On Tuesday evening, the Philadelphia 76ers climbed back into the win column with a home victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. The story of this game was point guard Cameron Payne, who scored 32 points in this one on an astonishing 8-8 from beyond the three-point line, giving the 76ers a huge boost after just recently signing there.
Unfortunately, Payne's night, and just about everything else that happened in the NBA on Tuesday, was overshadowed by the historic 83-point outburst from Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, which occurred in a blowout win over the Washington Wizards.
However, that wasn't going to stop Payne from feeling himself after his epic game against Memphis.
“I was worried about Cam Payne, honestly,” Cam Payne said, per Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice on X, formerly Twitter. “Bam can’t take my night… March 10, it’s all me.”
The Grizzlies were in control of this game for most of the night before taking their starters out in the fourth quarter in a blatant tanking effort, after which Philadelphia immediately responded with a 20-2 run.
The 76ers had learned earlier in the day that star guard Tyrese Maxey would be out of the lineup for at least three weeks after injuring his hand in a recent road loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Philadelphia has been freefalling down the standings in recent weeks as the injury absences pile up, with the team having been passed by the Heat and falling into play-in territory as the season reaches its home stretch.
The 76ers will be desperately hoping that Joel Embiid is able to make his return from injury at some point in the near future, and are also counting down the days until Paul George's suspension is up.
In any case, the 76ers will next take the floor on Thursday evening for a tough road game against the Detroit Pistons.
