Sixers resume road trip in battle against new-look Nuggets

The Philadelphia 76ers continue their extended road trip tonight in Colorado, where they will be hosted by the 28-18 Denver Nuggets at the Ball Arena.

So far, the Sixers are 3-1 on this road trip, defeating the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Lakers. They lost by ten on Saturday night to the Los Angeles Clippers and now travel to face another team at the top of the Western Conference standings in the Nuggets.

There is still no Joel Embiid — although with the team returning home this weekend, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he returns against either the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Memphis Grizzlies. (We at Liberty Ballers will keep you up to date on that, of course.)

The team will also still be without new trade acquisition George Hill. Hill is still recovering and rehabbing from a thumb surgery back in January. It’s business as usual for this game on this road trip. It’ll be the Ben Simmons/Tobias Harris show, which has been well worth the reruns.

Tobias Harris is having one helluva month of March. In 11 games, Tobi is averaging 22.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game with 50/40/90 shooting splits, as his usage has gone up to 26.6 in Embiid’s absence.

Simmons has cooled off just a bit after scoring 21 per game in the month of February, but he has continued his aggressive play, offensively.

Before the trade deadline, the conversation about the Denver Nuggets began and ended with Nikola Jokić, the Serbian All-Star, MVP candidate. That’s not 100% the case anymore, since the Nuggets traded for Aaron Gordon.

Is Gordon going to carry the load for Denver? Certainly not, but Gordon never quite worked as the #1 guy in Orlando. (With all due respect to Nikola Vucevic, Gordon was the #1 when he was on the floor.) That is not true in Denver where the Nuggets universe revolves around “The Joker”.

In his Nuggets debut against the Atlanta Hawks, Gordon had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. The trio of him, Jokić, and Jamal Murray is VERY potent, offensively, and that’s without mentioning Michael Porter, Jr., who has been having a very solid second season in Denver.

This game was going to be challenging even with Embiid in the lineup. Between the new piece for the Nuggets AND Embiid not playing, it’s going to be an uphill climb in the Rocky Mountains for the home squad.

Nevertheless, let’s get this dub anyway!

Game Details

Who: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Denver Nuggets
When: 9:00pm ET; March 30, 2021
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBA TV
Listen: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @Liberty_Ballers