PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid had 30 points and 14 rebounds in his return from a sprained left shoulder, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to a 124-106 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
Embiid returned from a five-game absence.
Former Sixers star, and current Miami Heat guard, Jimmy Butler popped off at Brett Brown on a podcast and criticized the way the Sixers’ coach used him in the postseason. And, the Sixers and Pistons played in front of potentially the last game for an undetermined time.
The NBA suspended its season Wednesday night due to the coronavirus.
“It’s just part of what we’re all going through, which is quite unusual at the moment,” Brown said. “You are completely aware that this is looming, this possibility.”
Brown didn’t need a quiet arena to hear the reverberation throughout Philly when Butler went on former Sixers teammate JJ Redick’s podcast and ripped his coaching style. Butler, who played the final 55 games of last season with the Sixers, said, “On any given day, me as a person, as a player, I didn’t know who the (expletive) was in charge. I think that was my biggest thing.”
Butler said players watched film sessions in silence and became peeved when he said he learned the organization wanted Brown to “control” the All-Star guard. Butler decided not to return to the Sixers and landed in Miami on a sign-and-trade deal.
“I heard about, I understand what he’s saying,” Brown said. “I have not listened to it and I doubt I will.”
HORNETS 109, HEAT 98: Devonte’ Graham scored 30 points, Caleb Martin scored 19 and visiting Charlotte shook off an early 20-point deficit to beat Miami – keeping Miami’s magic number for clinching a postseason berth at one.
That is, if there even is a postseason. The NBA suspended the season indefinitely after Wednesday’s games after a Utah Jazz player had a presumptive positive test for the coronavirus, or COVID-19. The player is Rudy Gobert, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the team had confirmed it publicly.
MAVERICKS 113, NUGGETS 97: Boban Marjanovic had 31 points and 17 rebounds, Luka Doncic scored 28 points and Dallas won at home.
KNICKS 136, HAWKS 131: Julius Randle scored 33 points, RJ Barrett added 26 and New York won at Atlanta in overtime.
NOTES
BUCKS: Forward Giannis Antetokounmpo acknowledges he initially feared the knee sprain that has caused him to miss his last two games might be a much more serious injury.
“I was nervous right when I fell on the floor,” Antetokounmpo said. “I was able to walk it off and play a few minutes and I felt better, but the next day I was extremely sore, so I was nervous.”
Antetokounmpo said he practiced Wednesday but remained uncertain over whether he would play Thursday against the Boston Celtics as the NBA-leading Bucks attempt to snap a season-worst three-game skid.
76ERS: Guard Ben Simmons will miss at least three more weeks with nerve issues in his lower back.
BULLS: Forward Chandler Hutchison will have surgery on his right shoulder that will likely end his season, the team announced.
Hutchison is scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery on the AC joint on Tuesday, with the recovery expected to take three to four months. He was initially hurt Nov. 27 against Golden State, missed 17 games before returning in January and re-injured the shoulder at Washington on Feb. 11.
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