The Philadelphia 76ers will strive to continue their improved play of late when they visit Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Philadelphia has had a few days off since picking up an impressive 118-114 win over the host Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. That was the Sixers’ eighth win in its past 11 games, renewing their optimism for this season.
“We got a high ceiling,” 76ers star Joel Embiid said after totaling 27 points and nine rebounds against the Celtics. “It’s all about us putting it together. I don’t think that was close to our best basketball, but we got a pretty good chance. So it’s all about looking for some luck, and staying healthy.”
Since falling in overtime to the Houston Rockets on Nov. 27 to drop to 3-14, the Sixers have been on a tear. More recently, they have won two straight and four of five.
The game against the Celtics marked just the sixth time that Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have been available at the same time. Considering they’re only 1 1/2 games out of play-in contention entering play Friday, they like their chances if they can keep those three together on the court.
Maxey had 33 points and 12 assists against Boston, and Philadelphia also got a nice contribution from Caleb Martin (seven 3-pointers, 23 points).
Maxey said the 76ers are “a lot different” than they were a month ago when they were languishing around the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
“But I said it back then, just give us some time. It was difficult because guys were in and out and we finally thought that we were going to have everybody playing. I got hurt. That sucks. You know what I mean?” Maxey said. “I had a little rhythm going a little bit and then I get hurt and then we got to restart, figure it all out. I come back, Joel gets hurt. We got to figure it all out again.
“I think the biggest thing that we’ve really done is we’ve come together a lot more,” Maxey added. “I feel like we had a lot of new guys. I don’t know how many new people we have, like seven or something like that, and it’s difficult. You don’t know how you want to play. You don’t know what combinations go with each other. I think we’re finally figuring that out.”
The Jazz have won only three of their last 13 games in that same time frame as Philadelphia, but they like some of the progress they’re making in their rebuilding process.
After winning consecutive games for the first time all season last week, they finished a five-game road trip with tough losses at Cleveland and Portland. They were in the thick of things late in both games. In fact, Utah was tied with Portland on Thursday night after Lauri Markkanen hit a late 3-pointer — until the final tenth of a second of the game, when Scoot Henderson drained a game-winning bucket.
Jazz coach Will Hardy had positive things to say about Markkanen, who scored 25 points against the Blazers, and the team’s three rookies. Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski each had nice contributions in Portland.
“The most important thing for me is building those foundational habits of competitiveness every night,” Hardy said. “I’m happy with all their progress.”
