By: Kylan Watson

The Detroit Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers traveled back to Philadelphia for the finale of their two-game series. Despite a strong effort from the young Pistons. Philly dominated this game from start to finish once again and swept them off the floor 124-92 extending their win streak to five-games and Detroit’s losing streak to 22.

Detroit had a better start in this contest than they did on Wednesday on their home floor. They were able to hit their shots early in the contest and build up some confidence. However, despite their early effort the Sixers were able to weather the early storm and take the lead. Once they got the lead they did not look back, Joel Embiid led them he scored 20 of his 35-points by half-time, grabbed 13-rebounds, and had four-blocks. This was his ninth straight game of scoring 30-points and grabbing at least 10-rebounds a new franchise record passing Wilt Chamberlain. Embiid has molded his game to be whatever the Sixers need throughout the ebbs and flows of a game. In this contest they needed his two-way ability to deter the Pistons from attacking the basket which he did tonight. He had four blocks and his early activity had Detroit’s players thinking twice about attacking the basket. They forced up well contested shots and turned the ball over 21-times in this game. That propelled Philly’s offensive attack allowing them to get easy baskets and wide-open three-point opportunities. Additionally, during these last five games Philly is developing a killer instinct. They have not given their opponents any opportunity to get back in the game and this has allowed Embiid and the rest of the starters to rest during the fourth quarter because of their huge leads. This dominance will pay dividends later in the season and on nights like tonight where they have a back-to-back and have to play a day later.

Once again, the Pistons were dominated on both sides of the ball. However, they put up more fight in this contest than the previous one. The duo of James Wiseman (20-points) and Bojan Bogdanovic (17-points) combined for 37 of Detroit’s 92-points, even though Philly’s defenders made them work for every point. They kept their team in this contest as best they could before turnovers and the Sixers aggressive defensive scheme shut them down and forced someone else to beat them and their teammates could not answer the challenge. The Pistons have a lot of good young pieces, but they will need to use this time to figure out which players are foundational and which ones are not needed. One thing Detroit should do to improve their fortunes is take Jaden Ivey off the bench and insert him back into the starting five. He is a generational talent, and he could change their fortunes exponentially and get them back into the win column.

The Sixers will now prepare to face the Charlotte Hornets tomorrow night. They will need to stay attached to their man to keep the explosive Hornets backcourt in check. Additionally, they will need to keep using ball movement to create high percentage shots on the offensive side. When the ball is moving it finds the most available player and when it is working as well as it did tonight it adds another dimension to the Sixers offense and makes them one of the best scoring offenses in the league. If they can implement these things, they can get their 18^th win of the season.