CAMDEN, NJ – Robert Covington’s rehab seems to be going in the right direction.
Although the veteran forward’s return from his long-term left knee injury isn’t imminent, he has clearly made recent progress.
“This is the first time he’s been back (at practice),” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said Sunday afternoon. “He has been on the ground for a few days. He came out and participated in parts of practice today. This is a good step forward. Hopefully this will continue to move forward.
“That’s kind of the problem with him. Every day you have to check how he reacts to a certain amount of court time – extended court time. He had a pretty long session yesterday, and it looks like they’ll do it again for a little longer. So far he tolerates everything, so I hope he continues.
Covington, who has been out since Dec. 30, was able to catch and shoot after practice.
According to Nurse, the Sixers held a non-contact practice and Covington participated in “most” of the drills.
“I think, again, you’re in that kind of acceleration phase,” Nurse said. “But I just think with him it’s a little bit different because… you have to make sure your knee can handle it, not swell up again and need to go back.”
With all due respect to Covington, Joel Embiid injured left knee is of greater importance to the Sixers.
Nicolas Batum acknowledged as much when he opened his post-practice media session with a brief, playful statement: “Let’s put this aside.”
“Yes, he’s been practicing,” Batum said. “He looked good. He lifted. I don’t know when he will come back. I hope soon.”
Indeed, that pretty much covered what Nurse had shared about 10 minutes before. The nurse said Embiid “did a little bit of practice — all the no-contact stuff.”
For trade deadline pickups like Cameron Payne, this was their first coaching experience of any kind with the superstar big man.
“It was cool. I had to learn 15 more plays,” Payne said with a smile. “But other than that, it was cool to see him there. I didn’t see him (at the ‘training) since I’ve been here, so it was cool to see him out there today.
Tobias Harris was not part of Sixers practice after missing the team’s victory Saturday against the Hornets with a sprained right ankle. The team then listed him as questionable for its Monday night game against the Heat. Along with Embiid and Covington, De’Anthony Melton (lumbar spine bone strain) and Kai Jones (right hamstring strain) are out.
Miami is currently right next to the Sixers in the An ever-changing Eastern Conference ranking and took a 2-0 lead in the series with a narrow victory on February 14 in Philadelphia. Nurse is no stranger to the stylistic challenges Miami will present Monday night.
“We’re just trying to fight them,” Nurse said. “We played two really competitive games with them. We never really got to face them with our real training, but that’s okay, we have to do it. Listen, they’re going to run fast, cut fast, move fast on offense. They play half-court offense at a very good pace. We’ll have to be ready to run with them and fight through a lot of these things.
“They’re a physical team. They have some tough confrontations that hurt us… some post-ups on the wing and at the guard post that we’re going to have to plan for. We’re going to have to find out who’s guarding these guys. And then when these guys are gone, what are we going to do? How are we going to overtake and all that kind of stuff? And we’re going to see a lot of areas tomorrow.
