Sixers lose second straight in Summer League, Harkless sits with injury
Rookie Maurice Harkless sat the second half of the Sixers second Summer League game in Orlando today due to a strained hip flexor. The team lost by 84-80 to the Utah Jazz contingent.
ORLANDO, Fla. — When Sixers summer league coach Aaron McKie pulled rookie Maurice Harkless out of the game in the second quarter against the Utah Jazz, the 15th overall pick slowly went to the bench and grimaced in obvious pain. He stretched his legs out in front of him, trying to give some relief to the left hip flexor that is strained and causing him so much pain. Nothing seemed to work, so Harkless was shut down for the rest of the day after scoring two points in 9 minutes and 29 seconds of action.
Also on the injury front, second year center Nikola Vucevic was a bystander again on the bench, nursing a strained left Achilles' that he said he hurt last week when the players gathered for a minicamp at the University of Central Florida. Vucevic said he came down awkwardly after a layup and then tried to play through the pain. He couldn't, and the guess here is he probably won't see action down here this week.
The Sixers could be getting reinforcements, though. Lavoy Allen is expected to sign his new contract sometime after midnight tonight, the first day new contracts and free agents can sign, then head back to Orlando and perhaps play in the team's 3 p.m. game against Brooklyn.
In today's game, guard Jacob Pullen led the Sixers with 23 points, while Justin Holiday added 16, Xavier Silas 11 and Solomon Jones 10, but they dropped an 84-80 decision to the Utah Jazz, who were paced by Alec Burks' 31.