BOSTON — The Philadelphia 76ers are missing a certain superstar big man. Joel Embiid remains sidelined while recovering from a meniscus procedure on his left knee on Feb. 6. That has left the Sixers to piece together lineups and wins without him.
Paul Reed has started in place of Embiid, but coach Nick Nurse has used different options as the backup center.
Mo Bamba has received opportunities to back up Reed, but in Tuesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics, the Sixers went small. Nic Batum received the backup center minutes before Nurse turned to Bamba in the second quarter and the big man finished with 10 points, six rebounds and a block.
“We didn’t start Batum because we were going to use him kind of as the backup 5,” Nurse explained. “That was a good spark by those guys, obviously. We thought we had a matchup with (Luke) Kornet in there to bring Mo in and just take a look at that lineup. He did some decent things. He certainly made a couple shots and was protecting the rim pretty good while he was in there, too. So it was a good stretch for him.”
One has to assume Nurse will switch between Batum and Bamba for the backup 5 minutes until Embiid returns.
“I think we need to continue to navigate it,” Nurse added. “I think there’s guys that can certainly give us a bit more at the 4-5 (positions). It isn’t about offense, really. It’s about screening, rebounding, rim protection, and defense — some of those things. We’ve got to make sure we’re playing a little bit more complete game.”
The margin for error for Philadelphia at the moment is slim to none. It cannot afford lapses like those in Tuesday’s loss. That is why Nurse has to figure out how to best get a complete 48 minutes out of his group.
[lawrence-related id=91150,91138,91129]