Clippers, James Harden anticipate rude welcome in Philly

After dropping three of four on their western road trip, the Philadelphia 76ers return home to battle the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

The Sixers' lone victory on the trip came against the Clippers, 121-107, on Sunday.

On Monday, the Sixers (39-33) fell 108-96 to the Sacramento Kings.

Tyrese Maxey led the way with 29 points, though 21 came in an electric first quarter. Tobias Harris added 12 while Ricky Council IV and D.J. Wilson had 10 apiece.

Wilson signed a 10-day contract on Sunday.

"He was excellent," Sixers coach Nick Nurse said of Wilson. "He played a long stretch there and obviously played very well. I thought he did just about everything right."

Maxey scored only three points in the second half.

"They started blitzing everything with him," Nurse said of how the Kings guarded Maxey. "We didn't do a great job of taking advantage of that. We've been really good at it lately and tonight we weren't as good."

Buddy Hield missed all six 3-point attempts and suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter. According to reports, X-rays were negative and his status is unclear for Wednesday.

The Sixers were also missing Joel Embiid, Robert Covington, De'Anthony Melton and Kelly Oubre Jr.

Maxey went 5 of 7 from 3-point range and the rest of the team shot just 6 of 27.

With so many players sidelined with injuries, the patchwork group of Sixers must find ways to compile victories to try and avoid the play-in portion of the Eastern Conference.

The Sixers are currently in eighth place, one-half game behind the Miami Heat for seventh. The top six seeds avoid the play-in games.

The Clippers will arrive in Philadelphia on a two-game losing streak.

After losing to the Sixers, Los Angeles (44-27) lost 133-116 to the Indiana Pacers on Monday.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George scored 26 points apiece and Norman Powell added 22. Russell Westbrook contributed 14 and James Harden had 11. Westbrook returned after a 12-game absence with a fractured left hand.

"I thought Russ looked good," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. "I thought he had some pop. I thought he pushed the pace. It's something for us to build on going forward."

Expect Harden to receive a chorus of boos when he faces his old team. Harden was traded from the Sixers to the Clippers last fall.

"Right now, do we have an identity?" Lue said. "I think, yeah, we're soft. That can be an identity if you want to call it that. We got to be tougher, mentally and physically."

Since rising to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference on Feb. 6, the Clippers have gone 10-12.

"You don't point fingers, you don't point blame," Westbrook said. "Each individual, I think we got to look within, look within ourselves, and figure out how we can better help our team. I think that's where we start, we start with ourselves. I start with myself.

"And then come together collectively and figure out how we now bring what we all have and bring to the table."

The Clippers took a season-low 20 shots from 3-point territory against the Pacers, making six.