As the Philadelphia 76ers prepared to face the Denver Nuggets on Saturday afternoon with seven healthy players, coach Doc Rivers said he believed the NBA should have postponed the game.
“I don’t think we should [play], but it is not for me to express that, “said Rivers, when asked if he believed the game should be played.” I care about the health of our player on the floor. “
The Nuggets took advantage. Nikola Jokic had 15 points and 12 assists to take Denver past Philadelphia 115-103. The 76ers reached a minimum of eight active players by including injured striker Mike Scott, who was unable to play but was not close enough.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 39 points in 44 minutes in 18 of 33 shots in his first career start, and Isaiah Joe made 13 points, but in the end, he lacked staff to compete with a deeper opponent.
ESPN reported the previous Saturday that the game could continue. That was after the Sixers had eight players in the NBA health and safety protocols on Friday, after guard Seth Curry tested positive for COVID-19 the day before, in the middle of the Philadelphia game in Brooklyn. Three of those players in the protocols of potential close contact with Curry – Joel Embiid, Danny Green and newcomer Paul Reed – have been released from quarantine.
This initially left Philadelphia with nine players – Embiid, Green and Reed, along with the six players (Ben Simmons, Dwight Howard, Tony Bradley and newcomers Maxey, Joe and Dakota Mathias) who were not listed at 8:30 pm on Friday . injury report.
But then the Sixers listed Embiid with back stiffness and Simmons with knee stiffness, forcing them to make Scott – who was out with his own knee problem – active for a game that, according to Rivers, he wouldn’t be playing. Rivers kept that promise and did not put it.
“I can say now that I’m not going to play him at all,” Rivers said before the game. “I just don’t think he should play, so you can argue that we have seven bodies to throw away.”
As for Embiid and Simmons, neither of whom was previously injured, Rivers explained why both illnesses prevented them from equipping themselves against Denver.
“Yes, but it has nothing to do with them just not playing,” said Rivers. “Ben, in the Brooklyn game, had a little bit of stiffness in his knees, so we almost probably knew after the game that he wouldn’t be playing tonight. And then Joel started to complain about his back last night, early yesterday. We didn’t know I don’t know whether he was playing or not. But honestly, with the minutes we would have to ask, it would be crazy to play him tonight. “
Throughout his 15-minute availability before the game, Rivers repeatedly raised his concerns about the number of minutes his healthy players would have to play to finish the game. In the end, four players reached the 35th minute on the pitch.
And it will probably stay that way for a while. While it is unclear how long the quarantine period will be for players in the league’s health and safety protocols, the Sixers have a game on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks before playing at home and at home with the Miami Heat the next. Tuesday and Thursday, with it being unlikely that any of the players still in the protocols – Curry, Tobias Harris, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle and Vincent Poirier – will be able to play in any of them.
“I trust the league and I trust doctors when it comes to health,” said Rivers, when asked if he personally felt safe about COVID-19 as things went. “I am more concerned with health in the field. We will play against players who have not played for many minutes.
“And this is not just for today, it is long-term health with the accumulation of games. The numbers we want to avoid with our players. In fact, I am more concerned with this than with COVID. And I am concerned with COVID. I think that everyone is. The league is and everyone else is. So yes, there are a lot of things going on. “
Rivers said he did not know if there was a specific deadline for players to return in the protocols.
“We don’t know anything,” he said. “I don’t know enough about any of this. Especially today, I want to make the statement Doc is a nickname, because I clearly don’t know the medical part of it.”
The Saturday afternoon game had the chance to be the second postponement of the NBA season’s coronavirus game. The Houston Rockets had their season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder postponed because of their own combination of positive tests and contact tracking.
The Sixers also tested positive for a team member on Friday, a source told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
Nuggets are also dealing with COVID-19 problems. The Nuggets flew to Philadelphia on Friday without young and talented striker Michael Porter Jr., who remains out of health and safety protocols indefinitely, the sources said. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks left three players – Josh Richardson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Brunson – in Denver after an overtime victory on Thursday, because they are also in the health and safety protocols.
After having a very successful comeback to play inside the NBA bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, last summer and early fall to end the 2019-20 regular season and the playoffs without the virus derailing the game, on Friday night in at least 12 of the league’s 30 teams (40%) had at least one player involved in NBA health and safety protocols. While Curry was not available to play on Thursday because of an ankle pain before the 76ers found out about his positive test at the end of the first quarter, Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas played the first half on Friday at the night before being removed from the rest of the game for protocol reasons, although coach Taylor Jenkins said after the game that he did not test positive for COVID-19.
And while Rivers played with the media to send a message to his Denver counterpart, Mike Malone, that, “If he could be out for about seven or eight guys, it would be really cool of him,” Malone – whose Nuggets are with a difficult 4-5 start to the season, despite Saturday’s victory – discussed the difficult position that puts all teams while trying to navigate the unknown waters that are the NBA’s 2020-21 season.
“I think you have to understand and be sensitive to the feelings that each player on both sides can have,” said Malone. “You have to remember, we just played a game against Dallas that left three players in Denver. We just faced them. We have one of our own players, our third biggest scorer, at home in Denver – Michael Porter. And the Sixers didn’t leave New York late last night, with all the contact tracking and testing going on to see who would be available today.
“I talked with [NBA president of league operations] Byron Spruell a lot today, coming and going, to see if the game was going on. Obviously, the show must go on. They considered it safe to play. The Sixers have eight players, which is what you need to play. And to be honest, I think we’re going to start seeing more of that.
“Jonas Valanciunas last night, Seth Curry a few nights ago, the players from the Dallas team, Michael Porter from our team, because we are just a microcosm of what is happening in our country. So, unfortunately this is the situation we find ourselves in. On the one hand, you’re saying, ‘Well, who are we preparing for? Lets play? Who will be available? ‘ So the flip side of that is, ‘Hey, we have to win a game. I don’t care who’s available for Philly. We have to find a way to win a game and start feeling better about ourselves. ‘ “