Category: 76ers

Sixers star Joel Embiid will sit out matchup with Grizzlies to recover

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will not play against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

The Philadelphia 76ers are getting set to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in the second game of a back-to-back and they will have to do so a little shorthanded.

After finally having superstar Joel Embiid return on Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves after missing 10 games with a bone bruise in his left knee and scoring 24 points and eight rebounds, he will sit out of Sunday’s game against Memphis.

Considering how important he is to Philadelphia’s title chances when the playoffs begin on May 22, they will want to remain cautious with him. The Sixers went 7-3 in those 10 games without the big fella and they now have another opportunity to grow as a team on Sunday.

It will be tough to battle against Grizzlies big man Jonas Valanciunas without Embiid’s services, but that will be up to Mike Scott and Dwight Howard to step up to the challenge. Tipoff from the Wells Fargo Center is set for 7 p.m. EDT.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Tobias Harris, Sixers preparing for tough challenge with Grizzlies

Tobias Harris and the Philadelphia 76ers are preparing for a quick turnaround against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The 2020-21 NBA season has been hectic as ever and teams have had to deal with a wild schedule where they are playing four games in five nights and the games are coming at a rapid pace. On top of that, they are also having to go through the health and safety protocols as the league navigates through a pandemic.

The Philadelphia 76ers just finished up a 13-day and 6-game road trip and they returned home for a weekend back-to-back before heading back out on the road. After knocking off the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday, they have to turn around and host the rested Memphis Grizzlies less than 24 hours later.

“It’s gonna be a challenge, but this is part of the season this year,” laughed Tobias Harris. “It’s a hectic schedule night in night out, but it’s what we signed up for. For us, tonight (Saturday), there’s things that we can get better at and we have to show those things and we have to bring the energy. We got to get our minds and our bodies right to be able to play our type of basketball tomorrow night (Sunday).”

The Sixers were able to have Joel Embiid return on Saturday after he missed 10 games, but due to the back-to-back, there is no guarantee that the big fella plays on Sunday. That makes this an even tougher challenge against Grizzlies big man Jonas Valanciunas down low.

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“No different than the rest of the schedule we played,” said veteran Danny Green. “You got to be ready to play back-to-backs. We played some before, but guys recovered. Joel, hopefully, he’s not feeling too heavy from tonight (Saturday), playing some minutes in a month. Tobias did a great job leading us down the stretch, but we got to do a better job of staying locked in and hopefully we learn from that and tomorrow play a better game.”

The Sixers will have to make sure they realize that this is a different game with a different team and they need to come out with the right mindset. The big thing is, they will be at home and have the passionate fans of Philadelphia behind them.

“We gotta come back with a new mentality, a different mentality, a fresh mentality,” Green finished. “We’ll treat the game as a new one and come out with some new energy and have our fans behind us which will be nice.”

The Sixers and the Grizzlies tipoff at 7 p.m. EDT on Sunday.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers vs. Grizzlies game preview: How to watch, TV channel, start time

Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers get set to take on the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Sunday.

The Philadelphia 76ers take on the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Sunday looking to continue their momentum, and if you’re wondering how you can watch all the action live, you’ve come to the right place. The Sixers look to take advantage of being at home before hitting the road again on Tuesday.

Philadelphia welcomed Joel Embiid back to the lineup on Saturday in their win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, but there is no guarantee he plays in this game. It makes sense if he doesn’t considering it is a back-to-back, and the team will want to be very cautious with him as it gets ready for the stretch run to the playoffs. That means Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris will have to continue to step up and lead the way.

Here’s when and where you should tune in to see the matchup:

  • Date: Sunday, April 4
  • Time: 7 p.m. EDT
  • Location: Wells Fargo Center
  • Channel: NBC Sports Philadelphia

Probable starting lineups

Philadelphia 76ers

  • Guard – Ben Simmons
  • Guard – Seth Curry
  • Forward – Danny Green
  • Forward – Tobias Harris
  • Center – Joel Embiid (questionable)

Memphis Grizzlies

  • Guard – Ja Morant
  • Guard – Grayson Allen
  • Forward – Dillon Brooks
  • Forward – Kyle Anderson
  • Center – Jonas Valanciunas

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers praise Tobias Harris as their closer after win over Timberwolves

The Philadelphia 76ers praise Tobias Harris as their closer after a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to close the game out on Saturday as the Minnesota Timberwolves fought their way back into the game after being down by as many as 19. In order to really close the game out and get the win, the Sixers turned to their closer.

No, not Joel Embiid, they turned to Tobias Harris.

Harris scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and he was making shot after shot down the stretch to win the game for Philadelphia 122-113. He finished the game with 32 points and he continues to cement his status as the team’s closer.

“Win by any means,” said Harris. “That’s really my mentality and I know, fourth quarter, it’s crunch time, there’s ways to get the mismatches that I want out there, then to get to my spots, and just reading the game. I thought tonight, I was able to get those spots.”

