11/20 Utah at Philadelphia
5:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass
Opponent record: 8-7
Season series: 76ers lead 1-0
The last time the Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers faced off, it ended up being one of Utah’s most disappointing games of the season. Despite playing on their home court, the Jazz looked absolutely flat-footed and lifeless as they fell by a score of 104-97 to the Sixers. However, the game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated as Utah trailed by double figures for much of the contest.
The loss was even more surprising considering that Rudy Gobert was still in action for the Jazz and Sixers star Joel Embiid sat out. Ben Simmons actually had a forgettable shooting night, but it was Dario Saric who feasted on the Jazz with 25 points and five made threes. He, along with several of his teammates, were seemingly left open for three-pointer after three-pointer as the Sixers scorched the nets to finish 44.4 percent from deep.
But, like so many NBA teams in both conferences so far this season, the Sixers have been a tough team to figure out. They’ve had their hot streaks and slumps where at times they’ve looked on the cusp of being elite whereas at other times they’ve looked downright mediocre. Perhaps no game is a better example of this than last night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors.
They scored more points than us. pic.twitter.com/ijWJhRSf5X
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 19, 2017
The Sixers got off to an unbelievable start which saw them put up 47 points in the first quarter against the defending champion Warriors and take a 22-point lead into halftime. They were in complete and total control of the game. However, then Philly went on to have a third quarter collapse which saw the relentless Warriors bounce back and log an astounding 47-15 quarter to eventually go on to win by eight.
The 76ers’ inconsistency as they go through some understandable growing pains with their young team will likely be their biggest obstacle throughout the season. And with such being the case, I’m feeling optimistic that the Jazz will be able to catch them on one of their down-swings on Monday. Utah will go into tomorrow’s contest with confidence after a big win whereas the Sixers will likely be feeling soul-crushed from their disappointing loss to the Warriors.
If both teams replicate their most recent performances, the Jazz should come away with a big win. I don’t quite believe that will be the case, but I think that Utah’s win over Orlando proved that Quin Snyder is slowly but surely figuring out the best way to utilize his players, organize his rotations and get the most out of his team.
With that being so, I’m going to go out on a limb and pick the Jazz as narrow winners in this contest as they’ll take what they’ve learned on the road trip so far to get revenge over the Sixers and close the four-game stint out with a W.
My Prediction: Jazz Win
Final Score: Utah 97, Philadelphia 94