The Philadelphia 76ers will attempt to end a five-game road losing streak when they face the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
The 76ers have lost 11 of their last 12 games overall. This will be Philadelphia’s fourth game since the team announced Joel Embiid would miss the rest of the season for left knee injury management.
Philadelphia is dealing with injuries to some of its other key players as well. Leading scorer Tyrese Maxey, who averages 26.3 points per game, didn’t play in Tuesday’s 126-112 loss to Minnesota after falling and landing on his back during Monday’s game against Portland.
Paul George returned to the court Tuesday after missing one game with groin soreness but missed 8 of 11 attempts from the field and finished with seven points, seven rebounds and six assists. He left the game in the fourth quarter when the groin tightened.
“It didn’t feel 100 percent to start,” George said. “But just tried to go out there and give something. By that time — that third, fourth quarter — it was just tight and I just couldn’t move.”
One bright spot for Philadelphia lately has been the play of 24-year-old Quentin Grimes, who is averaging 17.7 points and is shooting 52.4 percent from the field — 38.2 percent from 3-point territory – in 11 games since he was acquired from Dallas. Grimes scored 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting Tuesday, had a career-high 44 points in a victory over Golden State on Saturday, and posted a career-high nine assists in Monday’s loss to Portland.
“That’s a couple games in a row now where he’s getting a lot of attention, a lot of game plan and scheming and he still found a way to shoot a really high percentage again,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “He was able to do that playing the point guard as well (in place of Maxey), which was nice to see. I thought he handled that really well and, again, was really impressive out there.”
The Celtics, who have won eight of their last 10 games and already have clinched a postseason berth, will play their second game in as many nights. Boston beat Portland 128-118 Wednesday despite missing starters Jrue Holiday (finger), Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Jayson Tatum (shoulder). Tatum is averaging a team-high 26.8 points per game. Holiday and Porzingis each missed their third straight contest.
Payton Pritchard came off the bench to score a career-high 43 points for Boston, which also received a career-high 41 from Derrick White. Pritchard made 10 3-pointers and White had nine.
“They were tremendous,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “With guys out and playing against a really good Portland team, we knew we were going to need to have guys step up, and the way those two played shows a lot about who they are. They do a lot of the dirty stuff when we’re fully healthy, and to have a night like this where those two can show what they’re capable of was big for us. We’re lucky to have them, and it was a lot of fun to watch them do that.”
The Celtics are 2-1 against the 76ers this season. Boston prevailed 118-110 in Philadelphia on Feb. 2 and 124-104 there on Feb. 20. Philadelphia won the first meeting, in Boston, 118-114 on Christmas Day.
