By Dylan MacKinnon
The wait for Harden’s second game for the Sixers did not take as long as the wait for his first game. It took only a day. As Harden, Embiid, on the Sixers are set to take on the Knicks in their second game together today at 1 pm. But with how well game 1 went, a single day may have felt like a long wait for Sixers fans. The Sixers blew the T-Wolves out by 31, and Embiid, Harden, and Maxey all played fantastically.
There was hype for this team going into the game. But coming off it? Suffice to say the phone lines here at the Fanatic were blowing up all day yesterday, and they were not calling to talk about the Eagles. The city is buzzing. All eyes will be on the Sixers every time they step on the court.
And the person having the most fun might be Embiid. He gushed about playing with harden after the game.
"That was probably the most wide-open I've ever been in my career."
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 26, 2022
Safe to say Embiid already loves playing with James Harden 😂
(via @NBCSPhilly)pic.twitter.com/kuFuJ3Gqee
Today they take on the Knicks. And the Knicks have not been very good. They have 3 wins in their last 17 games. And now Derrick rose is out with an injury. Meanwhile, Kemba Walker has been benched for the rest of the year. After a promising year last season, they have fallen back down to Earth, and are currently the 12 seed, and sitting at 25-35.
Sixers enter the game as 8 point favorites on the road. With the Bulls losing last night, a win today will put the Sixers 1.5 games out of the 2 seed. They would be 2.5 behind the Heat for the one seed. The Bucks also lost last night, meaning the Sixers can go 1.5 games ahead of them. The Eastern Conference standings are fairly tight, with just 4.5 games separating the 6 seed and the 1 seed, so every game could matter in the long run.
Devon Givens starts our coverage of the game at 12:50 with the Pre-Game Show. And then Tom McGinnis is on the call starting at 1pm.