76ers at Pistons
The Philadelphia 76ers looked every bit the Eastern Conference title contenders they believe themselves to be while they were rolling over the Boston Celtics in the season opener on Wednesday. The 76ers will try to bully their way to a second straight victory when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
Philadelphia built its roster around size with veteran center Al Horford joining star center Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris in the frontcourt and Josh Richardson pairing with 6-10 point guard Ben Simmons in the backcourt, and physicality showed in a 107-93 win over Boston. "Overall the mentality was to go in and (play) 'smashmouth basketball,' as coach says, and I think we did a pretty good job," 76ers rookie forward Matisse Thybulle told reporters. "We always have room to build, but to set the tone, this way was really good for us." The Pistons had the misfortune of playing a back-to-back on the first two days of the season and earned a win at Indiana in the opener but could not muster the energy to fight off the Atlanta Hawks in a 117-110 home setback on Thursday. "Everybody has 41 (home games) and 41 (road games) - we can't use that as an excuse," Detroit coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "But I didn't think we had our legs shooting and it showed in the second half. We can't use that as an excuse, but it's very difficult to start the season with a back to back."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia, FS Detroit
ABOUT THE 76ERS (1-0): The starting five are all established players in the league but the wild card for Philadelphia is Thybulle, a 6-5 shooting guard who is coming off the bench and adding to the team's defensive intensity. "I've not seen a rookie come in with his defensive skills and that's impressive," Harris told ESPN. "The only guy I would say is Kawhi (Leonard), coming in as a rookie, everybody knew he was a top defender." The defense helped the team overcome a 7-of-29 effort from 3-point range as Horford, Embiid and Richardson combined to go 2-of-14.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (1-1): Star forward Blake Griffin (hamstring, knee) sat out each of the first two games and Andre Drummond carried the load with 32 points and 23 rebounds in the opener but couldn't quite match that effort the next night. The star center collected 21 points and 12 rebounds against the Hawks but was part of a Detroit effort that managed 37 points in the second half after scoring 63 in the first. Former MVP Derrick Rose led the way with 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting in 25 minutes off the bench but was 1-of-4 from the field in the fourth quarter.
BUZZER BEATERS1. Pistons PG Reggie Jackson left Thursday's game with lower back tightness and is day-to-day.
2. Simmons recorded team highs of 24 points and nine assists for the 76ers in the opener.
3. Philadelphia took three of the four meetings last season, with the lone loss coming on the road in overtime.