Ah well, the Sixers fell to the Raptors last night in what was a fairly competitive game but the Raptors were just always a step or two ahead. The Raptors are playing good basketball right now and they are really deep overall. They had five players score 15+ points against the Sixers and it was just an attack from all angles. RJ Barrett is coming into his own as a player, and Immanuel Quickley was really clutch on several occasions as well.
Tyrese Maxey wasn't quite as sharp as he typically is but even so he had a decent outing. Maxey actually got dinged up a bit which is the last thing the Sixers need, I was definitely really scared for a minute watching him in seemingly a decent amount of pain. He is day to day with a quadriceps injury but it's looking like he's gonna play tonight. If he can manage to get through tonight's game, the Sixers don't play again until Sunday which is decent I guess. That game is in the afternoon though unfortunately but it's still better than nothing. The Sixers already don't have Embiid lately and Adem Bona and Kelly Oubre Jr. are also out.
A pinch of good news is that Paul George is going to be playing tonight, and Jared McCain is hopefully on his way to showing progress. McCain played 14 minutes last night and scored 5. With the Sixers being so deep at guard McCain is in an interesting place in his career. I'm curious to see how he handles everything. He does appear a bit slow at the moment which is understandable but once upon a time (just a year ago) Sixers fans, including myself, were very hyped on him.
So yeah tonight the Sixers face the challenge of not just having a back to back, but traveling to Milwaukee as well. Philly to Milwaukee is not a massive trip but I mean it's not like going to New York or D.C. or something. The flight itself is two hours and 15 minutes-ish according to my hasty google search. That's actually admittedly pretty short but again, they played a game only 24 hours ago. It doesn't take a math wiz to understand that that can still be mildly challenging, especially considering the process of getting ready to leave and getting settled in etc.
But yeah, the Sixers are facing an 8-7 Bucks team WITHOUT Giannis Antetokounmpo. I still have a lot of respect for players like Myles Turner and Bobby Portis so it's not going to just be a walk in the park by any means.
The Sixers are way better than last year but they still need to find their way a bit. They started quite hot but have since been a .500 team pretty much. I like what I see still and am excited to watch V.J. Edgecombe develop more.
Sixers basketball two days in a row, pretty epic!
