Joel Embiid will be "ready to go" for the Philadelphia 76ers when they host the Miami Heat, coach Nick Nurse has confirmed.

The reigning MVP sat out the Sixers' 107-86 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Sunday's regular-season finale at Wells Fargo Center.

Embiid returned from a two-month lay-off against the Oklahoma City Thunder two weeks ago, but his status has been questionable for every game since. 

And after missing the Nets game, concerns were raised with regards to his status ahead of Wednesday's 7-8 play-in contest with the Heat.

However, Nurse allayed any fears regarding the fitness of Embiid, who practised with the rest of his team-mates on Saturday.

"He did everything at practice yesterday," Nurse said after the Nets win. "But we decided out of caution to hold him out. He'll be ready to go."

Despite winning their final eight games, the Sixers finished seventh in the Eastern Conference and are set to contest their first play-in contest.

As a result of other results over the weekend, the Heat now stand between Philadelphia and a place in the playoffs.

"Obviously, we've had some great battles with them, and we always expect that facing them," Nurse said.

"The mindset is we're playing well and do everything we can, like we've been doing for the last month.

"We're digging in and playing our guys and doing whatever we have to do to win. We've got a good mindset, and we'll take that into Wednesday."

Joel Embiid shook off an apparent injury to finish with 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists and the Philadelphia 76ers extended their winning streak to seven with a 125-113 victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Embiid had 21 points, nine boards and seven assists in the first 17 minutes but appeared to land awkwardly on his left knee late in the first half. He limped to midcourt and gave up on the play.

After coach Nick Nurse called timeout, Embiid went straight to the locker room. But he returned for the second half and promptly hit a 3-pointer on his first touch of the third quarter.

Orlando, Indiana and Philadelphia are all 46-35 after the Pacers lost to Cleveland and are fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Eastern Conference.

Franz Wagner scored 24 points and Paolo Banchero added 22 for Orlando, which dropped its third straight game. The Magic can win the Southeast Division with a victory over Milwaukee on Sunday.

Spurs rally to stun Nuggets

Devonte’ Graham scored on a floater in the lane with 0.9 seconds remaining and the San Antonio Spurs rallied from a 23-point deficit for a 121-120 win over the Denver Nuggets, who may have suffered a potentially damaging loss.

The loss dropped Denver out of sole possession of first place in the Western Conference and into a tie with Minnesota and Oklahoma City. After tiebreakers, the Timberwolves are first, the Thunder and second and the Nuggets are third heading into the final day of the regular season on Sunday.

Victor Wembanyama had 34 points and 12 rebounds for the West-worst Spurs, who trailed 76-53 early in the third quarter and were still down 17 early in the fourth.

Jamal Murray scored 35 points and Nikola Jokić had 22 and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who close the regular season Sunday at Memphis.

Thunder handle depleted Bucks

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 23 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder boosted their chances at capturing the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a 125-107 win over the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks.

Chet Holmgren had 22 points and nine rebounds and Aaron Wiggins added 19 points for the Thunder, who won their fourth straight and ended the night tied for the top seed in the West after Denver lost to San Antonio and Minnesota beat Atlanta.

Milwaukee played without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo (strained left calf) and All-Star Damian Lillard (sore left adductor) and dropped into a tie with the Knicks for the No. 2 seed in the East. The Bucks can still finish second with a win at Orlando on Sunday or a New York loss to Chicago.

Joel Embiid has revealed his recent injury layoff left him feeling depressed, having returned to the court to help the Philadelphia 76ers past the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. 

Embiid missed over two months of action after suffering a knee injury during a game against the Golden State Warriors at the end of January.

Having undergone surgery to repair the lateral meniscus in his left knee, Embiid sat out 29 straight games with the Sixers slumping from 29-17 to 40-35 in that time.

The Sixers have gone 14-27 without the reigning NBA MVP overall this campaign, and they were buoyed by his return on Tuesday as he finished their 109-105 win with 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Opening up on the toll his injury took, Embiid said: "Usually I just tell myself, 'move on to the next one', get better, and then fix it, but this one took a toll mentally, being depressed, it was not good.

