76ers vs. Grizzlies: Illness Couldn’t Hold Back Tobias Harris

Despite dealing with an illness, Tobias Harris proved that Wednesday night's solo performance wasn't the start of a downwards trend.

Wednesday night’s performance in Cleveland was tough for everybody involved on the Philadelphia 76ers’ end. As the Sixers were flat-out destroyed in every aspect of the game, they left Cleveland by taking on their worst loss of the season.

76ers veteran forward Tobias Harris was thriving leading up to the Cavaliers matchup. Since three of Philadelphia’s starters went out for a stretch, Harris thrived and averaged 22 points and seven rebounds during the four games without Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and James Harden.

When Embiid returned against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, Harris continued thriving as he scored 24 points while collecting ten rebounds in the three-point win against Atlanta.

Then came Wednesday’s matchup against the Cavs, when Harris had his worst outing of the 2022-2023 season. In 23 minutes of action, Harris put up seven shots from the field. None of his attempts fell successfully. As a result, Harris tied his season-low of three points, with all of his production coming from the charity stripe.

It seemed Harris was just having an off-night, but eventually, it was revealed there was a deeper explanation. The veteran forward was feeling under the weather going into the matchup. Once it was realized the Sixers didn’t have a chance to pull off a comeback in the third quarter, Doc Rivers told Harris to wrap it up for the night.

Going into Friday’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, Harris was questionable to play. Considering he didn’t participate in the team’s morning shootaround session, it seemed the forward was trending toward missing his third game of the year.

But Harris was willing to go through pregame warmups with intentions of playing, according to Doc Rivers. 

“He told me this morning he thought he was gonna go,” said Rivers. “He just said, ‘I need to get to the arena and see.’”

Harris’ performance on Friday compared to his showing on Wednesday was like night and day. After going 0-7 from the field in Cleveland, Harris knocked down 50 percent of his 14 shots from the field on Friday. Six of the veteran’s attempts came from beyond the arc, and he successfully hit on all but one of his threes.

“I give everybody extra credit. Like, we played hard, but if a guy steps on the floor, they’re healthy,” Rivers explained. “That’s the way we look at it. He was tough. He sucked it up for the team.”

Harris’ 21-point, 11-rebound effort was solid for the Sixers on Friday night, but it wasn’t enough. As the Sixers struggled on the boards and had a tough night in transition, they came up short with a 117-109 loss to the Grizzlies. Now, Harris and the Sixers will look to bounce back from a two-game skid with a matchup against the Houston Rockets on Monday. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.