PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed Joel Embiid back to the lineup on Monday for a 104-101 win over the Atlanta Hawks. The Sixers have won seven of their last nine games despite a spate of injuries.
While Embiid missed only four games, the Sixers are still without James Harden and Tyrese Maxey. In their place, Shake Milton and De’Anthony Melton have done a terrific providing production.
After the win on Monday, Embiid gave his thoughts on the team’s success while being short-handed, and he gave a lot of credit to Doc Rivers and the coaching staff.
“It’s a testament to our coaching staff,” said Embiid. “Obviously, the players have been doing a great job. Gotta give a lot of credit to guys like Shake, Furk (Korkmaz), guys coming in that haven’t gotten minutes all season and they’re just coming in. I’m just proud of them because they’re ready. You could tell that they were waiting for this moment for their name to be called. So, I’m just proud.”
The Sixers are 12-9 and beginning to look like the team many expected after their offseason moves. The injuries have forced them to come together and make changes, but these are moments that will help shape them.
“Obviously, injuries happened and we had to make a lot a lot of adjustments, whether it was me becoming more of a playmaker and then we also got some guys that can handle and score the ball in Tobias (Harris), Shake, Tyrese before he got hurt, Furk,” Embiid added. “So I think it’s all about just us playing together. Coaching staff, coach Doc and his staff, they’ve been getting everybody ready just to make sure that we come in and we do everything possible to win these games.”
The Sixers hit the road again for a three-game trip starting on Wednesday when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=71602]
[lawrence-related id=71605,71599,71588]