Two teams that have prioritized player health early in the season should be well rested and potentially near full strength when the Philadelphia 76ers visit the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
Both teams are coming off losses in the second game of back-to-backs when they opted to give key players a night off.
In the 76ers’ case, those players were oft-injured center Joel Embiid and starting guard VJ Edgecombe, both of whom watched the team’s first loss of the season Sunday, 106-93 at home to the Detroit Pistons.
Embiid, who played a total of just 96 games over the previous three seasons, put up a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 36 minutes one night earlier as the host 76ers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 127-116.
The 32-year-old averaged 34.3 minutes in Philadelphia’s first three games. He followed up the loss to Milwaukee with an unusual plea to surrounding reporters.
“I actually want to play (against the Pistons), so can you guys put pressure on them?” he said in a playful exchange. “I want to play (back-to-backs), so start writing articles and put pressure on them so they’ll let me play.”
That wish was denied because of plantar fasciitis injury management, but Embiid is expected to return against the Pacers, as is Edgecombe, who was kept out against Detroit because of a bruised abdomen that occurred in the victory against Milwaukee.
The second-year guard returned to practice Tuesday, and neither player appeared on the injury report.
The Pacers have their own players who have taken a similar path to the matchup. Guard Andrew Nembhard and center Ivica Zubac were given the night off Monday when Indiana lost 110-102 at Milwaukee. Each player was active one night earlier when the Pacers rolled to a 136-109 win at Brooklyn, although Zubac left that game early with a sore left ankle and Nembhard was limited to 30 minutes with nagging back pain.
Nembhard is expected to return against the 76ers and is questionable on the injury report, but Zubac was ruled out.
“Zubac is doing better,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “No timetable, but encouraging.”
The Pacers have placed no such limitations so far on star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who is returning from an Achilles injury that kept him out all of last season. Haliburton has played at least 31 minutes in all four of Indiana’s games, scoring 18 or more points in each while recording a pair of points/assists double-doubles.
The Pacers will see the 76ers’ new look for the first time and will have to come up with a plan to slow veterans LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. James got a rest Saturday in the win over Milwaukee, then scored 18 points in 33 minutes Sunday against Detroit.
Pacers fans know all about the two new 76ers stars. James-led teams in Miami and Cleveland eliminated the Pacers in the playoffs five times between 2012 and 2018, while Brown’s Boston clubs ended Indiana’s seasons in 2019 and 2024.
James and Brown have a combined 35 wins — none as teammates — at Indiana in their NBA careers across the regular season and playoffs.
