It may be a slim slate for tomorrow’s NBA schedule, but there’s nothing lean about Jokic and Embiid’s impending matchup in Philadelphia. The league will only feature three games tomorrow, but they made sure to include one of the most sought-after matchups in the entire basketball world.
The defending champions will start their five-game road trip in the City of Brotherly Love, where they will have to deal with a rejuvenated Joel Embiid, who just came off a 40-point game against the helpless Rockets in Houston.
Embiid, 29, returned to action yesterday after missing three straight games due to some swelling in his right knee. The reigning league MVP looked like he didn’t skip a beat, garnering his 17th straight 30-point outing and his 16th straight game with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds.
The Sixers are 25-13 thus far, but 5-5 in their last 10 due to the absence of their star big man. Now that Embiid is back on the floor for Nick Nurse, the Sixers can finally find some much-needed consistency.
Tyrese Maxey has been holding down the fort since Embiid missed time, averaging 26.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 3.1 threes in the last month. They’re on a two-game winning streak, but it would be a tall order to extend their winning ways when the Nuggets come to town.
The Nuggets are also riding a two-game winning streak and have been 7-3 in their last 10. Nikola Jokic has been nothing but consistent for Michael Malone, averaging 25.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, 9.3 assists, and 1.2 steals throughout the season.
The latest injury report for the visiting Nuggets states that Jokic is questionable for their match against the Sixers, as the Serbian big man is currently dealing with a left hip strain.
To make things more of a nail-biter, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Jamal Murray all popped up in the Nugget’s injury report. Basically, the whole Nuggets starting five are game-time decisions, which may be a sign of load management as they go on a lengthy Eastern Conference road trip.
The NBA 2024 odds favourites in the West are starting to show signs of fatigue after braving an entire NBA campaign and a Finals run in the playoffs last season. For now, fans are praying to the basketball gods that the two MVPs will duke it out during their midweek tie.
Sacramento Kings @ Phoenix Suns
In the Arizona desert, Kevin Durant and his running mates Devin Booker and Bradley Beal are all expected to suit up for the Suns as they host the Sacramento Kings at the Footprint Center.
The Suns are finally meshing as a team now that their big three are on the floor together. They’re not quite where the hype at the start of the season thought they’d be by this time due to injuries, but they’ve been 7-3 in their last 10 with a two-game winning streak to boot.
Durant, Booker, and Beal all scored at least 20 points in their last outing against the struggling Trail Blazers. Grayson Allen also joined the scoring party with a 20-piece of his own, while starting big man Jusuf Nurkic took advantage of a diminished Blazers frontcourt and contributed to the holistic Suns victory with a 14-13 double-double.
Meanwhile, the Kings suffered a heartbreaking loss against the Bucks Monday night when Damian Lillard shut the door on the visiting Kings, drilling the game-winning bucket in overtime.
It was a hard-fought battle at Fiserv Forum, and the Kings showed grit and heart all throughout the contest, but unfortunately, they overstayed their welcome and ended up as the recipients of the first Dame Time in Cream City.
Kentucky standout De’Aaron Fox was the tip of the spear for the Kings, dropping a team-high 32 points, while Domantas Sabonis came up big, notching triple-double number 41 in his career with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists.
At this point in time, SBOTOP basketball fans can expect the Sacramento Kings to be able to keep up against the elite teams in the NBA and assume more of the same when they face the 21-18 Phoenix Suns.
Oklahoma City Thunder @ LA Clippers
In the latest NBA 2024 news, the LA Clippers are hot! Tyronn Lue’s outfit is 8-2 in their last 10 and has become bonafide playoff contenders after overcoming the messy James Harden transition period last November.
They kept the ball rolling once they figured things out, but the main contributor to their success this season has been their health. It’s been a while since we’ve seen both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard play this much basketball on a consistent basis, and Clippers fans can finally breathe easy after braving multiple injury-riddled seasons.
They were basically on a meteoric rise before the Timberwolves pulled them back to earth, that is. The Wolves fended off a convincing Clippers squad Monday night, with their young stud, Anthony Edwards, leading the way.
ANT scored the game-high 33 points while also grabbing nine boards and dishing out six assists as well. Meanwhile, Paul George and James Harden had a quiet night, scoring a total of just 30 points. It was tepid by their standards, and it was PG’s lowest scoring output since December 12.
They should be hungry for a bounce-back game, but it won’t come that easily against a thriving Thunder outfit.
OKC boast the second-best record in the West, just one game behind the top-seeded Timberwolves. They too came from a pedestrian outing, losing to LeBron and the Lakers 112-105.
The Clippers should take a leaf out of the Lakers book in terms of stopping the unicorn, Chet Holmgren. Against the Lakers, Holmgren was held to just nine points and eight rebounds. But it will be a tall order for the Clips due to the absence of their starting big man, Ivinca Zubac, who has been ruled out against the Thunder due to a calf injury.
Also, the Clippers have to deal with the NBA’s rising superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who torched the Clips during their last outing by scoring the game-high 31 points. The Thunder thrashed Tyronn Lue’s boys 134-115 in that outing, so it will be interesting to see if the revitalized Clippers can answer this time around.
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