"So, I'm still not where I'm supposed to be, especially mentally, but I just love to play and love basketball and I want to play. Any chance that I have to be out there, I'm going to take it.

"For some reason this injury was just disappointing. It was depressing. It took me a while to get over it, and I still haven't gotten over it. So I've just got to take it day by day, look at the positives.

"I'm back. So, hopefully every single day, I'll try to get better and get back to myself."

Embiid was limited to just 29 minutes on the court, but only Kelly Oubre Jr., with 25 points, bettered his return as Philadelphia boosted their playoff hopes by making it back-to-back wins. 

"Minutes-wise, that was probably where I thought we would end up," head coach Nick Nurse said. "I thought we had a good start and it mapped out something like that, minutes-wise.

"He scored some, I thought he passed the ball really well, but when we start amping up our defense in the last six minutes he was down there again.

"Some of those drives didn't look as productive, so that to me is where I really thought he impacted the game. He looked pretty good for not playing for a couple of months, that's for sure."

The Philadelphia 76ers entered play Wednesday with 10 games to go before the post-season.

They believe they'll have reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid back on the court before they begin their play-off run.

76ers coach Nick Nurse said before Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers that it's likely the seven-time All-Star will be back before the end of the regular season.

"I think there's a very good likelihood that he will return before the play-in/play-offs," Nurse said.

Embiid has missed 27 games since suffering a meniscus injury in his left knee on Jan. 30 against the Golden State Warriors.

The injury required surgery on Feb. 6.

"He's doing lots of skill work and things like that and just trying to continue to advance and that stuff," Nurse said.

Embiid was enjoying another MVP-calibre season before his injury, averaging an NBA-leading 35.3 points per game, 11.3 rebounds, a career-best 5.7 assists and 2.49 blocks.

He won the MVP last season averaging 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.35 blocks.

At the time of his injury, the 76ers were 29-17 and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

Since then, they've gone just 10-16, sliding into eighth in the East.

The Philadelphia 76ers had reason to celebrate after Saturday's victory over the Charlotte Hornets and Nick Nurse's side will have further joy incoming as Joel Embiid continues his recovery from injury.

Center Embiid was forced into meniscus surgery for a left knee issue at the end of January but Nurse suggested his star man could return before the NBA playoffs.

"I'm still hoping so and pretty confident, yes," the 76ers coach said when asked if Embiid would feature in the postseason.

"I think there's always stages of how these things progress. Everyone wants to know 'Well how long is it going to be?'

"And they give a wide range because of that because everyone heals differently. We're just trying to take it as it comes, get him healthy and get him back when he's ready to go."

Embiid has missed 21 games since tearing his meniscus against the Golden State Warriors, with the 76ers slipping down from third to eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The 76ers man was at least in attendance as Philadelphia downed the Hornets 109-98, with that victory coming after Embiid offered a boost when returning to on-court training.

"He looked pretty good to me," said Cam Payne. "For my first time seeing him, he looked pretty good, man. He attracts a lot of attention out here. So it's probably going to make our job a little bit easier."

Against Charlotte, Tyrese Maxey scored 30 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 22 as the 76ers withstood a fourth-quarter comeback for victory.

Buddy Hield also had 14 points and Paul Reed contributed 11, though the 76ers are still 8-13 without key player Embiid.

"I thought Buddy kept us going there for stretches in the second half," Nurse said. "He got some good spots and got some good looks.

"We only scored 109 points, but I thought the offense was really good."

Charlotte have now lost six straight to Philadelphia, though coach Steve Clifford was not too disheartened.

"We were right there with three and a half minutes left," Hornets coach Clifford said.

"We had a couple blown sets where we got a little disorganized there, but we got back into the game and I would say that we played well for about 43 minutes.

"The second quarter, we had a couple of minutes there where the ball didn't hit the paint and we took a couple of OK shots and put a lot of pressure on the defense."

Cameron Payne felt the Philadelphia 76ers found "the right juice" against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, but it wasn't enough as Giannis Antetokounmpo led the championship hopefuls to victory.

Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and added 11 rebounds as the Bucks rallied for a 114-105 win over the 76ers, who had led 83-80 at the start of the fourth quarter.

