In our very first Charting the NBA’s Atlantic Division installment, the Toronto Raptors will look to continue its early season roll
Welcome one and all to the first installment of Charting the Atlantic. In these weekly posts we’ll comb through the upcoming week for each Atlantic Division team, make predictions, and highlight players to watch out for.
Without further ado let’s dive in and take a look at what’s going on in the Atlantic this week in the NBA:
Philadelphia 76ers
Current Record: (7-29)
(End of Week) Predicted Record: (8-32)
The Philadelphia 76ers, a team perceived by many at the start of the NBA season to be slated for a historically bad year, are surprisingly not even at the bottom of their division (the Knicks catastrophe can be thanked for that, but we’ll get to that in a bit).
They get their week underway on Tuesday night in the Wells Fargo Center, where they’ll play host to the Atlanta Hawks (29-8). The tale of the tape is pretty telling in this matchup: the Sixers rank dead last in the NBA in PPG and in the bottom 10 in Opponent PPG. The Hawks, on the other hand, rank 7th and 4th in those categories, respectively.
This game should end with the 76ers’ 30th loss of the season, making them the 3rd team to lose 30 games so far this season (the first two were the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks). Brett Brown’s squad will then head north of the border on Wednesday to visit the division rival Toronto Raptors (25-11). This game will most certainly see the 76ers giving up a lot of points as their defense won’t be able to contend with the Raptors’ top tier, widespread offense.
The final two games on the 76ers’ schedule for this upcoming week, vs. New Orleans Pelicans (18-18) and at the Detroit Pistons (13-24), provide a better opportunity for a Philadelphia win. The Pelican’s defensive strength this year has once again been centered around Anthony Davis‘ interior presence. That, coupled with the 76ers’ 3-point field goal percentage (ranked dead last in the NBA), spells disaster for any chance of Philadelphia’s offense getting going.
Despite the struggles, this young Sixers team has had some success on the road this season, their bright spot has been the offensive abilities of their backcourt duo of Michael Carter-Williams and Tony Wroten. The lack of adept perimeter defenders on this year’s Pistons squad opens the door for one or both of the Philly guards to have a huge game.
Player to Watch: In two out of the four games that Philadelphia will play this week, they’ll face big men who’ve been All-Stars within the last 5 years (Horford, Millsap, and Davis). In the other two games they face up-and-coming big men (Valanciunas, Drummond, and Monroe) as well as teams that are very aggressive when it comes to attacking the basket.
If there is anyone that the 76ers need a big week from, it’s rookie big man Nerlens Noel. His defensive presence and instincts have long been his strongest qualities, and a strong defensive stand from him could be the difference between the team going winless this week or picking up a couple of Ws.
Next: Boston Celtics