Joel Embiid Misses Sixers’ Practice Tuesday
Following an injury in Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was not cleared for action in the Sixers’ Game 4 matchup.
According to the Sixers’ injury report, Embiid was dealing with a sprained knee. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers revealed that Embiid received an MRI last Friday after dealing with soreness and swelling in his knee after Philly’s Game 3 win over the Nets.
“We did an MRI,” Rivers said before Philly’s Game 4 win over the Nets. “As a coach, I hate that word. I hate those three letters because it never comes out well. It just feels like that whenever they tell the coach, ‘Hey, we're going to get an MRI.’ You know, it doesn't turn out well, most of the time. And this one did not.”
Embiid is reportedly dealing with an LCL sprain. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Embiid is expected to be re-evaluated sometime this week.
Following Philly’s Game 4 win, which helped the Sixers advance to the second round of the playoffs in sweeping fashion, Rivers guessed that Embiid has a 50 percent chance to be ready for Game 1 of the second round.
On Tuesday, Doc Rivers revealed that in the coming days, they’ll have a better idea on whether or not that percentage will go up. For the time being, they remain unsure.
“There isn’t any update yet other than the update we gave ya’ll a couple of days ago,” Rivers said. “We won’t know anything for at least a couple of days.”
While the Sixers returned to practice on Tuesday, Embiid was not a participant. Instead, he was present for the team’s film session.
“We practiced, but Joel was just at the film, and that’s it,” Rivers added.
With Embiid off the floor for the Sixers currently, are the Sixers worried there’s a chance that Embiid won’t be ready for the start of the second round?
“Not right now, I’m not worried, and I’m not thinking about it,” Rivers explained. “I’m thinking about just us. Obviously, a day or two, we’ll get more news, but I’m not going to worry about something that I don’t know what it’s gonna be yet. We got to get prepared for the next round.
“It’s not what you want, but I don’t know if the word frustrating is what I would use,” he continued. “I mean, it's just part of our journey and part of our story. You go through stuff. It could be someone else; we don't care. We want everyone to be healthy, right? And it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. So what are we going to do about it? What we have to do is prepare everybody. When Joel can play, we have to make sure he can play to the best he possibly can.”
If the Boston Celtics defeat the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5 on Tuesday night, the Sixers will travel to Boston on Saturday, April 29, for Game 1 of the second round. If the series extends beyond five games, then the Sixers will have off until May 1.
A longer break would be more beneficial for Embiid, but the Sixers aren’t hoping for a specific scenario just yet as they wait for re-evaluation results regarding their All-Star big man.
