Philadelphia will be down its two best players as Miami comes to town.
Hours after Joel Embiid was ruled out with back soreness, his co-star, James Harden, will reportedly join him on the bench. Harden will sit out for “injury recovery” of his left hamstring, which has caused him to miss time at multiple points this season.
Harden was sidelined for the last Philadelphia 76ers–Miami Heat game on March 5. Since he joined the lineup, these are the lone games he’s missed with Philadelphia.
Nothing has changed for Miami since the earlier injury report. Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin remain questionable, while Kyle Guy, Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo are out. Monday will seemingly be the Tyrese Maxey Show, which has produced some pretty exciting individual performances from the second-year rising star this season.
Maybe, one of the Sixers’ young centers — Paul Reed or Charles Bassey — will also garner lengthy rotation minutes. This is certainly a great chance for it, given Philadelphia is severely compromised without its top-two players against the East’s No. 1 seed.