The suddenly skidding Philadelphia 76ers get set to do battle with the Utah Jazz Thursday night inside the Delta Center from Salt Lake City, Utah. They tip it off at 10:00 pm in what looks to be a very interesting contest on paper. The 76ers are entering this one short-handed and in a big way. Bookmaker has installed the Jazz as a solid - 4-point favorite. 

The 76ers (29-17) were looking like one of the teams to beat about two or so weeks ago, but they have recently hit a skid where they have dropped four straight games -- all on the road -- as they have quietly come back down to earth.

They know they are a good team and they have the face of the franchise in Joel Embiid playing lights out. He had a monster month in January where he averaged around 40 points a game, but now the team is hoping he will not be out for an extended period of time after injuring his left knee in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 119-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors. 

Interesting side note to this is Embiid can only miss five more games before he would become ineligible for postseason awards, which would include MVP, because of the league's new rule which requires a minimum of 65 games played to qualify. 

As of late Wednesday night, Embiid has been ruled out of Thursday's game against the Jazz to have his knee evaluated. Look for Tyrese Maxey to pick up the slack in his absence if he is able to go too. He is also dealing with an ankle injury and is listed as questionable. 

The Jazz (24-25) sit one game under .500 on the season and they will be looking to snap a two-game slide. They have dropped five of seven overall and are now 10 games back of the first place Minnesota Timberwolves in a very competitive Northeast Division.

Utah has a solid team and they are led by power forward Lauri Markkanen, who is putting up some very impressive numbers this season, which include scoring around 20 points per game to go along with six rebounds and right around a block per game. Utah will have to step up their defensive efforts too. 

They gave up 147 points in a loss to the Brooklyn Nets and then followed that up by allowing 118 points in a loss to New York Knicks. They shot poorly in both games as well. 

The Jazz are 2-3 in their last five games and 2-3 in their last five games against the number. Utah is 13-15 in their road games against the spread too. The 76ers are 1-4 in their last five games and 1-4 in their last five games against the number and a sound 12-11 in their road games against the number too. The totals have gone over in three out of their last five games.