Nic Batum discusses playing through injury pain, praises Sixers' depth

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WASHINGTON — The Philadelphia 76ers will welcome Nic Batum back to the lineup on Wednesday when they visit the Washington Wizards. Batum missed Friday’s loss to the Boston Celtics with a right finger issue after he left Nov. 29’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans with the injury. The injury is on his shooting hand and has caused a great deal of pain when catching the ball and taking shots. However, the time off gave Batum the time needed to recover a bit. “It’s better,” Batum said at shootaround. “This little break was actually perfect timing-wise. It gave me time really to heal it up and not really use it. I stayed away from contact and not really use it. It gave me time to recover and get better.” With that said, Batum is playing through pain. He had a wrap around his finger at shootaround, and he is getting used to pain in his finger. “Pretty much every time so I’m trying to get used to the pain,” he explained. “I’m getting pretty good at it, but like when someone like hits you in your finger and it like goes back again? Yeah, that one didn’t feel good at all.” While Batum was out against the Celtics, the Sixers relied on others to produce. Despite being short-handed, Philadelphia was in an excellent position to win the game. The ball just didn’t bounce its way. The fact the Sixers competed against a very good Celtics team shows the depth they possess. No matter who is on the floor, Philadelphia feels confident in its ability to win. “That’s the beauty of this team,” said Batum. “If you want to compete, you want to win, sometimes guys will go down, and that’s the next man up guy. Next man up team. So last game in Boston, you know against a very good team, we were that close. We didn’t put it away so I mean, and guys played great. So I feel like even you if you don’t play, you gotta stay ready. Just stay ready.” Sixers vs. Wizards game preview: Lineups, how to watch, broadcast infoFull injury report for Joel Embiid, Sixers for road matchup vs. WizardsSixers discuss having Kelly Oubre Jr. return, adding to scary depth
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Source: https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/2023/12 ... ers-depth/