great to me; I will probably go to my death bed with him as my favorite player of all time. A freak. A magician. Everything about his specific set of skills blows my mind.

But he does that to everyone. It’s the Redicks and the Robinsons of the world that fascinate me to no end. No ball dominance. Very quick movements, very limited touch time, and yet they are cash freaking money over contests and milliseconds between catch and release. They can catch a ball fading out of bounds with bodies crashing into them and rip the net. They can stop on a dime and square to the rim and nail it without a moment to spare.

It breaks my brain.

So, yeah, consider it a big deal that the Sixers have some more big bodies to throw at Robinson on Wednesday night. Not just to maximize the contest, but to chase through the screens. If they can keep Robinson quiet — which often means executing against those screens perfectly and keeping Detroit out of transition – I like their chances at revenge.

Here’s the rest of Detroit’s injury report: