The Philadelphia 76ers were getting set to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night hoping to sweep both games of this short road trip before returning home on Tuesday, but they were dealt a blow right before tipoff.
Joel Embiid was a late scratch with back tightness and the team had to turn to veteran Dwight Howard to start in his place. The team struggled to keep Cleveland big man Andre Drummond off the glass and the Sixers struggled on both ends of the floor without their best player.
The team played poorly and it resulted in a 118-94 loss for their first one of the season. Despite the absence of the big man, the Sixers would not use that as an excuse for their rough night on the floor.
Afterward, coach Doc Rivers gave an update on the big fella.
“He was actually planning on going and went out on the floor,” he explained. “He had some stiffness in his back and we just thought, why chance it this early in the season. Nothing to be concerned about.”
The team then lost a key bench piece in the second half as Furkan Korkmaz limped off the floor with what looked like a groin injury. The Sixers have an off day on Monday before hosting the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday so that will give the third-year guard some time to heal up a little bit.