Sixers face Utah Jazz in a clash of the NBA’s conference leaders

It’s not often that the NBA’s best teams in their respective conferences meet in the final game before the All-Star break.

But that’s exactly the scenario Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center. The Eastern Conference-leading 76ers will entertain the Utah Jazz, the Western Conference’s and NBA’s best team.

This marks the second and final regular-season meeting between the two teams. If they meet again, it would be in the NBA Finals.

“Hopefully, it’s precursor to the end of the year,” Doc Rivers said with a laugh, about Wednesday’s game. “You know what I mean? If we continue to play and they continue to play, I think we would all be thrilled to death if we played a third time. That would mean we are all in the right place.

“So we had a heck of a game there. We need to try to return a favor.”

On Feb. 15th, the Sixers (23-11) played the Jazz (27-8) at the Vivint Arena without MVP candidate Joel Embiid and sixth man Shake Milton. Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris did their best in trying to take up for Embiid’s absence, combining to score 78 points in the 134-123 setback.

Simmons finished with a career-high 42 points, and recorded 12 assists and nine rebounds. The three-time All-Star shot 15-for-26 from the field and made 12-of-13 foul shots. His 15 made field goals were a career high.

Harris added a season-high 36 points, along with 10 rebounds and two steals. The power forward made 14-of-24 shots, including going 3 of 5 on three-pointers. The Sixers are hopeful that he will play Wednesday after missing the previous two games with a right knee bruise.

Regardless of who plays, the Sixers must do a better job of containing Jordan Clarkson. He came off the bench to lead the Jazz with 40 points, while making 8-of-13 three-point attempts.

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The marquee head-to-head matchup, however, will be between Embiid and Utah’s Rudy Gobert, two of the league’s three best centers. Embiid was recently named an Eastern Conference All-Star starter for the fourth consecutive season. Gobert is a two-time All-Star.

Gobert is second in the NBA in blocked shots (2.8 per game), third in rebounds (13.2), and third in field-goal percentage (.649). The two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year is expected to provide the stiffest individual test for Embiid.

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In the last two seasons, Embiid has shot 19 of 48 from the field (39.5 percent) when Gobert is on the floor, and 12 of 35 when Gobert is the closest defender.

Will Wednesday be different?

Embiid has mostly had his way with opponents this season. He is averaging 29.8 points, second-best in the league. He is also eighth in rebounds (11.3) and has 20 double-doubles in 29 games played.

“It’s going to be good,” Embiid said of the Jazz following Monday’s 130-114 victory over the Indiana Pacers. “Obviously, we are at full strength. Hopefully my ankle gets better as the days go. They’re dominating the league right now. So it will be a great win to go into the break. ... It is going to give us a lot of confidence if we can [get] that win.”

The Jazz are coming off Monday night’s 129-124 road setback to the New Orleans Pelicans. It was their third loss in six games after winning nine straight and 20 of 21 games.