Injuries and COVID-19 continue to decimate the Philadelphia 76ers roster. And Doc Rivers is running out of fresh bodies. Seth Curry is the latest one to hit the injury report after being listed questionable with a left foot contusion. He was a game-time decision during pre-game warmups before being ruled out.
Curry has been enjoying a career year in nearly every statistical category: points (16.8), rebounds (3.0), three-point percentage (48.3%), field-goal percentage (58.3%), minutes (33.4). The latter is probably the one that doesn’t need to be celebrated. It’s not that the Sixers want less minutes for Curry, but their starters need rest. Now Curry is officially day-to-day.
The Sixers starting five without Curry included Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Andre Drummond, Paul Reed, Tyrese Maxey. The Sixers are looking to scale back Danny Green’s minutes after he gave them 30 big ones on November 8 in his first game back from a strained hamstring.
Rivers talked about needing to rotate 10 players in against the Milwaukee Bucks (Tuesday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.) That’s going to be a hard task with four players out due to COVID-19 protocols – Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, Isaiah Joe, Matisse Thybulle – and Green just coming back. Grant Riller remains out as he rehabs from knee surgery. Somehow the team is 8-3.
“We all like each other,” center Andre Drummond said of the team chemistry. “I think with this team here, we found a way to jell regardless of who’s available to play or not. We genuinely want to win and we all have one common goal, so it’s easy to play with anybody on this team.”
The Sixers ran out a seven-man rotation on November 8 during a 103-96 loss to New York. They didn’t play Aaron Henry, Charles Bassey, or Jaden Springer. Don’t be surprised to see Paul Reed get a lot of burn along with the two rookies. Springer was the 28th overall pick and Bassey went 53rd overall in this year’s draft.
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Tobias Harris Feeling Better
Tobias Harris was “not doing great” when Rivers provided the first update on his ill star back on November 1. The 29-year-old forward wrote on Twitter that every win was “healing” him.
“Tobias is doing a lot better. I know that,” Rivers told reporters, via Tom Moore. “Other than that, the other guys I don’t know where they’re at but I would say knowing that, talking to Tobias is the one guy who will back sooner than later.”
Details on Military Appreciation Night
The Sixers announced details for Military Appreciation Night on Thursday, November 11 when they host the Toronto Raptors. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive a co-branded Toyota and 76ers rally towel as part of their joint “Stars & Stripes” initiative.
The team will celebrate more than 500 active and retired servicemen and women throughout the game, according to a press release. Paul Reed – whose grandfather served the U.S. Army in Vietnam – will join Army Lieutenant Melissa Stockwell who lost her leg after her vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb while deployed in Iraq. Lieutenant Stockwell is a Paralympian and an ambassador for Toyota’s Hiring Our Heroes program.
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