Pistons vs. Sixers preview: Jerami Grant, veterans back in the lineup vs. Sixers

Jerami Grant and a host of Detroit Pistons veterans are available against the Philadelphia 76ers, perhaps for one final run as the season winds down. Grant has missed 11 of Detroit’s past 16 games, but he’s likely suiting up tonight. Grant is listed as questionable and is joined in that designation by fellow vets Cory Joseph and Wayne Ellington. Mason Plumlee is not on the injury list at all, nor is rookie Killian Hayes. Still out for Detroit is Hamidou Diallo, Josh Jackson, Rodney McGruder and Dennis Smith Jr.

Game Vitals

When: 7 p.m. EST
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Watch: Bally Sports Detroit+
Odds: Detroit +10.5

Analysis

If you’re going to be forced to play your best players, perhaps at the behest of the NBA commissioner’s office, you could do a lot worse than play them against the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference in the midst of a seven-game winning streak.

In those seven games, Philadelphia is absolutely walloping its opponents. The Sixers are beating teams by an average of 19 points courtesy of a potent offense led by MVP candidate Joel Embiid and the league’s stingiest defense.

Embiid is giving the team 24.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.1 stocks while shooting 50.4% from the floor and a ridiculous 91.2% from the line on more than eight free-throw attempts per game. His gravity and Ben Simmons’ ability to distribute are finding quality looks for everyone on the floor. During the seven-game win streak, Seth Curry is hitting 57% from 3 on six attempts per game, Simmons is shooting 67.3% on a diet almost exclusively at the rim, and Tobias Harris is quietly doing his efficient third-banana thing hitting 51.1% of his shots including 444.4% from deep.

This doesn’t look like a game likely to go Detroit’s way, but it could be a fun test for No. 1 scorer Jerami Grant to return to the lineup against the team that drafted him in the second round in the throes of The Process.

It’ll also be an opportunity for a bounce back game for Killian Hayes. Simmons is an excellent defender, but Hayes could generate some steals and quality looks in transition.

Finally, and hopefully, this is a chance to see our old friend Anthony Tolliver. Tolliver was recently signed to a guaranteed contract after a couple 10-day stints with Philadelphia, and he looks to add some shooting and veteran leadership to the title-contending Sixers.

Tolliver hasn’t played much lately, but if this games gets a bit out of hand, we could re-enter the Tolliverse, and I am all here for that.