The Philadelphia 76ers have been pretty mediocre lately. After a remarkable 4-0 start, the team has since cooled down and lost eight of the next fourteen games. But to be fair, the injury bug has once again wreaked havoc on this team. Currently, they are missing a handful of key players, most notably Joel Embiid.
After appearing in six of their first nine games (missing only those three games due to being in the second leg of back-to-backs), Embiid remained absent from their final nine appearances. After a minor problem with his right knee, he is on day-to-day status, but the medical staff has yet to clear him to wear a uniform.
Fortunately for the 76ers as a collective — and not just Embiid — strange circumstances have given them a much-needed break to recover and have time to practice. After all, their future schedule will be one tons of breaks, giving them ample time to not only recover, but also get back to the drawing board after an exhausting start to the season.
The 76ers get a break in the schedule thanks to the NBA Cup
A week from now, after hosting the upstart Los Angeles Lakers, the 76ers will be on deck for just a few games in the ensuing 11-game stretch. Those games will take place against the bottom-dwelling Indiana Pacers and the mediocre Atlanta Hawks, and Philly will be home for those games as well.
This is definitely one very rare scheduling quirkbut this is likely a result of the NBA Cup forcing the teams that didn’t qualify to have more games off. But even more interesting is that the Pacers and Hawks games were only added to their slate because they failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the season tournament.
While this reflects a scheduling imbalance that will manifest itself down the line, the 76ers can’t leverage it more seriously, at least for now. The team is currently plagued by injuries left and right, and the sheer volume of back-to-backs they’ve had has kept their practice sessions to a minimum. This will be a huge opportunity for them to recover and regroup.
Hopefully the 76ers can take advantage of this rare breakthrough. After all, it doesn’t take a clear mind to conclude that this team is much better off when it operates at full strength.
#76ers #experienced #rare #breakthrough #stunning