Sixers' Tobias Harris Has a Positive Takeaway From Forgettable Loss to Bucks

Sixers veteran forward Tobias Harris did come away with a positive takeaway from Thursday night's rough loss to the Bucks.

A little over a week ago, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers pulled Tobias Harris out of the game against the Brooklyn Nets in the fourth quarter. Although Harris was having himself a phenomenal night as he scored 26 points in 34 minutes, Rivers noticed his standout forward was liming.

At the time, Harris was known to be dealing with a knee injury. While it wasn't anything significant enough to keep him off the court before the Brooklyn game, the Sixers shut down the veteran forward following the win over the Nets.

Harris went on to miss matchups against the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and the Phoenix Suns. While Harris blamed achiness in his knee before, he revealed he was actually dealing with a bone bruise in his knee on Thursday.

At this point, Harris feels a lot better. Heading into Thursday's matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Sixers had him listed as questionable. After going through pregame warmups and feeling no pain, Harris and the Sixers medical staff decided the standout forward could play in Milwaukee on Thursday night.

Harris checked into Thursday night's game for 29 minutes. Although he got off to a slow start as expected, he had himself a decent showing as he shot 8-for-16 from the field for 18 points. After the game, Harris discussed how he was feeling and offered a promising update on his recent setback.

“[I'm feeling] not too bad to be honest,” Harris said following the loss. “I had a bone bruise so for me, it was just allowing that time to heal and to be able to wake up and be pain-free and to be able to do those types of movements on the floor. So a lot of that was just rest and recovery for myself.”

Although Harris and the Sixers were defeated from the jump against the Bucks due to team-wide fatigue, the veteran forward was able to come out of the game with positive takeaways on a personal note after missing nearly a week's worth of games.

"It was a good game for me mentally," Harris explained. "My confidence, to be able to know that I was able to play and not feel anything and to not feel any pain in that area and to be able to have that confidence going forward. In that time, I just tried to keep myself right, keep myself in the best of shape and in the best of health mentally wise so it wasn’t too bad.”

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.