76ers Forward Remains Questionable vs. Celtics, Sixers has two main things standing in their way Tuesday night:

On Tuesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers are set to wrap up their season series against the Boston Celtics, as they look to bounce back off of a tough loss on Sunday afternoon.

The loss came at the hands of Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks, who had their full team with them, as All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard combined for 54 points.

While Philadelphia came up short, this isn’t to say that the match wasn’t close, as Tyrese Maxey lit up the Bucks defense for 24 points on 42 percent shooting, while also dishing out seven assists.

De’Anthony Melton also managed to be quite the offensive asset for Nick Nurse, as the 25-year-old dropped 16 points off the bench, which isn’t to take away from his his work on the defensive end, recording two steals.

One player who was missing from Sunday’s affair was KJ Martin, who was listed as questionable right up until tip-off when he was listed as out, due to an impingement in his right ankle.

It appears that Martin may miss another game as he continues to appear on the Sixers’ injury report as ‘questionable’ due to the issue with his right ankle.

Since the start of the New Year, Martin has averaged five points, while being a source of rebounds for the Sixers, averaging three per game.

In Martin’s place on Sunday afternoon, Nurse opted to use Kelly Oubre Jr and the aforementioned Melton to fill in the wing off the bench.

The Sixers are set to take on the Celtics on Tuesday night, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST.

Also Read:

Philadelphia has two main things standing in their way Tuesday night: their own play of late, and the best team in the league.

Tonight marks the fourth meeting between these long-time division rivals, with the Boston Celtics taking the last two contests after the Philadelphia 76ers squeaked by with a three-point win all the way back in early November. When we last saw these teams meet at the beginning of December, Patrick Beverley tied to a career-high with 26 points to almost lead the Hospital Sixers to an upset. Pat Bev is podcasting from Milwaukee now, so the Sixers will need someone else to step up in a big way if they’re going to beat the league-best 45-12 Celtics on their own court.

Everyone knew this stretch coming out of the All-Star break would be extremely difficult for the Sixers. Playing the top four teams in the conference over the span of six days would be challenging for any team, let alone one missing its best player. While there’s no great shame in the 1-2 record Philadelphia has amassed over the last week, the way those two losses came about are fairly discouraging. Both of those games were over at halftime, even if the Sixers did show heart in clawing back a little bit in the second halves.

This is nitpicking because he shouldn’t have to be in this position, but Tyrese Maxey is looking a bit overstretched as the primary option each and every night. He probably just needs more help from the rest of the squad, particularly the $39.2 million man, Tobias Harris, who looks to be busier searching for houses in the Detroit area than ways to score the basketball these days. Buddy Hield has logically regressed following his blazing hot start as a Sixer, and because it’s basically Groundhog’s Day in Philadelphia, the backup center position is once again a mess. Hope you’re enjoying your 14 minutes per night of Andre Drummond, Chicago!

The team has seen a couple recent bright spots. De’Anthony Melton has looked spry since his return to the court, with no signs of the back injury that sidelined him. Kyle Lowry has also looked like the best 37-year-old buyout candidate the team could have hoped for post-deadline. You could definitely see everything falling into place nicely if and when Joel Embiid returns.

For now, though, these Sixers are 7-15 without Embiid this season. Indiana, Miami, and Orlando are all within one game of them in the standings. Calling Philadelphia a .500 team without Joel would probably be towards the ceiling in the range of outcomes, and even that would probably see a couple of those teams pass the Sixers then. Josh Harris might be happy about the extra Play-In game revenue come April.

Meanwhile, the Celtics are currently wrecking everyone, riding an eight-game winning streak at the moment. As I laid out in my state of the East piece last week, Boston’s statistical profile screams elite contender. I’d like nothing more than for the Sixers to provide a roadblock on the Celtics’ path tonight, but I’m not overly optimistic. But…that’s why they play the games. We’ll see what Nick Nurse can cook up tonight.

Game Details

Who: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics
When: 7:30pm ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Watch: TNT
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic