The 76ers (8-8) prepare to host the Brooklyn Nets (8-9) in their next game on Tuesday night. The Sixers will then travel to Charlotte for the second half of a back-to-back that tips off a three-game road trip over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Sixers announced Monday that Joel Embiid will miss the upcoming back-to-back games with a left mid-foot sprain.
The following Sixers were included on the Monday injury report: Embiid (out - left mid-foot sprain), James Harden (out - right foot strain), Tobias Harris (probable - left hip soreness), Furkan Korkmaz (probable - left knee effusion), Tyrese Maxey (out - left foot fracture), and Jaden Springer (out - right quad strain).
Harris, who did not play over the weekend but hopes to return Tuesday, went in-depth on the team’s depth:
“Going into this year, one of the main things we talked about was the depth of this team,” Harris said. “Now, it’s being presented right up in front of us. With guys out, we still have a lot of pieces that can help and contribute. We have a lot of guys who, early on, were out of the rotation – had great training camps, great preseasons – and now have this opportunity to play. For all those guys – Shake [Milton], Furk [Furkan Korkmaz], Matisse [Thybulle], in particular – those are all guys who have stayed in the gym and put in a lot of time… Now the opportunity is presented that we have guys down and the time is here to step up. Those guys are ready and have put the time in. We have always kept that attitude and whole culture of ‘Hey, you might not be playing or you may be out of the rotation, but you’re going to get minutes tonight. You never know what could happen in a long season.’ That’s important for our whole group.”
The Nets defeated Portland and Memphis in their last two games. In a 127-115 victory over the Grizzlies on Sunday, Ben Simmons tallied 22 points (11-13 fg), eight rebounds, five assists, and one steal for Brooklyn. Kevin Durant had 26 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, one steal, and one blocked shot. Kyrie Irving came back from suspension for his first game since Nov. 1 and scored 14 points.
Durant ranks fifth in the NBA in scoring average at 30.4 points per game. Embiid is tied for second alongside Golden State’s Stephen Curry (32.3 PPG), with Dallas’ Luka Dončić (33.5 PPG) topping the list.
Fifth-year Sixer Shake Milton dropped 27 points (10-15 fg, 3-5 3fg, 4-4 ft) and trailed only Embiid in scoring during the team’s 112-109 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.
"He was just making a lot of things happen,” teammate Georges Niang said of Milton. “That’s what Shake’s capable of. He was getting in the lane, finishing shots that he normally finishes, and he’s just crafty. Shake’s been putting a lot of work in to get to this point, battling through last year with the injury and stuff. So it’s great to see Shake be Shake."
"This is our family,” Tyrese Maxey said Monday after his teammates practiced. “Ever since Charleston, first day of training camp, we've kind of established that. Everybody really likes each other here. Everybody wants to see everybody succeed."
With a star-filled injury report at the moment, the shorthanded Sixers look to band together – one game at a time.
Tuesday’s contest between the 76ers and Nets is a 7:30 p.m. start.
When We Last Saw Them:
Joel Embiid
Shake Milton
De’Anthony Melton
Georges Niang
Danuel House Jr.
76ers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: Nov. 19, 2022
1 / 8PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 19: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers drives to the basket during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 19, 2022 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
@Sixers Social:
Quote to Note:
Georges Niang on building off a 3-1 stretch in which the Sixers nearly completed a 20-point comeback last time out to go 4-0 over the past two weekends:
"I just think we continue to grow as a team and we’re a resilient team. If you look at that fight that we all had [on Saturday], I think back-to-back nights – that’s tough. This team was waiting for us here for a couple days, and we had a back-to-back. Just the fight and grit that this group has shown, I mean I’m not one for moral victories at all and I’m not going to say it's a moral victory, but it’s encouraging moving on. We know what we’re capable of and we stuck together as a unit. We almost pulled this one out."