It also says a lot about his teammates that they were willing to give him the ball and get the hell out of the way. Just let Harris go to work.

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“My teammates out there were able to have the confidence and continue to push me to go get the ball again and again,” Harris added. “It’s just when by any means and just an internal confidence to know that now you gotta live and die by the results, whatever it may be. By knowing the intention behind it and I know my intention is to do whatever I can to walk in that locker room with a win.”

Harris is the main guy the team will go to down the stretch of a game and they will continue to do so. Even though they do have a stable of guys who have hit clutch shots, Harris seems to be the one who pops up over and over again.

“He’s one of our clutch guys for sure,” Rivers added. “I think we have a lot of them. Joel’s made some clutch shots, Danny Green has made a lot of shots, Tobias and Seth (Curry). It’s nice that we have willing participants. It’s an interesting team because we have a lot of guys that are willing to take the shots. That’s a good sign moving forward.”

The Sixers will now turn around and take on the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Easter Sunday.

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Sixers assess Joel Embiid’s return, uncertain if he’ll play vs. Grizzlies

The Philadelphia 76ers assess the play of Joel Embiid in his return to the floor.

The Philadelphia 76ers were able to have Joel Embiid back on the floor on Saturday night for the first time since March 12 when he suffered a bone bruise against the Washington Wizards. The Sixers went 7-3 in the 10 games he sat, but obviously, they would like to have their superstar big man back on the floor.

Embiid had 24 points and eight rebounds in a 122-113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves as he looked right at home. He got to the foul line 17 times, making 12 of them, and he was able to get right back at it with the fans at the Wells Fargo Center.

The only blemish is he had four turnovers and he lost the ball a few times, but that is to be expected.

“I thought he played okay, you can see the rust,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We turned the ball over a little, didn’t execute very well down the stretch of the game. I thought part of that is he probably didn’t even remember half of it. We won the game. I wasn’t thrilled how we played. It was one of those sloppy, ugly games. We had so many chances up 20 to put the game away we just refused to do that tonight.”

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Embiid agreed with his coach that he did not exactly have the most efficient or dominant game that we have grown accustomed to seeing from him.

“Obviously a great win, but I had a bad game,” he acknowledged. “I’m just trying to get my rhythm back and just get back in the groove and help these guys offensively and defensively and to win some games.”

Embiid did not play a lot of minutes, just 29 at the end of the day, but a lot of them were stressful minutes as the Timberwolves made it a game. The endurance level could be a factor in his tough game.

“It was tough,” Embiid explained. “Yesterday (Friday) was really the first time I kind of went full-court since I got hurt. So it’s gonna take a while to get back to myself, but my body feels great. Obviously, game shape is different than how your body feels, but the main thing is, my body feels great and I just got to keep putting up these games and these practices and I’ll be back to where I was before I got hurt.”

Still, having Embiid return and play out there is a huge lift to a team in the middle of a title race at the moment.

“It was good to have him back out there,” said Tobias Harris. “He told us he didn’t want to dunk today, but then he went up there and dunked it with two hands. Game after game, he’s going to get his wind up and continue to get his confidence and his legs under him, but it was awesome to have him out there.”

Considering the Sixers play again on Sunday with a back-to-back, it remains to be seen if he will take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

“I don’t know about tomorrow,” said Rivers. “We were going to wait and see how today went, but we will be more cautious than aggressive I can tell you that. That means he will not play or play.”

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers’ Joel Embiid admits he thought his season was done after injury

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid admits he thought his season was over with his injury.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has dealt with a variety of injuries throughout his career. He missed the first two full seasons of his career due to foot injuries and he was then not able to complete his rookie season 2016-17 due to an injury. Other ailments have also derailed Philadelphia’s chances in the playoffs in the past.

In the middle of the best season of his career, the big fella laid in pain on March 12 against the Washington Wizards. He threw down a vicious dunk, landed awkwardly, and he crumpled to the ground. He was then on the floor for a long time and it was not a pretty sight at the moment.

“When I got hurt and laying on the floor in Washington, honestly, I thought I was done,” said Embiid. “I thought my season was done. The pain, how bad it was hurting, I just knew it was something worse than we saw after.”

He eventually got up and went to the locker room and it was determined that it was just a bone bruise. He made his return to the floor on Saturday and scored 24 points with eight rebounds in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It was bad that night in D.C., however. While he made his triumphant return on Saturday, he had himself a tough night back on that Friday night in the nation’s capital.

“I was just crying and asking myself why me?” he added. “Why does it always happen to me? When everything seems to be going well with the team and myself, something always has to happen, and I’m glad that it wasn’t anything bad. I’m able to get back on the court and help the team go on this championship run.”

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The Sixers will now get back on the floor on Sunday to take on the Memphis Grizzlies.

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3 observations: Joel Embiid returns, Sixers beat Timberwolves at home

Joel Embiid returns to the floor and the Philadelphia 76ers knock off the Minnesota Timberwolves at home.

