Brown shields starters after Embiid injury
For a brief time Wednesday, for nearly a half of an NBA game, in honest spirit and with pure intent, the Sixers looked ready to finally leave sports science behind.
With 96 scheduled minutes left in the strangest regular season, Brett Brown was given full authority to use what has become his entire preferred starting lineup for a game against the Toronto Raptors.
That lasted until Joel Embiid sustained a hand injury that drove Brown back into protect-the-starters mode.
Having announced before the 125-121 loss that his starters would be on no minutes restrictions, but while maintaining the option to impose some himself, Brown allowed Tobias Harris to play just nine second-half minutes, Shake Milton to play eight, Al Horford and Josh Richardson to clock two each and Embiid to not play any at all as a losing streak reached three.
Thus, with one game left before a first-round playoff series next week against the Celtics, there was the question: Have the Sixers’ core players had enough on-court time to mesh during the eight-game NBA restart?
“With the starters, we are continuing, game by game, to find our flow,” said Harris, who scored a team-high 22 points in his 25 minutes. “On our off days, we have had conversations with one another about different ways we can be effective.”
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The Raptors having been chopping at his arms for years, Embiid was injured in a first-half drive against Marc Gasol. Immediately indicating some pain, he was taken for x-rays, which were reported to be negative.
Though Embiid remained on the bench for the second half, happily cheering on his teammates, Brown was oddly evasive about the injury after the game.
“I really don’t have a lot to share,” he said. “We’ll learn more. I know he was whacked twice, but for how it relates to what’s next of the evaluation of it, I’m sorry, I can’t comment on that.”
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With one game left in the regular season, Friday night at 9 against Houston, Brown will face the question that has haunted him through seven seasons of processing and the managing of loads: How much to play the top players, and at what risk to injury?
“I think it’s definitely important,” he said. “The thing that gets a little murky is that eco-system of cohesion and playing together versus what you know I am going to say, health. To land the plane, to deliver your team to a playoff series is not always simple. Some of it is luck.”
As for all other pains? It’s time to put them behind.
“The chemistry in the room, where they believe there is enough talent to see this through,” Brown said, “is genuine.”
••• When the Indiana Pacers defeated the Houston Rockets, 108-104, Wednesday, the Sixers were locked into the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Their first-round opponents will be third-seeded Boston.
The Sixers were 3-1 in the regular season against the Celtics, who eliminated them in the second round of the 2018-2019 playoffs.
“We’ve had tons of experience with them the past few years,” Brown said. “That team is so unique in that they have so much firepower at several positions. And the Philly-Celtics rivalry is a story. To be able to have this opportunity, we’re excited and we will treat this series with tremendous respect.”
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With Simmons unavailable, the Sixers’ clearest path to fulfillment is to surround Embiid with shooters.
Furkan Korkmaz Wednesday made a late bid for key postseason minutes, shooting 5-for-9 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the line for 21 points.
The question: Can his defense, shaky even at times Wednesday, hold up in the postsesaon?
“I think he’s made great progress,” Brown said. “He understood that was going to influence greatly how much he was going to play. Because we had some things open this year with lots of injuries, he took advantage of that.”
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NOTES » Alec Burks (foot) and Glen Robinson III (hip pointer) were unavailable … Raul Neto, all but nosed out of the nine-man postseason rotation as recently as early in the week, had a second consecutive strong game, shooting 6-for-15 for 17 points.