Once again, Hawes out of lineup for Sixers
After shootaround this morning, coach Doug Collins said starting center Spencer Hawes will be out of the lineup again.
Once again, Hawes out of lineup for Sixers
Bob Cooney
When the most dominating center in the league visits, as Dwight Howard and his Orlando Magic will be doing tonight, the Sixers and coach Doug Collins would really like to have his full roster ready. But that won't be the case.
Collins announced this morning that starting center Spencer Hawes will miss his eighth-straight game due to a strained Achilles'. "There is no timetable," said Collins of Hawes. "When a player tells me he's ready to go, he'll go."
It appeared that Hawes might be ready for tonight's game, as there were hints late last week that tonight might be the target night. "No (setback)," said Collins, just a case that his big man still isn't 100 percent.
Other news on the injury front was a little bit better when Collins updated the injury of rookie Nikola Vucevic, out for the past four games with a quad strain.
"I think Nik will dress tonight," Collins said. "We'll see what happens with that, but we're thinking of dressing him. If he doesn't play, I still want him in uniform. I want him to get gameday preparation again. I don't want him to get used to coming to the game wearing a suit. I want him to get his thoughts together about preparing especially that he is a young player."
I asked Collins if this is a little push, perhaps a lesson to the rookie that playing with pain is part of the NBA experience. Collins denied that.
"Not at all, not at all," said Collins. "I don't want him coming to the arena knowing he can't be out there. It's just a little thing. I want him prepared."
Tonty Battie will get the start at center. Battie was a teammate of Howard's with the Magic and plays very good defense against him. Barring foul trouble, expect Battie's minutes to perhaps climb into the 20-minute area tonight.
More to come...
rut-roh, deffinitely would love to have Hawes out there tonight. Need the full roster together against the top-tier teams in the conference. Hopefully he's ready for chicago.— Omorales510- thanks Bob for staying on top of this with the update.— llkewlbean
- Spencer Hawes idol as a kid was Jeff Ruland.— jimmymack
- LOL — bearsfriend
- Would rather have Hawes healthy, so take your time. The East is so bad the Sixers will make the playoffs, and this team should be good enough to slip into the 4th spot. Knicks are a mess and the Celts are old. Atlantic is the Sixers to lose. And they can still beat the Magic w/o Hawes.— ESFjellin
- Prediction - Dwight Howard's stat line - 36 point, 27 rebounds, 5 blocks.
Sixers win by 7.— Iron Giant - I wonder if the beat writers are getting as tired of writing these "game time decisions" as I am reading them...I agree with Jellin on siding with caution rather than gutting it out this time of year..The Sixer should have many fouls to give, and Dwight Howard as recipricated many teams by missing many free throws.— bearsfriend
- Yep. No reason to press a panic button and rush Hawes back.— beegal99
- Keep Hawes out until he's absolutely healed. Can't mess around with the achilles of a big man. Plus now there's Lavoy. He can school Howard with his Akeem the Dream low-post moves and baby hook.— Leegles
- Hawes great start is now lost on the fact that he has more ailments than an Emergency Room in a hypochondriac ward.— rockinrob
- Hack a Howard with the new big stiff center supplying 6 fouls and then warming the bench— blaqjaq
- Hawes = candy. Guy's soft as tissue paper.— Phillip?
- Dwight Howard "I don't want to play in a city whose football team makes their offensive line coach their defensive coordinator, something seems off about that city, like lack of common sense"— eaglessuck@life
- I'm disappointed in Hawes and his ability to recover from injuries. I know the Sixers are trying to look at the big picture and not get Hawes injured further since they are a cinch for the playoffs. On the other hand, I want to see the Sixers win the divison and not go into a tailspin against all these tough teams this week. A trio of Battie, Allen and Elson at center is going to make things tough if it continues much longer.— bradco
- @eagles..did he really say that?. Thats a hilariously stupid statement but yet almost true!— nixman101
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
