Happy Friday! Huge slate! I’m checking out a baseball game, hitting downtown Phoenix, and going to Bulls at Suns with our man Gary Hartman today, so I was a little tight on time to finish. I didn’t do quotes for this edition, but got plenty of good stuff in here.
Good luck today!
Dallas Mavericks (front end) at Philadelphia 76ers
Team Totals: Mavericks 107.5, 76ers 110
Injury Report: Marquese Chriss (Q, knee), Reggie Bullock (O, personal), Joel Embiid (Q, back)
Mavs projected starters: Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell
76ers projected starters: James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, Matisse Thybulle, Tobias, Joel Embiid
Stats and Notes:
*Dallas’ defense hasn’t quite been rolling lately, ranking just 11th in the NBA since the break. They’re getting beat on the glass, they’re not as great in the halfcourt, and they’re slightly below average at limiting short-range stuff. However, they are really slowing things down these days, ranking dead last in seconds per possession since the break. The 76ers have played slightly faster since Harden arrived, and they’ve been a middle-of-the-pack defense since the break. It’s not the best environment here.
*Luka gets Matisse Thybulle, but that’s no problem. Thybulle is really good at denying perimeter stuff, but Luka is at his best when he’s getting downhill. It’s still a subpar matchup overall, but he could go off.
*Assuming no bad pricing, the non-Luka Mavs are probably a pass. Luka thrives in the slow games, but some of these other guys won’t get enough volume.
*Embiid’s back issue sounds like a maintenance thing, but he’s likely a game-time call. The Mavs are one of those good team defenses, but this matchup against Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber is almost a favorable one. It’s the first game of the day, so we should get word.
*If Embiid can’t go, the rest of the guys would all be interesting. Harden gets the Dorian Finney-Smith matchup, and he was at a 25/6/7 per-36 line in 64 minutes against DFS (he was the main matchup for him). He would be a solid play sans Embiid.
*It sounds like Embiid is playing, but Tobias and Maxey would be in play if not. I would prefer Tobias.
Washington Wizards (front end) at New York Knicks
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