However, the Bucks inched ahead of their short-handed visitors with eight minutes on the clock, then AJ Green added three free-throws and a 3-pointer to open up a commanding lead.

The Sixers have now lost 13 of 20 games without reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid, who hopes to return before the end of the season after undergoing surgery to repair the lateral meniscus in his left knee.

However, both Payne and head coach Nick Nurse sought to take the positives from Thursday's performance. 

"I feel like we had the right juice today. We had fun and it showed on the court," Payne said after finishing with 13 points in support of Tyrese Maxey, who had 30. 

Nurse echoed that view, saying: "I think the effort was really good. We were doing a lot of things we wanted to do. We turned them over a bunch in the first half. 

"Probably the difference in the game was that we didn't quite get to as many turnovers in the second. But I thought we did a lot of really good things."

The victory – Milwaukee's third in a row on home turf – improved the Bucks to 43-24, a record which is good enough for second place in the Eastern Conference behind the 52-14 Boston Celtics. 

"They were the instigators throughout the entire first three quarters," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought in the fourth quarter it flipped."

Nick Nurse had no excuses after his injury-hit Philadelphia 76ers team fell to a second straight defeat against the Utah Jazz on Saturday.

The 76ers were without reigning MVP Joel Embiid because of swelling in his knee, while Tobias Harris, De-Anthony Melton, Robert Covington and Furkan Korkmaz were also out injured.

Philadelphia could not overcome those absences, going down 120-109 against the Jazz after suffering a heavy 128-92 defeat to the New York Knicks in their previous game.

Despite his team's injury troubles, Nurse insists the 76ers must perform better, telling reporters: "I believe even though you're missing five guys, that those guys can collectively play together better than that,"

"They can execute better. They can defend better than that. They can make those open shots. There were plenty of shots to step into and make in that game.

"When you’re short-handed, you got to play better than that. You've got to shoot the ball better and you've got to finish better than that."

Tyrese Maxey, who finished with 25 points but made just one of his eight three-pointers against the Jazz, acknowledged the team must play better going forward.

"Coach [Nurse] said we just didn't play hard enough," Maxey said. "He felt like the guys who came in, we could've played a lot harder and with a lot more force so he said we'll work on that.

"We'll get back to doing that and playing that way."

Kelly Oubre Jr will soon be back in contention for the Philadelphia 76ers, Nick Nurse has said.

Oubre was struck by a car earlier in November, suffering a fractured rib.

However, he returned to practice earlier this week, and before the Sixers' loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, Nurse said there is a chance Oubre might return as early as next week.

"Yeah, there might be a chance," Nurse said.

"I think we're still at a stage where we're not sure how he's going to handle the contact part of it.

"He was in good spirits on Monday. He was pretty energetic.

"I think that's going to determine it. Like if he handles that, kind of first time out OK, I think we're close to that week timeline. If he doesn't, then we're going to be pushing some more days on that. Hopefully days, and not weeks on that."

Joel Embiid scored 32 points and Tyrese Maxey chipped in with 30 for the Sixers in the loss to Cleveland, with Philadelphia having lost three of their last five games.

"We raised our level of play in the second half and gave ourselves a chance," said Nurse. "It just didn't work out."

Russell Westbrook is thrilled to be reuniting with James Harden and P.J. Tucker at the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers are acquiring Harden and Tucker in a blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Filip Petrusev is also joining the Clippers, with Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nic Batum and KJ Martin heading the other way.

Harden, who was in attendance as the Clippers beat the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, had been in a dispute with the 76ers, and missed their opening game of the season – a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks – and their second fixture, a win over the Toronto Raptors.

The 10-time All-Star played alongside both Tucker and Westbrook at the Houston Rockets, and the latter, who refused to confirm the trade before it was made official, could not hide his delight.

"Right now, James and P.J. are off-limits. I got nothing for you until it's official," Westbrook smiled, as per ESPN.

Asked if he was happy, Westbrook said: "Yeah. I mean, s***, why wouldn't I be?

"Yeah, excuse my language, but definitely, definitely happy."

As for the Sixers, Tyrese Maxey is set to inherit the point forward role Harden occupied in the roster.

