The NBA is a mess these days, and it’s all about who is available. For now, I’ll be focusing more on that until the NBA stabilizes with some of these out tags.
Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics
Team Totals: 76ers 105, Celtics 108.5
Injury Report: Sam Hauser (O, protocols), Juancho Hernangomez (O, protocols), Al Horford (O, protocols), Romeo Langford (Q, neck), Josh Richardson (O, protocols), Jayson Tatum (Q, ankle), Dennis Schroder (Q, illness), Grant Williams (O, protocols), Brodric Thomas (O, protocols), Jabari Parker (O, protocols), Andre Drummond (O, protocols), Shake Milton (O, protocols), Georges Niang (O, protocols)
76ers projected starters: Tyrese Maxey, Seth Curry, Matisse Thybulle, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid
Celtics projected starters: Marcus Smart, Dennis Schroder, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams
Rivers quotes: Said he likes the 3-point shots the 76ers are getting, talked about protocols.
Udoka quotes: Said J-Rich was huge on both ends in the win over N.Y. (J-Rich out today), said guys had to play extended minutes on Saturday, said Nesmith and Payton Pritchard stepped up but it was “not surprising,” said Jaylen Brown has more burst this time after they “made him be more patient than he wanted to be.”
Stats and Notes:
*Lots of missing players here with the 76ers missing most of their second unit while the Celtics are running out of guards. The 76ers continue to play at one of the slowest paces in the league, and that’ll continue here in what should be a fairly low-scoring game. Plus, Jayson Tatum’s ankle would really shake things up.
There’s a chance that Jaylen Brown’s minutes are back to normal, especially with the lack of depth at his position. The 76ers will likely put Thybulle on Tatum, which could open up some big upside for Brown here.
*As mentioned above, Thybulle did guard Tatum in the last game (Brown was also starting, Thybulle didn’t start but was the top matchup guy for Tatum, per data), and Tatum was still able to put up a 26/16/2 line in 37 minutes. With the lack of depth on this roster right now, it’s very possible Tatum gets 40 minutes. Tatum’s style of play isn’t going to be limited by Thybulle too much, so he’s still a solid option here.
*Joel Embiid was guarded mostly by Al Horford in the last game, but that’s not happening here. Last year, we only had a 10-minute sample of Embiid and Time Lord together, but Embiid figures to smash on our dear Time Lord (for what it’s worth, Embiid was 54/7/0 per 36 in those 10 minutes). Without Andre Drummond behind him, the minutes could be huge here in a divisional matchup. Plus, the 76ers really can’t generate offense right now, so they almost have to feed Embiid. His upside is massive.
*Assuming Maxey is healthy, he could be getting a silly amount of minutes. We know Doc will get him over 40 when he has to, and he was able to go through at least some of shootaround yesterday (before the game got canceled). Tobias Harris could also be looking at a ton of minutes to make him an option.
Houston Rockets at Chicago Bulls (back end)
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