The foundering Philadelphia 76ers offered a mixed bag in injury news on Friday.
They won’t have star center Joel Embiid for the fourth consecutive game on Saturday night when they play the Pistons. He’ll miss the team’s visit to Detroit due to left-knee-injury management and personal reasons.
Paul George, who hasn’t played since Nov. 20 due to a left knee bone bruise, is listed as questionable after participating in Friday’s practice. Caleb Martin, who missed Wednesday’s overtime loss to Houston due to a back injury, also is questionable.
Teammate Kelly Oubre Jr. told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he was encouraged by how George looked in practice and that George could help the team emerge from the doldrums.
“Getting those reps, being able to see him feeling good, looking good,” Oubre said. “Obviously, just the presence alone does a lot for the morale of the team. We have to continue to just build and try to encourage guys and help guys get back to their full rhythm and strength.”
Martin isn’t close to 100 percent but is hopeful of playing on Saturday.
“We’ve got guys banged up, and if I can go, I’m going to try to go,” Martin said. “I used to do the same thing in Miami. I would tell guys, even when I was really banged up, ‘I can give 10 minutes tonight.’ Whatever it is. I’m going to try to give whatever I can give and help the team the best I can.”
Philadelphia needs all the help it can get. The Sixers entered the season with championship aspirations with the addition of George, Martin and other free agents to complement Embiid and high-scoring guard Tyrese Maxey. They enter the weekend 3-14, having lost seven of their past eight games.
After four losses, Detroit collected its first win of the season at the Sixers’ expense, a 105-95 triumph in Philadelphia on Oct. 30. Pistons guards Jaden Ivey and Cade Cunningham combined for 45 points and 10 assists that night.
Since then, Detroit has played .500 ball.
The Pistons will play the tail end of a back-to-back set on Saturday. They played arguably their best game of the season on Friday, blowing out Indiana on the road 130-106 in an NBA Cup matchup.
Detroit shot 57.8 percent from the field and had three players surpass the 20-point mark — Malik Beasley (25), Cunningham (24) and Ivey (23).
Cunningham, who had missed the previous three games with a hip injury, had 11 of the Pistons’ 35 assists.
“That was our emphasis on the scouting report and what coach was really preaching to us — moving the ball,” Cunningham said in a postgame TV interview.
Beasley is one several veterans the Pistons’ front office brought in to provide stability. Cunningham, Ivey, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson have benefited from their presence.
“It’s a lot of new guys with this group,” Cunningham said. “The young core, we’ve been together, but to have time together and be able to play together, feel each other out, that’s the name of the game.”
The Pistons, coming off the worst season in franchise history (14-68), are 9-12 this season. They most recently finished at .500 or better in 2018-19.
“We’re a group of guys who are willing to sacrifice for something more than themselves,” first-year Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “When you put a group of guys like that together, it’s a great start. We’ll continue to get better with the schemes and the technical pieces of it, but when you have guys playing out there that way, you give yourself a chance to win, and that’s why we’re in so many games, because our guys are playing selfless, competitive basketball.”
–Field Level Media