76ers-Grizzlies Preview/Game Thread: A stage for the Marc Gasol show

The 76ers travel to Memphis to take on Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies on Tuesday night. Or, at least two teams where “76ers” and “Grizzlies” on their chests will square off at the FedEx Forum.

The Sixers will be without Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor tonight, leaving Richaun Holmes as the team’s only active center. Meanwhile the injury list for Memphis is longer than the list of Sixers victories this season, and the Grizzlies are fresh off a double-overtime game in New Orleans last night as well.

If anything, the game will provide a stage for Marc Gasol wizardy.

Watching the 7’1 Spaniard produce a 28-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple double against Anthony Davis last night was absolutely spectacular. And while enjoying his all-around offensive brilliance, I couldn’t help but think about the lessons Embiid can learn from Gasol’s smooth scoring arsenal.

His head fakes are damn balletic. Gasol is, in all likelihood, the most lethal passing big man when feeding cutters out of post double teams. The jumper is more than wet. His trickery deceiving defenders out of pick-and-rolls. The more I attempt to describe his game the great a disservice it will be. If there’s any modern-day player for Embiid to model his game from, it might be the game’s most underrated center.

Game Info

• Date: December 6, 2016
• Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
• Place: FedEx Forum
• Channel: CSN

The Other Guys: Grizzly Bear Blues

Probable Starters

• Philadelphia: Sergio Rodriguez, Gerald Henderson, Nik Stauskas, Ersan Ilyasova, Richaun Holmes
• Memphis: Andrew Harrison, Troy Williams, Tony Allen, JaMychal Green, Marc Gasol