With Embiid out, Grizzlies turn overpowering
PHILADELPHIA » The continuing endeavor to protect Joel Embiid from deeper soreness continues to give the 76ers pain.
For caution, not for necessity, Embiid was scratched from a 116-100 loss Sunday night to the visiting Mem- phis Grizzlies. The defeat was the Sixers’ third in their last five games and prevented them from retaking first place in the Eastern Conference.
Embiid missed 10 games with a left-knee bruise, returned Saturday to play 35 minutes in a 122-113 victory over Minnesota, then was scratched Sunday.
“That was his first game back,” Doc Rivers said. “I would say that any player, not just Joel, who has been out for three weeks and then plays in a game, you probably don’t play him on the next night.
“It’s just smart.”
Embiid has missed 18 of the Sixers’ 50 games, including 12 of the last 14. Though he tabbed 24 points and eight rebounds against the Timberwolves, afterward he did report fatigue.
“It was tough,” he said. “It was the first time I kind of went full court since I got hurt. So it will take a while to get back to being myself.
“But my body feels great. Obviously ‘game shape’ depends on how your body feels. But the main thing is my body feels great and I’ve just got to keep putting in these games and practices and I will be back to where I was before I got hurt.”
With the Sixers having had success this season with Dwight Howard at the center of the second unit, 6-8 Mike Scott again replaced Embiid in the lineup. Rookie Paul Reed filled out the center rotation.
After trailing, 52-42, at halftime, the Sixers allowed 45 third-quarter points, with the Grizzlies taking a 97-68 lead on a Tyus Jones three-pointer with 33.8 seconds left in the quarter.
Rivers tried multiple defenses and player combinations, but the Sixers were sloppy on offense and disinterested enough on defense to draw boos from the crowd of 4,094, a sellout under virus protocols.
“We’re human,” Rivers said. “We’ve played a lot of games in this stretch. To be on the road as long as we were, then to come home for a back-to-back with an 8 o’clock game one night and an earlier game the next, we didn’t stand much of a chance.
“We played a team that had the night before off and they played with great energy. Give them credit.”
Tobias Harris led the Sixers with 21 points. Dillon Brooks had 17 for Memphis.
The Brooklyn Nets lost earlier Sunday, 115-107, in Chicago, temporarily falling out of a first-place tie at the top of the Eastern Conference. The Sixers’ loss left both teams at 34-16.
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A day after Rivers sounded vaguely encouraged by the progress of George Hill, the veteran guard remained unavailable Sunday.
Acquired at the trade deadline from Oklahoma City, Hill has missed the last 36 games, including all six with the Sixers as he continues to recover from complex thumb surgery.
Hill did shoot and participate in some fringe activity Saturday, hours before the Minnesota game. Sunday, however, he was not involved in a pregame walkthrough, according to Rivers. That was not a sign of regression. Unlike morning shootarounds, pregame walk-throughs on the game floor are for the players set to compete in that game.
“He wasn’t going to play tonight ever,” Rivers said. “He’s still progressing. But with injuries like that, breaks, you are not putting him on the floor until you are positive.”
At one point, the Sixers sounded confident in Hill’s availability for the justcompleted two-game homestand. It’s growing more likely that they will ready
him for a 10-to-12-game flurry at the end of the regular season.
“I don’t even know what the timetable was,” Rivers said. “So I can’t answer you on that part. But he is progressing.”
The Sixers have 22 regular-season games remaining.
“He hasn’t done anything live yet,” said Rivers
said. “So until that happens, he’ll be out.”
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NOTES » Tyrese Maxey was a late scratch due to health and safety protocols … After a six-game road trip, the Sixers played the back-toback home games against Minnesota and Memphis, but will play their next four on the road beginning Tuesday night at 7:30 in Boston.