‘Tis the season for giving, but also the season for the sniffles.
Tyrese Maxey will officially miss his first game of the season as the Sixers ruled him out with an illness ahead of their matchup ahead of the Indiana Pacers. Maxey initially popped up on the injury report as probable with said illness, before being downgraded to questionable earlier on game day.
Nurse has tried to keep Grimes in that sixth-man role as much as possible, but when he’s in a pinch he has been willing to slide him into the starting lineup. This would potentially be Grimes’ fifth start of the season. It definitely seems that Nurse and the organization is more concerned about managing Jared McCain’s minutes and bringing him in with second units he can succeed with.
If there’s a team the Sixers should be able to scrape by with a win down their best player and the league’s third highest scorer, it’s the Indiana Pacers who have been much more depleted than just Tyrese Haliburton. They’ve also been without Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin for significant stretches already. Indy has won their last two games, improving their record to 6-18.
Outside of Maxey, the Sixers will still have the majority of their roster ready to go for this one. Paul George is no longer listed on the injury report, and Joel Embiid is in a routine of being listed as probable pending his pre-game warm-up.