The Philadelphia 76ers returned home on Saturday after a long 6-game road trip to play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves and they also had the return of Joel Embiid to the floor for the first time since March 12. Life was good for the Sixers.

They then went to work against the Wolves by using a big third-quarter run in order to pull away and win the game 122-113. They received 24 points and eight rebounds from Embiid in his return to the floor and he fed off the energy that the fans gave him in his first game in front of Philadelphia fans since March 11, 2020.

Tobias Harris had another big game with 32 points to lead Philadelphia, Ben Simmons added 14 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, Seth Curry had 13, and Shake Milton had 14 off the bench.

With that said, here are the three observations from the win:

Sixers star Joel Embiid back vs. Timberwolves, to have minutes restriction

The Philadelphia 76ers will have Joel Embiid return to the floor against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Philadelphia 76ers will finally return home on Saturday after being on the road for 13 days and six games. They battled well and they went 4-2 without the services of superstar big man Joel Embiid. It was a terrific road trip that helped the Sixers figure some things out.

As they return home on Saturday to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, they will finally have the big fella return to the lineup for the first time since March 12. He had missed 10 straight games with the bone bruise in his left knee and the Sixers were 7-3 in those games.

Considering how important he is to the team’s chances, the team will have Embiid on a bit of a restriction for the moment.

“It’s not really more minutes, it’s more minutes in a row,” explained coach Doc Rivers. “We’ll decide that, obviously, once we know he’s playing. I don’t expect him to play 35 or 40 minutes, but we’ll see. I mean he looked great, looks in great condition so we’re all good.”

The Sixers will be looking to keep the momentum going at home and they will be looking to sweep the season series from the Timberwolves with tipoff set for 8 p.m. EDT from the Wells Fargo Center.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers coach Doc Rivers gives update on George Hill, no timetable yet

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers gives an update on George Hill, but there is no timetable for his return.

The Philadelphia 76ers will return home from a long 13-day and 6-game road trip on Saturday when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. As they get set for the stretch run of the NBA season before the playoffs begin on May 22, they will need all hands on deck to ensure they can get one of the top seeds in the East.

That includes new addition George Hill who the team acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder back on March 25 at the trade deadline. Hill has not played since Jan. 24 due to a thumb procedure he underwent to repair an issue to make sure that that said issue will never pop up again.

Hill was able to be with the team at shootaround on Saturday morning and he was able to be with the team for the first time since the trade, but he did not go through any workouts just yet.

“No, not yet,” said coach Doc Rivers. “No contact, he shot the ball, he’s shooting the ball, great, but there’s no timetable or anything like that yet.”

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Hill will be able to be with the team on the floor soon. The important part is, he is able to be with the team now and he can now begin to learn Rivers’ playbook. The Sixers will need him to be fully healthy for the stretch run and the playoffs so the smart thing to do will be to take their time with him for the final run.

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Iggy Brazdeikis is excited to join Sixers, learn from veterans on roster

Young big man Iggy Brazdeikis is excited to join the team and learn from the veterans on the roster.

The Philadelphia 76ers made their move at the deadline when they acquired George Hill from the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is a move that can really help them get over the top in the East as he is a guy who has a ton of playoff experience under his belt.

The Sixers did not just acquire Hill in that deal, they also acquired young big man Iggy Brazdeikis from the New York Knicks.

Brazdeikis was a second-round pick of the Sacramento Kings in the 2019 NBA draft before being moved to the Knicks. He only played 13 games across two seasons in New York so he is a guy with very little experience, but he is excited for a new chapter in Philadelphia.

“It’s been all kind of crazy,” he said on Saturday. “Everything happened really fast. Biggest thing is I’m really excited to be here, grateful for this opportunity to be a part of this organization, this winning organization. Everyone’s been great so far, everything’s been smooth, getting workouts in and stuff just getting used to the whole place.”

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In those 13 games, Brazdeikis has averaged 1.5 points and he shot 35.7% from deep. As a freshman with the Michigan Wolverines in the 2018-19 season, he averaged 14.8 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 39.2% from deep and he earned a lot of postseason awards in the Big10.

He was able to get some workouts with the coaches in Philadelphia while the team was on the road for a few weeks.

“I’ve been working out while the team was on the road,” he explained. “Player development guys getting in the gym, getting the work in getting used to the facility, getting to know everybody, getting to know the fun office, and now the team came in today so getting to know the guys. It’s been a cool process so far.”

Brazdeikis is coming into a situation where the team is in the middle of a title chase and there are plenty of veterans ahead of him. He will have to work himself into the good graces of the coaching staff and just really learn the playbook and get everything down. He will have to learn from the others on the roster.

“Just to get established within the team,” he finished. “Nothing too specific with that, but just to learn as much as I can. Especially early on learn the offense, learn the defense, and just be an open book.”

The Sixers will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday back at home.

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