The 76ers (40-23), came out of the All Star break with news that it’s All Star Center Joel Embiid would be out with left knee tendinitis. The games still had to be played and with 3 all star caliber players lets see how Philly fared without Joel in the last 5 games.

The first game, which was briefly mentioned in my last post, featured the Sixers vs. their playoff rivals of last season, the Miami Heat. The Sixers came away with a 106-102 win with Tobias Harris leading the way with 23 points and Boban Marjanovic dominating most of the first quarter. As usual, Dwayne Wade was a menace to the Sixers as he has been throughout his career. Side note: I know Wade is on his “farewell tour” but it looks like this guy can play another year or two if he’s playing only 20-25 mins a game off the bench. He’s averaging 14 points a game and still hitting game winners. Carmelo, take note. You could be a key contributor off the bench for a contender and still be respected as an all time great. But nooooooo, you have to start on every team you go to. Sorry for the soap box moment.

The next game was a Saturday afternoon slacking by the the Portland Trailer Blazers 130-115. Even though the loss was “only” a 15 point loss, it was more of a 25, 30 point deficit the entire game. The Blazers are 19-5 against the eastern conference this season and it showed that they have the East’s number. Ben Simmons (29 pts, 10 ast, 7 rebs) and Tobias Harris (20 pts, 8 rebs) seem like they were the only ones who got up for this early start game. Nurkic and Kanter dominated Sixers even with Boban at center. By the way, have you guys watched Amir Johnson on the court. He’s like a living corpse out there when he’s playing. All of the Trailblazers took advantage of Amir on pick and rolls and on the offensive/defensive boards. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because he’s had a ton of DNP’s this season and he could be rusty. With a little foreshadowing, hopefully injuries won’t have Amir Johnson out there getting cooked like BBQ chicken on the grill.

Next, the Sixers eked out wins on a 2 game western conference road trip. They defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 111-110, in a game that looked to be a blow out but turned into a game that the Sixers had to hold on dearly to win. New Orleans had a chance once Jonathon Simmons missed both his free throws with 9 seconds remaining (The Simmons on the team you would expect to hit free throws). We were saved by Jimmy Butler’s game saving block on E’Twaun Moore’s desperation three point attempt at the buzzer. The Sixers did lose something that game, the presence of Boban Marjanovic. In the final minutes of the game he injured his knee going for a loose ball. Luckily it’s not serious and he will be back in a few weeks.

The second game of the two game roadie was against the “rival” OKC Thunder. How did this become a rivalry? I think all the Embiid/Westbrook bad blood has turned these games into must see TV. This game was on TNT with no Embiid or Paul George (shoulder soreness) but still turned out to be a good game. Tobias and Jimmy lead the way on this one with the Sixers controlling the game for the majority of the 48 minutes. Sixers won a rough one in a hostile environment 108-104. Btw, paging J.J. Redick, paging Mr. Redick. J.J. has been on the side of a milk carton since the all star break and Embiid’s absence. His dribble hand off action with Embiid frees him up so much that maybe he is just out of sync. Hopefully he will get out of his slump soon because they will need him.

Finally, the Sixers ended with a Saturday night primetime game against the Warriors. This game had a great effort from Ben “Not a Rookie” Simmons, who had a triple double to lead the way. Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris had great games as well but some suspect coaching and missed shots down the stretch did the Sixers in. The Warriors left Philly feeling like they stole a game and they should feel like that. Hopefully the next time the Sixers play them, it will be in June.