LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris returned to Sunday’s season-ending 110-103 loss to the Boston Celtics after a scary fall that saw him land head-first on the floor.
“I felt OK enough to go back out there and be able to try to do something to help us try to win,” Harris said after the game. “I wanted to … I’d rather go down with my guys than sitting in the back. That was the main reason why [I returned].”
Harris was coming down the lane when he jumped in the air and got tangled up with Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, causing his legs to be swept out from under him and for his body to go perpendicular with the ground.
His head struck the court, and Harris writhed around on the ground in pain. He was attended to by Sixers personnel, including coach Brett Brown, for several minutes before he eventually got up and walked off the court under his own power, holding a towel to his the left side of his head as he headed to the locker room.
He was diagnosed with a left eye laceration and was cleared after being evaluated for a concussion. He was bandaged up when he returned to the Sixers’ bench midway through the fourth quarter and returned with 5:12 remaining in the game.
Harris finished the Game 4 loss with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 2-for-5 from 3-point range, in 35 minutes.
“I’m still in some pain,” Harris said. “It was a hard fall, for sure. Obviously, got stitched up here, and my ribs were kind of affected. Big thing is how I’m gonna be feeling tomorrow morning.”
Coming into Game 4, Harris had struggled in this series, averaging 14.3 points while shooting 33.3% from the field and missing all 10 of his 3-point attempts.
