GDT: Minnesota vs. Philadelphia

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Tonight is James Harden's debut for the Sixers. They're favored on the road against our Wolves by 3.0 points as of right now. I would absolutely love to see a juiced up Minnesota squad hand them a disappointing loss, essentially forcing national sports media to give our team even more respect.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid have supposedly squashed whatever beef they had between them, but I don't really buy it. I still think they have strong dislike for each other and always ramp it up for this matchup. Minnesota needs Towns to play much better than he did last night and stay focused on the actual game rather than the officiating.

The same goes for Anthony Edwards. D'Angelo Russell told him last night that tonight would be his night after having another rough game shooting the basketball. Let's hope he's right. The Wolves need him to be a big contributor.

I'm also curious to see if Patrick Beverley plays tonight. The organization had been relatively cautious with him on the second game of a back-to-back leading up to the All-Star break. Minnesota has three straight back-to-backs to start the second half including tonight. What will they do with him? Is he close to 100-percent? Will they rest him anyways to be safe?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Additionally, I think a big part of the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade that didn't get discussed enough was the decision to include Seth Curry. That's a pretty important player that Philadelphia no longer has. The Sixers still have Georges Niang, Danny Green, and Tyrese Maxey effectively spacing the floor, but I'd argue Curry was by far the most reliable among those names despite what the percentages say this season.

Lastly, Joel Embiid shot 21 (!) free throw attempts in the first matchup. Don't forget how atrocious the officiating was. Hopefully, the game is called evenly tonight despite Ed Malloy being the crew chief.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Additionally, I think a big part of the Ben Simmons-James Harden trade that didn't get discussed enough was the decision to include Seth Curry. That's a pretty important player that Philadelphia no longer has. The Sixers still have Georges Niang, Danny Green, and Tyrese Maxey effectively spacing the floor, but I'd argue Curry was by far the most reliable among those names despite what the percentages say this season.

Lastly, Joel Embiid shot 21 (!) free throw attempts in the first matchup. Don't forget how atrocious the officiating was. Hopefully, the game is called evenly tonight despite Ed Malloy being the crew chief.

Still the "best" (most satisfying) win of the season for me.

I thought the officiating in that game was truly abysmal. For the record, the Wolves team combined for 16 FTAs in 58 minutes in the first game.

[Crazysauce]

Ed Malloy will be crew chief tonight for game. Not good.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Finch try to coordinate his substitutions to where Jaden McDaniels is only on the floor when James Harden is. I like that matchup for Minnesota as long as McDaniels can avoid picking up fouls, and it proved to be an effective strategy in their last meeting. Also might be a good matchup for Anthony Edwards to keep him engaged in the game.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Minnesota's back to hedging ball screens instead of switching as they've been doing of late.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Here we go with the minimal contact fouls in favor of Joel Embiid. Unbelievable.

[KiwiMatt]

Here we go with the minimal contact fouls in favor of Joel Embiid. Unbelievable.

Yep the difference between how him and KAT are officiated is disgraceful.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Anthony Edwards has to get better at finding his offense within the flow. He's almost exclusively an isolation scorer.

[KiwiMatt]

Embiid will be gifted more free throws tonight than the entire Wolves team. I guarantee it.