Philadelphia 76ers: Greg Monroe exits Game 2 with an ankle injury

After playing lights out in the first half, Greg Monroe left the Philadelphia 76ers’ Game 2 bout against the Toronto Raptors with an ankle injury.

At this point, you kind of have to feel bad for Philadelphia 76ers backup big man Greg Monroe.

After bouncing around the league for much of the 2018-19 season, Monroe finally got a chance to shine against his former club as the first big man off the bench in Brett Brown‘s Game 2 rotation against the Toronto Raptors, and he looked darn good doing so; scoring 10 points in 12 minutes while grabbing five boards and blocking one shot.

However, as these things often go, Monroe’s glory couldn’t last too long, as he suffered a pretty ugly leg injury in the third quarter that required him to head straight from the court to the locker room.

Dubbed a left ankle sprain by the team’s medical staff, Monroe was initially listed as available before being labeled out for the remainder of the game; replaced by Jonah Bolden, who took over as the team’s small-ball center when Joel Embiid left the court.

And while I never thought I’d say this, if Monroe can’t go for the Sixers’ Game 3 bout on Thursday, things are going to get real ugly as the series arrives in the City of Brotherly Love.

Yes, really.

When on the court, Monroe at an ESPN Real Plus-Minus rating of +8, among the highest marks on the team. However, when he left the court things got ugly quick, with the 76ers’ 51-38 halftime lead evaporating down to single-digits.

Was it’s all because of Monroe’s absence? No, the fact that the team’s shots stopped falling for the better part of a quarter certainly didn’t help but is absence was noticeable when compared to the performances of Bolden, Amir Johnson, and a single minute of Boban Marjanovic.

Because of Brown’s tiny eight-man rotation, featuring only three bench players, losing a player like Monroe can have a significant impact on the game, especially when the team’s star center clearly isn’t playing at 100 percent.

Though this could all be for not, as his ankle injury could be non-serious and he could be back for Game 3, after going back to the drawing board following an embarrassing Game 1 loss, it would be a shame for Brett Brown’s reshuffled rotation to be disrupted by an unfortunate ankle injury. Get well soon Greg Monroe!