About a month ago, Joel Embiid proclaimed that he believes himself to be the best defender in the NBA. Right now, he's certainly not showing it on the court. Instead, he is "anchoring" one of the most fantasy-friendly defenses in the NBA, and the Philadelphia 76ers showed that goodwill again on Thursday night against a Portland Trail Blazers squad that was missing its best player, Damian Lillard.
The Trail Blazers completed a huge comeback by outscoring Philadelphia 42-25 in the fourth quarter, receiving bigger-than-usual contributions from several players:
CJ McCollum led the way with 34 points on 20 field goal attempts, making all 14 free throw attempts and adding 7 rebounds and 4 assists to boot.
Shabazz Napier (available in 92 percent of leagues), started in place of Lillard and contributed 23 points (7-14 FG, 7-9 FT) with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 3-pointers.
Jusuf Nurkic had a huge game against Embiid directly, scoring 21 points on 13 field goal attempts with 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 TO in only 28 minutes.
This type of across-the-board production is very common for opponents of the 76ers, as they rank near the bottom of the NBA in fantasy points allowed to opposing centers (third-worst in the NBA), power forwards (eighth-worst), shooting guards (third-worst) and point guards (sixth-worst) for the season.
Often, it takes years for young big men to learn how to truly anchor a defense, so perhaps that's what is happening with Embiid. It has been suggested that he is not in the best game shape, because he has to sit out practice so often in order to maintain his health. Or maybe, the culprit is the fact that, as a young team, the 76ers are concentrating more on offense than defense. Whatever the reason, Philadelphia has a poor team defense and they play at a very high pace (second-fastest in the NBA). That makes them a great defense to target when looking for opposition streaming options on either a daily or weekly basis.
Thursday recap
Box scores
Highlights:
Eric Bledsoe, Milwaukee Bucks: 26 points (8-15 FG, 8-8 FT), 6 assists, 5 steals, 3 rebounds, 2 3-pointers, 4 TO
CJ McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers: 34 points (9-20 FG, 14-14 FT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 3-pointers, 1 steal, 3 TO
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons: 17 points (7-16 FG, 3-4 FT), 18 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal, 3 TO
Pau Gasol, San Antonio Spurs: 17 points (7-11 FG, 2-3 FT), 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 3-pointer, 0 TO
Lowlights:
Jonathon Simmons, Orlando Magic: 7 points (3-13 FG, 1-1 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 3 TO
Lance Thomas, New York Knicks: 0 points (0-1 FG), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 TO
Aron Baynes, Boston Celtics: 2 points (1-1 FG), 3 rebounds, 4 PF
Thursday takeaways
The Bucks were led on Thursday by another strong 20/10 game from Giannis Antetokounmpo, but it was Bledsoe who led Milwaukee in both scoring and assists, outplaying Khris Middleton (14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) in the secondary role. Bledsoe's penetrating, aggressive style may also have been responsible for the strong offensive game from big-man finisher John Henson (14 points, 7-7 FG). This marked Henson's (available in 77.2 percent of leagues) third double-digit scoring effort with a field-goal percentage over 63 percent in his last five games.
Drummond was his usual monster self in the middle for the Pistons on Thursday, but the bigger story for Detroit was that Ish Smith (available in 80 percent of leagues) stepped in smoothly for the injured Reggie Jackson, scoring 18 points (9-18 FG) with 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, with only 1 TO in 32 minutes of action.
Simmons had a weak game for the Magic, but the news of the night for Orlando was that Aaron Gordon returned and played solid (14 points, 6-12 FG, 2-2 FT, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block) in 30 minutes of action. Point guard Elfrid Payton continued his strong play as well, scoring 19 points with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal.
The Knicks continue to start Thomas at forward, but he was once again dramatically outplayed by Michael Beasley (available in 75.9 percent of leagues). Beasley popped for 23 points (9-13 FG, 5-5 FT), 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and only 1 TO in 33 minutes off the bench. He continues to produce whenever the Knicks give him the minutes, which makes it worth watching to see if they begin to expand his role.
Injuries of note
Rudy Gay injured his right heel late in the third quarter and didn't return. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard was sitting out on Thursday for a rest day as he works himself back into shape. The severity of Gay's injury is unknown, but his role was likely to shrink moving forward anyway as Leonard regains primacy.
Andrew Wiggins was limited by a sprained right ankle in the third quarter of Thursday night's game, but was able to return and finish the game with his ankle taped. He went 0-3 in the fourth quarter, however, and so far no word has been released as to whether the ankle will limit him moving forward.
Robert Covington injured his left middle finger and left Thursday's game in the third quarter. He didn't return, but hasn't yet been ruled out for Saturday's game.
Analytics advantage for Friday
On Friday night, five of the six fastest-paced teams in the NBA will play -- including the Lakers (fastest in the NBA at 101.7 possessions per game), Suns (100.8, t-2nd), Nets (100.5, 4th), Warriors (100.1, 5th) and Pelicans (99.8, 6th). If these teams are able to impose their faster pace on their opponents, it could lead to more possessions than usual for the Clippers, Kings, Heat, Hornets and Mavericks, respectively. This could bode well for streamable players such as Austin Rivers (available in 58 percent of leagues), Josh Richardson (available in 55.2 percent of leagues) and J.J. Barea (available in 72 percent of leagues).
Top players to watch tonight
Rajon Rondo is coming off an out-of-nowhere 25 assist performance in his last game. He had produced just 24 total assists over his previous five games combined. His huge Wednesday night helped contribute to all of the other four Pelicans starters scoring 20-plus points, a rare feat indeed. It's certainly worth watching to see if it can be replicated at any level on Friday.
Blake Griffin (knee) and Chris Paul (leg) are both officially listed as questionable on Friday. We'll have to see if either/both are able to return to the court after their injury absences and at what level they can play if they do hit the court.
Lance Stephenson (available in 88.6 percent of leagues) started on Wednesday in place of Victor Oladipo, scoring 16 points with 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in 36 minutes of action. Oladipo has been ruled out again for Friday, which gives Stephenson another opportunity to produce.
