NBA Games of the Week: Team names only
By Chazz Scogna
Thursday, Nov. 9: Philadelphia at Sacramento, 10:00 p.m. ET
It’s your favorite summer holiday. It’s the holiday colloquially named after its date, not the significance of the day. On July 4, 1776 the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence as its official break from the British colonies and King George III, thus becoming 13 sovereign colonies who formed the United States of America.
(Quick nerd aside: As an English major, one of my favorite things about the Declaration is it begins with a 71-word sentence. I wish 71-word sentences were still universally accepted in writing. It’s vintage and a break from the hyperfast internet culture. Now I get docked by the system if a sentence has more than 20 words.)
After a shaky start, the Sixers have put together some nice wins over Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Indiana. Ben Simmons looks like a superstar in the making, and his inability to shoot — all five of his 3-pointers are last-second heaves — hasn’t stopped him from shooting over 50 percent on the season. Joel Embiid played more than 30 minutes for the first time in his career against the Hawks. It’s a big deal. The team topped out at 36 assists on 46 made baskets. The Hawks scrambled to keep up with the Sixers’ ball movement and were punished with open 3-pointers all night.
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The Kings are what you’d expect from a team rebuilding. They’re near the bottom in nearly every statistical category. That’s OK. The point of this season is to work hard, let the vets ease the young guys into the rigors of the NBA and let the kids make their mistakes and grow.