The Philadelphia 76ers season is mercifully coming to a close with just eight games remaining as the Sixers host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.
It’s the last back-to-back of the Philadelphia 76ers season! Woo!
(We have to celebrate something around here, right?)
The Sixers will be back on the court Sunday night at the Wells Fargo Center to host the Toronto Raptors to close Philadelphia’s 15th and final back-to-back of the season. Just eight games left to go overall.
Now, with this being a back-to-back for the Sixers, there’s not much to go on as far as who may be available for them for Sunday’s contest. We will keep you posted once the injury report is made available this afternoon. That being said, it’s not as though Philadelphia is flush with healthy players to begin with, so a rest day for anyone might be out of the question.
Rest is in the cards for some Raptors, however. Immanuel Quickly and Jakob Poeltl will miss Sunday’s contest, ruled out with a healthy “Rest” designation. Toronto last played Friday night, but this is the current state of the NBA, I suppose. Don’t even get me started. Otherwise, Brandon Ingram (ankle), Gradey Dick (knee) and Ulrich Chomche (knee) will also be unavailable for the Raptors.
Toronto are in a strange spot. They have not yet technically been eliminated from the playoffs as they trail the Miami Heat by six games for the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference. Again, technically possible… but being back half a dozen games when they and the Heat only have eight games left each in their seasons doesn’t exactly bode well for the Raptors.
So, like many teams, their eyes have shifted to the NBA Draft lottery standings instead. The Raptors were damn close to “catching up” with the Sixers and Brooklyn Nets not too long ago in the race to be the worst.
We all know the Sixers’ situation by now. Staying in No. 5 without a tie here is likely the best case scenario for Philadelphia with New Orleans still a bit out of reach in fourth with time winding down on the season. Sixers want to lose early and lose often, with the fifth position (no ties) giving them a 63.9% chance to hold on to their first-round pick (protected for picks 1 through 6) and a 10.5% chance to snag the first overall pick.
Meanwhile, the Raptors were stuck between a rock and a hard place a few weeks ago and it’s somehow only gotten worse. At the beginning of March, Toronto were down at No. 13 in the East, six games back from the Chicago Bulls sitting in the last Play-In spot at No. 10, after putting up a 3-9 February record. It was hardly the worst position they’d been in all season, with a stretch back in December into January seeing the Raptors lose 16 of 17 games.
Then, they won nine of 14 in March (so far). Now, they might wish they hadn’t.
I’m not exactly sure why the Raptors have been winning games. They’ve rested Quickley and Poeltl (as well as RJ Barrett) nearly every other game for a month and have pulled starters down the stretch of close games multiple times — if it looks like a tank and drives like a tank… But now, after this month, not only have the Raptors not caught up to a Play-In spot, but they’ve also all but stuck themselves in the No. 7 draft lottery position, trailing three and a half games behind the Nets in sixth. They have a comfortable five-game buffer over the San Antonio Spurs at No. 8, but any loss helps more at this point than victory.
(Basically, looks like both teams have a lot to lose by winning this one. Go figure.)
The Sixers and Raptors tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Game Details
When: Sunday, March 30, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers