Embiid takes on Whiteside in Sixers’ first look of Heat

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Tip-off: 8 pm ❖ Location: Philadelphia, PA ❖ TV: ESPN/NBCSP ❖ Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic 

The Sixers (24-24) return home and try to get their season back on the right track on Friday night, when the Miami Heat (29-22) come to Philly.

The Sixers have fell in their last three games, losing to the Thunder, Bucks, and Nets in a span of three days. For a team that started the month of January hot and ended it not, February is hoping to shape up in the right way for the team.

The Heat are coming off a two-point defeat to the Cavs in Cleveland, and have kind of shifted their success in a bit of rut, not really able to gain ground after losing two games, winning two games, and falling again. Miami hasn't been the kind of team that we saw just a few weeks ago, in the midst of their seven-game winning streak that got them into the position they are now.

Coming off third All-Star snub, Ben Simmons seeks vengeance once again

Sixers point guard Ben Simmons has had an interesting last couple weeks, after getting snubbed as an All-Star reserve by the coaches, and then as a replacement John Wall, and now Kevin Love. 

Deservedly so, Wall was replaced by Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond, but Love was replaced by Heat guard Goran Dragic.

The last two times Simmons has been passed up on in making the All-Star Game, the 6' 10" guard had himself some pretty impressive outings for the Sixers.

Check out his statlines in those particular games in the table below. There was literally nothing stopping Simmons, who was definitely just trying to prove a major point.

The Sixers' matchup with the Chicago Bulls came a night after the NBA announced the reserves for this year's All-Star Game, in which Simmons put up the most impressive triple-double of his rookie season, totaling five on the season. Simmons got his triple-double early in the third quarter.

After that performance, Simmons slid into third in the NBA this season in triple-doubles with five, trailing only LeBron James (7) and Russell Westbrook (14). Simmons also joined elite company with Oscar Robertson (21) and Alvan Adams (5) with the most career triple-doubles through the first 50 games of his career.

The Brooklyn game was the following day that Andre Drummond replaced John Wall in the All-Star game, in which he put up that amazing statline proving yet another point.

Tonight, a game after Ben Simmons was snubbed by the league for the third time in two weeks, he'll have a chance to prove yet another point that maybe he was the right choice to get in.

However, unlike all the other games Simmons played following snubs, he will have a chance to take on the player that took Kevin Love's spot firsthand in Dragic.

Honestly, stats tell a story at times that better explains certain situations especially when it comes to picking a player over another player. Look at these statlines and then tell me that Goran Dragic deserved the All-Star nod over Simmons.

Ben Simmons

16.7 PPG
52.8 FG%
7.8 REB
7.3 AST
1.8 STL

Goran Dragic

17.0 PPG
43.7 FG%
4.1 REB
4.8 AST
0.8 STL#NBAAllStar

— Jesse James Larch (@JesseLarch) February 1, 2018

I didn't think so.

Sixers to debut City Edition uniforms and court

It honestly feels like this is about time for the Sixers to unveil their new uniform and court designs as part of the new NBA "City Edition" line.

Many teams have already played a few games wearing the uniforms, and the Sixers will become the latest to do it tonight vs. Miami.

Along with the uniforms will come a brand new court design honoring the Sixers' City roots revolving around the Liberty Bell and Philly's revolutionary roots.

Embiid vs. Whiteside: Reborn

We all remember a little preseason scuffle with Joel Embiid going one-on-one with Heat center Hassan Whiteside. Honestly, it's not even completely remembered for the on-court product as much as it is remembered for what happened off the court.

On the court duing the game, Embiid had Whiteside laughing with his trash talk. Especially when Whiteside drew his third foul of the game against Embiid in just the first 2:21 of the contest, motioning for Whiteside to take a seat.

And then post-game, the craziness ensued on Twitter, between the big men.

And keep caring about stats and not your team success….. your +/- was ass @youngwhiteside #Softy

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017

@JoelEmbiid 31 games in 3yrs Hopefully I get to see you regular season🤷🏽‍♂️😂🤷🏽‍♂️😂 #SolarEclipse #EmbiidEclipse https://t.co/iaFfK3h3V6

— Hassan Whiteside (@youngwhiteside) October 14, 2017

Embiid went on to say that the exchange was "all in good fun," and that the league "they call me the Social Media King."

Nonetheless, going into the team's first matchup of the sesaon, Embiid has pretty much owned the court this season for the Sixers, while Whiteside's stats haven't been as dominant.

Whiteside is averaging 14.4 points, 11.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 0.7 steals this season in 33 games for Miami.

Embiid is averaging 23.8 points, 11 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 0.6 steals in 38 games for the Sixers.

It's definitely going to be a matchup to remember between the two fierce competitors.

Redick's return helps the Sixers succeed more

Even in the middle of a three-game slide, JJ Redick, who was out the last two weeks with a slightly broken bone in his leg, returned and scored 20 points against the Nets.

Redick's return brings stability to the two-guard position and opens up avenues with more and more scoring production. With still no Markelle Fultz, Jerryd Bayless out of action, and the hot-and-cold streakiness of Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, the Sixers could hardly afford to lose Redick to anymore significant time.

Against the Bucks this past week, the Sixers shot a horrid 2-for-26 from beyond the arc. Redick has been the Sixers' most reliable three-point shooter this season by far, shooting a team-high 41.1% from downtown.

In Redick's absence, the Sixers have had to rely on Robert Covington and Dario Saric quite a bit to shoot the three-ball.

In his last five games, Covington has shot an abysmal 33% from three, significantly short of his season average of 38%.

Saric doesn't shoot from outside nearly as much as Covington does, but he did help the Sixers stay in games when they relied on Redick heavily in the past.

Saric has shot a pretty solid 42% from three in his last five games, with his 0-for-8 performance against the Bucks on January 29 being a pretty big outlier.

There's no doubt that having Redick in the game allows the Sixers to succed way more, however, his return doesn't guarantee wins, it just exponentially increases production, which is the big key for winning games.

Matchup Preview  |  February 2, 2018
	@
Miami Heat (29-22, 16-12 Away)		Philadelphia 76ers (24-24, 12-10 Home)
Stats Comparison 100.2 Points Per Game 107.9 100.9 PPG Allowed 106.9 45.4 Field Goal % 46.5 75.4 Free Throw % 76.8 35.9 3-Point % 35.9 42.4 Rebounds 46.9 5.3 Blocks 5.1 7.1 Steals 8.1 14.3 Turnovers 17 Projected Starters Goran Dragic Point Guard Ben Simmons Tyler Johnson Shooting Guard JJ Redick Josh Richardson Small Forward Robert Covington James Johnson Power Forward Dario Saric Hassan Whiteside Center Joel Embiid Injury Report Dion Waiters (ankle/out)   Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (illness/questionable) Okaro White (foot/out)   Markelle Fultz (shoulder/out) Rodney McGruder (leg/questionable)