How Is Joel Embiid Feeling After Sixers' Win Over Grizzlies?

Battling an illness and foot soreness, how was Joel Embiid feeling after the Sixers' win over the Grizzlies.

For the first time in 12 games, the Philadelphia 76ers left Joel Embiid off the team’s injury report going into a matchup. As he’s been dealing with foot soreness, Embiid was consistently questionable for weeks leading up to the All-Star break. While Embiid contemplated sitting out of the All-Star game, the big man ended up playing.

When the Sixers returned to the practice court on Wednesday afternoon, the center was a full participant. Initially, the Sixers left Embiid off the injury report. However, hours before tip-off on Thursday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, the team downgraded his status.

Doc Rivers revealed that Embiid wasn’t a participant at the team’s morning shootaround. According to Rivers, Embiid was dealing with a non-COVID illness. At the time, team officials mentioned that Embiid was probable to play.

As expected, Embiid checked into Thursday’s game for 38 minutes. After the matchup, he didn’t have much to say about his sudden illness, which added him to the injury report before the game.

“I’m good,” said Embiid after Thursday’s game. “I don’t know what I have, but I’m good. I’m just happy we got the win.”

The Sixers got the win on Thursday, but it wasn’t easy. Trailing the Grizzlies by as many as 17 points in the first half, Embiid and the Sixers had a steep hole they had to dig out of late in the game. Defensively, Embiid was a force in the paint, collecting 19 rebounds and blocking six shots.

Offensively, Embiid simply didn’t have his touch. Putting up 25 shots from the field, the big man drained just seven of his field goal attempts. Embiid produced 27 points, with 13 of those points coming from the charity stripe. It was revealed that Embiid was battling an illness on Thursday, but how was his foot feeling after the game?

“I feel pretty good,” he explained. 

“Like I said before the break, whatever it is, it’s all about resting. There is a reason why I wasn’t there and wasn’t a part of Saturday. I wanted to make sure that I could get more rest. With this, it’s all about trying to get as much rest as possible. Would’ve been nice to actually have like two weeks off, but during the season, you can’t have that. You got to come back and keep going. Now, it’s all about managing it, and next time it comes around, take some time off and keep doing the same thing.” 

As long as he doesn’t deal with any setbacks, Embiid is healthy enough to play. While it’s unclear whether or not he’ll be one hundred percent without multiple weeks of rest, the big man has proven that foot soreness won’t prevent him from putting dominant performances on display. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.