Updated: 5:48 p.m. - Andre Drummond (rest) is not playing tonight.
The Sixers are back home and back on NBC Sports Philadelphia tonight.
Below are the essentials for their preseason game against the Detroit Pistons. The Sixers are 3-0 in the preseason and Detroit is 2-1.
• When: 7 p.m. ET
• Where: Wells Fargo Center
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
And here are three storylines to watch:
Key Sixers out
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Last season, the Sixers were without Mike Muscala and Wilson Chandler, two key bench players at the time, for opening night against the Celtics. They're determined to be fully healthy this year.
Ben Simmons (back tightness), James Ennis (right calf strain) and Al Horford (rest) are all out for tonight's game. The sensible, obvious goal for the Sixers is to have everyone fresh and ready to go next Wednesday vs. Boston.
All-Star forward Blake Griffin is out for the Pistons with left hamstring soreness.
The offense is humming
General manager Elton Brand forecasted in July that the Sixers would be one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, but he thought it was "going to take some time" to figure things out on offense.
Through three preseason games, though, the offense has been excellent. The Sixers are first in the NBA in offensive rating (119.7), offensive rebounding percentage (35.4 percent) and assist to turnover ratio (1.69), and tied for first in assists per game (30.3). The caveats of having played their preseason opener against an inferior Chinese Basketball Association team and the sample size being minuscule are important, but the offense has performed very well so far.
Embiid vs. Drummond, preseason edition
Yes, it's just the preseason, but there's often drama when Joel Embiid and Pistons center Drummond match up.
Just last season, the following happened: Drummond was ejected for an elbow to Embiid's face during the Pistons' overtime win vs. the Sixers on Oct. 23, and Embiid appeared to exaggerate the contact. Embiid told reporters after the game that he "owns a lot of real estate in [Drummond's] head," which led to the feud spiraling to social media. In their next meeting, on Nov. 3 at Wells Fargo Center, Embiid posted 39 points and 17 rebounds in a victory, then said of Drummond and then-Pistons backup center Zaza Pachulia, "I kicked both of their a--."
The trash talk between the two dates further back than last season, too. When Embiid and Drummond share the floor, it's usually worth watching, and then listening to what the two have to say afterwards.
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