ORLANDO–The Philadelphia 76ers officially hit the 20-game mark on Sunday when they knocked off the Orlando Magic 133-103 to improve to 11-9 on the season. This isn’t exactly where the Sixers expected to be 20 games into the season, but they have also had to deal with a ton of adversity.
James Harden has only played nine games, Joel Embiid has played 12, and Tyrese Maxey has only played 15. They are in the middle of winning three of their last four games, all without those three players, and they are feeling good about where they’re at.
“Our resilience,” said coach Doc Rivers. “When you lose James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid, and you win three out of four. That tells you a team that’s connected and believes they can be a really good team.”
Rivers and the Sixers have continued to stay the course and have just found ways to win games. They have gotten some terrific production out of Shake Milton, De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris, and others in order to have success out on the floor.
When the stars do officially return, they should feel good about where they’re headed and how good they can be when the stars take the court again.
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“I’m excited,” Milton added. “We get those three back in the mix and who knows where this thing could go? I think everybody’s excited. Everybody’s been able to get a little bit of a rhythm right now and then, when the big dogs come back, I think we’re just gonna hit the ground running.”
The Sixers will hope Harden, Embiid, and Maxey will return soon, but until they do, this scrappy bunch will just have to continue to find a way to battle and get the job done. The rest of the league isn’t going to care that they are dealing with injuries and that is where this resilience they’ve built is going to shine through.
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