The Philadelphia 76ers entered Thursday at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers shorthanded. They did not have Joel Embiid who is still out with the bone bruise injury and they also no longer had Tony Bradley or Vincent Poirier who were shipped out in the George Hill trade.

That meant that veteran Dwight Howard was the only true big man on the roster. The Sixers started Mike Scott at center in an effort to keep Howard in his regular role with the bench unit, but Howard hurt Philadelphia a bit early in this one.

Howard was getting into it with Lakers big man Montrezl Harrell all throughout the first quarter and once the quarter ended, Howard bumped Harrell and that was it. The 17-year veteran was hit with another technical foul and he was ejected from the basketball game.

Now that Howard is gone, the only other real big man on the roster now is rookie Paul Reed who stands at just 6-foot-9. The Sixers do have Simmons as well who stands at 6-foot-10 so Philadelphia will probably use him at center at some point in this game.

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