PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were playing terrific basketball while being short-handed at home against the Brooklyn Nets. Despite not having Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, they were leading a supremely talented team and they had the momentum.
Then, in the third quarter, Tobias Harris took a hard fall and was on the ground in pain. The veteran out of Tennessee was returning after missing two games due to left hip soreness. Suddenly, he was dealing with another injury as he limped to the locker room.
It looked as if the Sixers would be down four starters the rest of the way. Instead, Harris returned and poured in 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting in the second half as host Philadelphia shocked the Nets, 115-106.
“It was painful at the moment,” said Harris. “I came back in the locker room and just even today before the game, not fully 100%, but for me, I wasn’t allowed to go out there with four starters on the bench. I came back in the third quarter, I did a little stuff in the hallway here, and I said ‘I’m good enough to go and give something’ so then I went out there and did a crazy dunk, so it felt good at that point.”
It was good timing for the Sixers, too. They couldn’t afford to lose another starter.
“I didn’t see the injury, but I was walking and one of their coaches was looking at me said ‘It’s bad,’” said coach Doc Rivers. “The last thing I thought I would see is Tobias back in the game and whatever he did when he went in, we need to send him in more.”
It remains to be seen if Harris will play on Wednesday when the Sixers take on the Charlotte Hornets. As long as he does whatever he did on Tuesday, the Sixers should expect to see him out there.
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