"I think our group has been prepared," Maxey said. "I think we've done a good job of keeping the main thing the main thing, and I think that's what's gotten us all to a solid start.

"We have some really good guys that are focused, that are determined to go out there and play and show what we can do, and [a] coach that's keeping our mind in the right place."

Maxey also had a special word of thanks for his former teammate.

"I texted him and I told him I love him, told him I appreciate him," Maxey added of Harden. "One thing that he really installed in me is confidence. I've always been a confident person, but he made me be even more confident than I already was, and all I can do is appreciate him for that.

"He took me under his wing, taught me a lot of things as far as just being a professional in this league and how things go. So I appreciate him and I love him. Same thing with Tuck. Love those guys."

Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse, meanwhile, seems ready to move on from the Harden drama.

"I got to get ready for Thursday, and I got to coach the guys we got," he told reporters. 

"I really like where we are right now. I mean, there's so much I'm learning about this group. I think there's so much improvement we have to make in a lot of ways, and I'll let Daryl and [76ers general manager Elton Brand] and the boys worry about all that stuff, and I'll coach the guys here on a daily basis."

Nick Nurse has been evicted from the Toronto Raptors hot seat, four years on from leading the franchise to their first NBA championship.

According to reports on Friday, coach Nurse has left the team in the wake of their failure to reach the playoffs.

The Athletic and ESPN reported Nurse was fired, nine days on from the Raptors losing 109-105 to the Chicago Bulls in their play-in game.

Nurse, whose Raptors finished the regular season with a 41-41 record for ninth place in the Eastern Conference, has been touted as a candidate to take charge of the Houston Rockets.

At the end of Toronto's campaign, Nurse said: "I love it here. We've built a really strong culture here. We've all got to evaluate where we can get back to being a playoff team... and then getting to a level of winning it all."

That will not be Nurse's task, with the team now needing new leadership.

Nurse had five years as assistant coach with Toronto before being promoted in 2018 to succeed Dwane Casey as head coach, achieving immediate success as his first season climaxed with victory over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

Following the April 12 loss to the Bulls, Nurse reflected on Toronto's 2022-23 season and said: "It was tough. I think we had some up and downs. I thought we came out of the gates playing pretty well. Then we had to weather some injuries and we did that, and once we got everybody back, that got us out of rhythm and took a couple of tough losses.

"I've told the guys several times in the last two weeks, I'm proud of them for getting back to .500 when they were six or seven games below .500, because we did coach them hard and work them hard to rebuilding some of the foundational stuff."

Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan labelled Zach LaVine as "extraordinary" after his 30 second-half points lifted them past the Toronto Raptors 109-105 in their play-in tournament game on Wednesday.

LaVine finished with 39 points as the Bulls advanced to take on the Miami Heat for the right to the eight seed and a playoffs first round series against Eastern Conference top seed Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bulls guard's 30-point second half was the most points he has scored in any half this season, fuelling a fightback after trailing by 19 points.

"What he did going into the third quarter and into the fourth, it would have been very, very difficult for us to have won that game if he had not done that," Donovan said about LaVine.

"His performance was extraordinary. It gave us life and it gave us hope. Then once we got back into it, I think a lot of guys made a lot of different plays.

"But I give him credit, he had that mentality that he's going to do whatever he can do to get us back into the game."

LaVine put his second-half success down to "aggressiveness" and driving to the basket, capitalising on the Raptors trying to double-team DeMar DeRozan, who had 23 points and seven rebounds. DeRozan called LaVine "amazing" and said the Bulls followed his lead.

Meanwhile, the loss ended the Raptors' season, meaning they have missed the playoffs in two of their past three seasons, putting pressure on head coach Nick Nurse to retain his job.

"It was tough," Nurse said reflecting on the 2022-23 season. "I think we had some up and downs. I thought we came out of the gates playing pretty well. Then we had to weather some injuries and we did that and once we got everybody back that got us out of rhythm and took a couple tough losses.

"I've told the guys several times in the last two weeks, I'm proud of them for getting back to .500 when they were six or seven games below .500, because we did coach them hard and work them hard to rebuilding some of the foundational stuff.

