Sixers Veterans Remain Sidelined for Game 2 vs. Knicks

There won’t be any reinforcements for the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.

As the Sixers look to bounce back against the New York Knicks in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series, the lineup will look just as similar as the first game.

On the injury report, the Sixers made the decision to rule out the veterans Robert Covington and De’Anthony Melton. While the former seemed likely on pace to miss the playoff run after struggling to return to practice before the postseason approached, a final decision on the latter player has not been revealed just yet.

Ahead of Game 1, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse wanted to leave the door open for De’Anthony Melton’s potential return to the lineup during the playoffs.

While the veteran has been dealing with a lingering back injury for months, the Sixers are holding out hope that the two-way standout could be a contributor in their postseason run.

Unfortunately, Melton won’t have any involvement for the first two games against the Knicks.

Melton last saw the floor for the Sixers during their April 12 win against the Orlando Magic. At the time, Melton was participating in his second game back following a month-long absence. Although Melton’s playing time was expected to increase after he saw the court for just 15 minutes in his first game back, the opposite happened.

Nick Nurse explained Melton’s lack of minutes against the Magic, noting that the playing time wasn’t the result of a setback. Instead, the Sixers couldn’t find minutes for Melton in a critical game, where several players required an increase in playing time since they had it going.

Then, it turned out that Melton did have a setback, and that was revealed later on. When the Sixers closed out the regular season against the Brooklyn Nets two Sunday’s ago, Melton was ruled out. In the Sixers’ Play-In game last Wednesday, Melton was ruled out after missing two practices prior.

Monday’s Game 2 against the Knicks marks the fourth-straight game Melton will miss for the Sixers. After falling short on Saturday night, the Sixers hope to bounce back and even the series before heading back to South Philly for a two-game run at the Wells Fargo Center.