By: Kylan Watson

With two games left before the All- Star Break the Philadelphia 76ers are rolling as they swept their two-game New York series. Tonight, they faced a game Houston Rockets team that beat them earlier this season. Philly used a three-point barrage to beat the Rockets 123-104.

Philly jumped on the Rockets from the opening tip-off, they kept the ball moving and found high percentage shots. It did not matter where they were shooting from the ball found the bottom of the net. Specifically, from three-point range they were deadly hitting 15/33 three-pointers, which gave them enough room to attack the basket because the Rockets just could not stop them. Philly was led by the trio of James Harden (28-points, had 10-assists, and hit four three-pointers), Tyrese Maxey (26-points, had six assists, and hit four three-pointers tonight), and Joel Embiid (23-points) who combined for 77 of Philly’s 123-points.  The Rockets had no answers for them, they were dominating them from the perimeter and the paint. When this trio is on there is simply nothing the opponent can do to stop the offensive attack of the Sixers. Philly is continuing to get hot and healthy at the same time and they are becoming a dangerous team in the loaded Eastern Conference.

Despite the dominance of the trio of Harden, Maxey, and Embiid, Houston continued to fight. They just did not have it from the three-point line. They only made six/23 three-pointers tonight and that was thanks to the length of the Sixers defenders. Philly made them a jump shooting team and they could not answer the bell tonight. Jalen Green was the only one who came to play in the contest.  He scored 29 points and got whatever he wanted from the field. The Sixers were able to keep everyone else in check and that was the difference in this game.

The Sixers will now prepare to face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. They will need to continue to use ball movement to get high percentage shots and take full advantage of the Cavaliers’ overaggressive defensive play. Additionally, they will need to stay attached to their man and communicate on the defensive end if they want to hold Donovan Mitchell in check. If the Sixers can do these things on Wednesday, they can get their 38^th victory of the season.