"I thought we played well enough to win tonight, it just didn’t go our way."

Nurse lamented his side's 50 per cent free-throw shooting, making 18-of-36, not helped by DeRozan's daughter Diar, who screamed with a shrill every time they had an attempt from the line.

"That's a lot of misses," Nurse said. "We left a lot of points on the board."

DeRozan laughed off his daughter's antics which caught plenty of attention on social media given her persistent nature throughout the game.

"I've just seen it, she went viral," he said. "I kept hearing something during the game and when somebody missed a free-throw I thought 'damn, is that my daughter screaming?' I was just making sure she was alright though."

DeRozan added that Diar would not be able to attend Friday's play-in game on the road against the Heat, instead needing to go back to school.

Joel Embiid told reporters he is sick of the Toronto Raptors complaining about foul calls after the Philadelphia 76ers won 112-97 on Monday to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

Embiid finished with a game-high 31 points on nine-of-16 shooting and hit as many free throws (12) as the Raptors attempted as an entire team.

The 76ers also received another terrific performance from ascending guard Tyrese Maxey, who had 23 points (eight-of-11 shooting) with nine rebounds and eight assists, while James Harden chipped in with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Speaking with post-game media, Embiid said he knew the Raptors would try to raise the physicality in Game 2, but he wanted to beat them to the punch, earning a technical foul 90 seconds into the action.

"I didn't really want them to set that [physical] tone," he said. "I wanted myself and us to set that tone. That's why I picked up that early technical foul.

"On defense, I just wanted to make sure the refs to let us know how physical they wanted the game to be, so that's when [OG Anunoby and I] started pushing each other and got techs.

"I knew that was their game plan, I knew that was going to be their adjustment, but I wanted to be the first one to bring the physicality."

After such a physical contest, Embiid said he was tired of hearing Raptors coach Nick Nurse complaining about the refereeing and shared what the exchange was between the two late in the fourth quarter.

"[Nurse] is a great coach, what he has been able to accomplish, I have always been a big fan, but I told him, respectfully, to stop b****ing about calls," he said.

"If you triple-team somebody all game, they're bound to get to the free throw line. If you go and push them and hold them. I feel like every foul was legit, and there probably should have been more, honestly.

"I got a lost of respect for all these coaches, but I feel like they have self-awareness about when they say this kind of stuff [about] whether the referees are not calling [fouls] any more. It's also to motivate their guys to go out and play better and really put it in the referees' hands to not call it.

"But when the fouls are as obvious as they were tonight – they put me on the floor a few times – and to me, this is where it gets interesting to me. I'm like, cool, I'm going to come back with more power.

"I think that's part of the reason I got a few offensive fouls, too. If you're going to be physical, I'm going to come back with more power and make you stop me and make it more obvious if the refs don't want to call it. 

"I think [coaches] do it because they have to, but they don't actually believe it. If you watch the clips, every single foul is a foul."

76ers coach Doc Rivers also acknowledged his side expected a more physical approach from Toronto and shared the advice he gave his star player.

"No, Jo, you be the dominant guy," he said. "[Embiid] is the most dominant player in the league.

"They wanted to muck the game up and play physical. I just told our guys to just play through it."

Scottie Barnes is set to be listed as doubtful for the Toronto Raptors' Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Raptors have confirmed Barnes, who is a Rookie of the Year finalist, sprained his left ankle in the fourth quarter of the series-opening 131-111 loss to the 76ers.

That would put the fourth overall pick's involvement in Monday's game in Philadelphia in significant doubt, as coach Nick Nurse acknowledged.

Gary Trent Jr. is ill, meanwhile, and Thaddeus Young has injured his left thumb.

"Listen, it doesn't look good for any of those guys," Nurse said after Sunday's practice.

"They're all going to be listed as probably doubtful, so it doesn't look good for any of them. We'll evaluate them as we go and see where we end up."

Kyle Lowry admitted it was "weird" to walk off the court for potentially the last time as a Toronto Raptor as the point guard waits to see if he will be on the move before the trade deadline.

Lowry scored only eight points but had nine assists and five rebounds in his 33 minutes on court, helping Toronto snap a nine-game losing streak by beating the Denver Nuggets 135-111 in Tampa.

