By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers faced off with the up and coming Houston Rockets this afternoon to kick off the NBA’s Martin Luther King Holiday slate of games. The Rockets offered a unique challenge for the Sixers as another team with an explosive and athletic backcourt. Philly was up to the challenge in this game they shut off the Rockets from the basket, and Joel Embiid carried them to an 124-115 victory in this contest.

Philly picked up right where they left off on Friday night, they shot the lights out in the first quarter. Their first possession ended with a Tobias Harris three-point basket to start their offensive rhythm and once they got going there was nothing the Rockets could do to stop them. The emphasis to keep Harris involved in this game was big for the Sixers he has found his scoring prowess once again and should be one of the Sixers top offensive options because an aggressive Harris adds another dimension to Philly’s offense. Additionally, Joel Embiid returned from his knee injury and only needed three quarters to exert his dominance.  He scored 41-points, grabbing 10-rebounds, and had three-assists (Pushed his streak to 16-straight game of 30-points and 10-rebound, also got his 42^nd career 40-point game). This was the first time he has played a game for Philly since January 5^th, 2023 and he continued his two- way dominance. Embiid made some big plays during this game on both sides of the ball and kept the Rockets from attacking the paint and his presence allowed Philly to be way more aggressive on the defensive end. This forced the Rockets into turnovers which led to run outs and easy baskets.  When the Sixers play aggressive basketball on both sides of the ball there are not many teams in the association that can keep up with them and that showed in this game.  In one sequence in this contest Joel Embiid erased a lay-up attempt by Houston and sent the ball into the first row of the Wells Fargo Center.

The Rockets continued to fight in this game despite the scoring explosion from Embiid. The Sixers made them extremely uncomfortable on the defensive end they shut down the paint and made Alperen Sengun (19-points only made seven/15 shots) and Jalen Green (20-points only made seven/16 shots) worked for every point tonight. The duo combined for 39 of the Rockets’ 115-points and they were swarmed by the aggressive defensive play of the Sixers. They did the same thing to Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox on Friday and the strategy worked to perfection today too they were able to force turnovers and ill-advised shots which led to easy baskets for the Sixers. They made someone else beat them in this contest and no other Rocket could meet the moment and make Philly pay for swarming both Green and Sengun and that was the difference in this contest. If the Sixers can dominate on both sides of the ball like they did tonight they are a championship contender in the loaded Eastern Conference.

The Sixers will now prepare for tomorrow night’s  game against the Denver Nuggets. While the majority of the attention will be focused on the battle between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Philly will need to stay attached to their man and force the Nuggets to take difficult and well contested shots. Jokic and Murray will get theirs but if they can shut down Denver’s role players they can stop Denver’s explosive offense. Additionally, Philly will need to continue to keep the ball moving on the offensive side. This style of play creates high-percentage shot opportunities that they must cash in on like they did in today’s contest. If they can implement these things into their gameplan for tomorrow night they can get their 26^th victory of the season.