Without Fultz, Sixers look to avoid Utah Summer League sweep vs. Spurs

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Philadelphia 76ers (0-2) are in search of their first win of the Summer League in the final matchup in Utah before heading out to Las Vegas in a couple days.

The Sixers will take on the Spurs (1-1) on Thursday night, and they'll be without their star point guard Markelle Fultz, who was already announced on Wednesday post-game as being a healthy scratch.

Fultz was dominant last night for the Sixers in a 23-point effort featuring four baskets from long range. The Sixers, who trailed as much as 24 points at one point, battled all the way back in the fourth quarter to fall to the Jazz by six points.

The Sixers will have to make do tonight without Fultz, and rely more on their backups including Melo Trimble, who was one of the first Sixers off the bench on Wednesday.

However, the Sixers got impressive minutes from Alex Poythress and Brandon Austin, who combined for 33 points on the night.


Avoiding the sweep won't be easy:

A lot of people thought the Sixers would be one of the best Summer League squads right out of the gate, however, it's obvious that in only two "official" games together, growing pains between the players have been plenty apparent.

The Spurs are coming off of a win over the Celtics (1-1) on Wednesday night, and they were able to be victorious, despite Jayson Tatum having another impressive night for the C's. Tatum had 23 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, yet they still fell by 11.

Without Fultz, the Spurs won't have to give as much attention to the one as if Fultz was there, instead they can play harder defense against players that have more of a difficult time with their ball handling.

For the Spurs last night, Bryn Forbes had a monstrous night for San Antonio, totaling 31 points, including 6-of-8 from three. For a player undrafted in 2016, and spending most of his time with G-League Austin, Forbes showed how impressive he can be for his NBA squad.

Also for San Antonio, Davis Bertans had 14 points in 27 minutes on Wednesday against the Celtics. He tacked on four boards, and went 4-of-8 from downtown.

The Spurs used an impressive 46.4-percent from the three point line to pace themselves to an 81-70 victory.

The Sixers will need to utilize their entire lineup in order to knock of the Spurs, who have played well as of late. The loss of Fultz in the rotation for Thursday night may cause mayhem for a team that struggled in the first three quarters without him.

They will need to rely on the services of Jonah Bolden and yes, Furkan Korkmaz, who was basically invisible on Wednesday, in order to find a viable option of winning their first game of the Summer League.

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