After using seven in a loss Saturday to the Nuggets, the Sixers’ number of available players will rise to nine Monday against the Hawks.
Mike Scott (left knee contusion) and Joel Embiid (back tightness) are both available after being listed as probable Sunday night. Perhaps the two will ease the burden slightly on the young players who played heavy minutes vs. the Nuggets. Tyrese Maxey, Isaiah Joe and Dakota Mathias all played over 40 minutes.
Here are the essentials for Monday’s game:
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- When: 7:30 p.m. with Sixers Pregame Live at 6:45 p.m.
- Where: State Farm Arena
- Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the MyTeams app
And here are three storylines to watch:
All the absences
Below are the players out for the Sixers:
- Health and safety protocols: Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Vincent Poirier
- Left knee swelling: Ben Simmons
- Left adductor strain: Furkan Korkmaz
- Personal reasons: Terrance Ferguson
Playing games under those conditions is obviously questionable, but the NBA appears determined to keep making progress on its 72-game schedule.
NBA
Atlanta’s injury report also isn’t a short one. Kris Dunn (right ankle surgery recovery), Danilo Gallinari (right ankle sprain), Rajon Rondo (right knee injury maintenance), Onyeka Okongwu (left foot inflammation) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (right knee fracture) are all out. Hawks star Trae Young will play after being listed as probable with right wrist soreness, Atlanta head coach Lloyd Pierce said.
Maxey vs. Young
Young's matchup against Maxey will be fascinating. Maxey was tremendous under very difficult circumstances in his first NBA start, posting 39 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Denver. He wasn’t flawless, though, as head coach Doc Rivers acknowledged when asked about the 20-year-old’s defense.
“I think he’s finding out that there’s a lot of good guards in the NBA, is what I would say,” Rivers said with a laugh. “He struggles in pick-and-roll right now. He doesn’t struggle at individual defense. For a rookie, I would say that’s a good thing. He can stay in front of the ball. He’s got to learn how to navigate screens right now. And he’ll do that, because he’s a quick learner.”
There aren’t many better tests of a player’s pick-and-roll defense than Young. The third-year point guard again leads the league in possessions per game as a pick-and-roll ball handler. He’s produced an excellent 1.01 points per possession on those plays. Young hasn’t been at his best during Atlanta’s four-game losing streak, shooting 33.3 percent from the floor and 15.8 percent from three-point range during that stretch. He might be due for a big night.
How long can the rookies keep this up?
While Sixers rookies Maxey, Mathias, Joe and Paul Reed are young, there are few players who can manage 40-plus minutes every game while maintaining their health (and effectiveness). This particular group was also not accustomed to heavy minutes this season.
PhillyVoice's Kyle Neubeck reported Harris, Milton, Thybulle and Poirier are expected to be out for seven days, eligible to return after a mandatory quarantine. There’s no chance to pause and rest on the Sixers’ schedule, though. The team is set to play five games over the next week.
“Hey, listen, development, No. 1,” Rivers said after the Nuggets game. “Health is No. 2, because I think again, what we’re missing in this is COVID created this but the concern is not COVID now. The concern is injuries because guys are playing so many minutes, because we don’t have enough guys. I think, if I was deciding games in that way, I would be very careful if was the league, because you don’t want that to happen either.
“For example, I’m looking at our stat sheet and we had one, two, three guys (over) 40 (minutes), and it couldn’t be avoided. And now we play again in two days, and then we play again. So that’s my concern with this, is that we have to be very comfortable with how we navigate over the next week.”