The Portland Trail Blazers entered their game with the Philadelphia 76’ers on Monday night at full strength. The Sixers were without Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Ben Simmons, arguably their top three players from last season. You wouldn’t have known it on the floor, though. Portland and Philadelphia played a back-and-forth, frenzied first half followed by a somewhat more clinical second.
Portland got plenty of scoring from their guard corps. Norman Powell had a huge night, scoring 22 to keep his team in the game. Anfernee Simons was just as big off the bench, scoring 17 on 7-12 shooting.