Pistons vs Sixers preview: Let’s lose this again!

I am sure everybody had a great time on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers while watching Joel Embiid shoot 12 free throws, 10 of which came in the 1st half. But hey, at least the Pistons held Tyrese Maxey to 9 points on 2-of-13 shooting. Surely it was their defense and not a bad shooting night by the NBA’s most improved player.

There isn’t much more to say about this game, the Pistons are on a 21 game winning streak that is all but assured to move up to 22 by the end of the night. Maybe Jaden Ivey will get more than 20 minutes?

Game Vitals

Where: Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA
When: Friday, December 15 at 7 pm EST
Watch: Please don’t, it’s Friday
Odds: 76ers (-150.5)(it is actually -15.5, but that seems more realistic)

Analysis

Surely you have something better you can do on a Friday night than watch this game? There isn’t a whole lot that has changed since these two teams faced off on Wednesday.

Joel Embiid is really good, and he also gets a very friendly whistle from the refs and the Pistons foul more than anybody in the NBA. That is definitely a recipe for defeating the 76ers, right? The Pistons were able to shutdown Tyrese Maxey on Wednesday, and still lost by 18 points, which mostly came after the 76ers went up by 30 and pulled all their starters before the 4th quarter.

I doubt Maxey has another poor shooting night, and Isaiah Stewart doesn’t have the size to make Joel Embiid’s life difficult, so this should be a pretty easy win for the Sixers, unless they decide to use this as a rest night for their veterans. Even if the Sixers decide to do that, the Pistons will still probably get torched by Piston-killer Kelly Oubre and Tobias Harris.

There isn’t much more to say at this point. I want to highlight key matchups and things like that, but there simply isn’t much to watch for at this point. The Pistons are overmatched at every position no matter who they play.

One positive of Wednesday’s game was Cade Cunningham getting to the line during a poor shooting night. He actually matched Joel Embiid’s free throw total for the night with 12 himself. If he can learn to draw fouls like this consistently, it will bode well for his efficiency long term.

Despite Monty Williams acknowledging how well Jaden Ivey played on Monday against the Pacers and needing to utilize his basket attacking more, Ivey only played a whopping 21 minutes against the 76ers. Williams has a tendency to talk about things that he liked when talking to the media and how he wants to utilize those things that he liked more, only to proceed to do the same things he has been doing. It really is like banging your head against the wall constantly, being given a helmet to wear to protect your head, and then taking it off and continuing to do it.

If you like games with a lot of free throws being shot by the opposing team, this is the game for you. If not, I would probably skip this one.