It's become almost as overquoted as the Phillies having won more
recently than the Eagles (not true anymore, right?), but it remains
nearly as stunning: The Philadelphia 76ers have not won back-to-back
games since November. (Like, of 2012.) Not like they've won a ton of
games period over that stretch—just eight games total since we
won three in a row at the end of November—but damn, not having a single
winning streak of any length for nearly two months is pretty damn
embarrassing. Even for a team as subpar as these Sixers, it can't be
totally impossible to win two in a row, right?
Well, we got one
Saturday against the Knicks, but to get that elusive second-straight W,
we'll have to beat the Memphis Grizzlies for the second time this
season. The 28-15 Grizz were a surprisingly easy matchup the last time
the two teams faced, but the win felt fluky and Dorell Wright, the guy
who keyed the victory, is in the midst of being inexplicably doghouse'd
by Coach Collins. The Sixers will have the advantage of Memphis being on
the long end of a back-to-back, and they should ostensibly still have
some momentum from the New York blowout, but when you've got Thaddeus
Young and Spencer Hawes expected to battle with Zach Randolph and Marc
Gasol for the better part of 48 minutes, you can't ever feel
super-confident about your chances.
7:00 tip from the WFC. Chris
Vito quotes Tony DiLeo saying Bynum should be ready to practice "by the
first week of February," which by my calculations is "next week." So
there's that, at least.
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