The Philadelphia 76ers were in a tough situation on Monday when they faced the Boston Celtics on the road. While they still had Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Seth Curry and Danny Green to rely on, their bench was stuck in the league’s COVID-19 protocol.
The Sixers did not have Andre Drummond, Shake Milton or Georges Niang due to the protocol. They did not have Furkan Korkmaz due to a non-COVID illness. The Sixers also started Matisse Thybulle for an injured Tyrese Maxey, meaning Philadelphia had to turn to a lot of young players off the bench.
The Sixers had just called up rookies Aaron Henry and Charles Bassey from the G League and recently signed Myles Powell. All played a part in Monday’s win. While the youngsters had a tough time on offense, they were able to get things done on the defensive end.
Curry was in the same situation as Henry and Powell when he first came into the league before establishing himself. He had some advice for the younger Sixers.
“I just try to give them confidence, try to help them out,” said Curry. “I was in that position a lot for the first couple years of my career getting called up having to step in, play 5-10 minutes, don’t know the offense, don’t know the system, don’t have too much confidence, or have any rhythm at this level.”
The bench scored only one point on Monday courtesy of second-year guard Isaiah Joe. Curry wants to be sure he can be there to help out the younger guys.
“It’s a tough job to do, but just try talk to them, help them out, and they did a good job for the most part just playing defense, not making too many mistakes,” Curry added. “Just gotta get a couple of them to get more comfortable, be a little bit more aggressive with the ball when they get a chance, but they didn’t hurt us tonight. So that’s all you can ask for them at this point.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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