Viewed by many as the greatest player in the Canadian franchise's history, the six-time All-Star is on an expiring contract, making him a leading candidate to be on the move on Thursday - which just so happens to be his 35th birthday.

Toronto has an 18-26 record in a season that has seen them forced to relocate away from their home due to travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a post-game media conference that was briefly interrupted by a call from rapper Drake, a global ambassador for the team who offered his services to work as a translator, Lowry admitted there was a different feeling at the end of the game, potentially knowing it was his last for the Raptors.

"It was kind of weird tonight, not knowing what the next step will be, understanding that there are things that could be possibly be done, with me and other guys on the team," he said prior to Drake's cameo appearance.

"It was great to get a win, it felt good to be out there. It would have been crazier if it was in Toronto, I think, but it was different tonight, for sure.

"Who knows what's going to happen? No one knows, but it was definitely different." 

Lowry arrived at Toronto in July 2012 and is the franchise leader for assists, three-pointers made and steals. He also sits second on the list for games played and was a key part of the roster that won the NBA title in 2019.

"Whenever the time comes, I'll think about that stuff," Lowry replied when asked about his legacy with the team. "The story is not complete, put it that way. My career isn't complete and my time in Toronto isn't essentially over.

"No decisions have been made, nothing has been done. With that being said, I don't know. I've given a lot and I'll continue to give it all, no matter what."

Raptors coach Nick Nurse was full of praise for Lowry, who helped build a 24-point half-time lead as they emphatically put an end to the Nuggets' six-game winning run on the road.

"He plays harder than anybody I've ever seen, and I can't give him a higher compliment than that," Nurse said. 

"He'll go down as maybe the greatest Raptor ever to date."

Norman Powell – another member of Toronto's team who could be on the move before the 15:00 ET (19:00 GMT) deadline – had 22 points.

Sergio Scariolo made sure it was business as usual for the Toronto Raptors despite the absence of six coaches – and one key player – for the victory over the Houston Rockets.

Head coach Nick Nurse and five of his assistants were unable to be involved with the team for Friday's game due to health and safety protocols amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Raptors also recently lost assistant Chris Finch – who has taken over as head coach at the Minnesota Timberwolves – from their staff, yet Scariolo smoothly stepped up to take on the lead role, despite receiving little notice about his unexpected promotion.

Nurse had a video call with his temporary replacement prior to the game, with Toronto going on to triumph 122-111 to move to 17-17 for the season.

"It was different, because everything happened so fast. We had to re-adjust tasks, timing, schedule, so we had to go a little bit on the fly," Scariolo explained to the media after the game.

"But the players did a great job, and the remaining coaches – the few guys left – were great. The guys who were not with us tonight did a great job also, in terms of the game preparation.

"Coach Nurse was always there – we had a Zoom call before the game. This is teamwork, basically. There is a guy who stays on the sidelines who makes so decisions, but within coach Nurse's philosophy this has always been about teamwork, about a group, so I felt pretty comfortable."

The Raptors - who are playing their home games this season in Florida due to travel restrictions in place during the global pandemic, were also without Pascal Siakam due to NBA protocols.

However, 30 points from Norm Powell and 25 and 20 respectively from backcourt duo Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry saw them overcome the Rockets.

It helped that Scariolo knows all about the responsibilities of taking charge, too. As well as working for the Raptors, the Italian is also the head coach of the Spanish national team, leading them to a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012, followed four years later by bronze in Rio.

Having only just returned from international duty with Spain, the 59-year-old went through a period of quarantine before joining up again with the Raptors - a unique set of circumstances that allowed him to be available to cover for absent colleagues.

"I think this is a subject for a book, rather than an answer!" Scariolo told the media.

"I came back on Monday and was tested immediately after the trip from Poland, we had played there, played two games. Fortunately we won both, so it was worth the effort to go back and forth.

"I quarantined and got tested every day, then travelled to Miami by car by myself. I stayed totally separated from the coaches and the players. Then yesterday we had this situation coming out.

"I was working on preparing for this game as normal, then suddenly at night I got a few texts and realised things were going to change."