Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is not expected to play in Game 2 of the second round of his team’s playoff series against the Boston Celtics due to a sprained knee. Embiid did not play in the Sixers’ Game 1 win, and National coach Doc Rivers said that on Tuesday that he expects Embiid’s status to remain the same for Wednesday’s game.
Despite Embiid’s absence, the Sixers pulled off a stunning 119-115 road victory thanks to James Harden, who turned in one of the best playoff performances of his career. Harden poured 45 points and dished out six assists, making the biggest shot of the game—a go-ahead 3-pointer with 8.4 seconds left in the game.
The Sixers have now stolen home court advantage from a Celtics team that remains the favorite to win the title, and are three wins away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. However, that is still a long way off , and they may eventually need Embiid to get there. But when or if he’ll be able to play remains to be seen, and Rivers said the Sixers’ surprise Game 1 victory won’t affect the big man’s timeline.
Embiid suffered the injury in Game 3 of the Sixers’ first round match against the Brooklyn Nets. In the third quarter of that game, he went upstairs to contest a shot from Cameron Johnson and landed in an awkward tangle of limbs next to the Nets forward. Embiid got up slowly and bent his knee in the immediate aftermath, but played the rest of the game. That was the last time we saw him on the floor.
After further examination, doctors determined that he had suffered an LCL sprain in his right knee. It is still unclear exactly how serious Embiid’s injury is and when he will be able to return to the ground, even in a reduced condition. He was on the ground to shoot around the morning of Game 1 without braces, but wasn’t moving well and Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that he received platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections on his knee and did not run much.
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We’ve seen Embiid play through serious injuries in the playoffs before, including a torn meniscus in 2021 and a broken orbital bone and torn ligament in his thumb in 2022. However, no two injuries are the same, and some are even unsafe to play with. to play. if you are willing to deal with the pain.
For now, the Sixers will have to hope that Harden can continue to play like the old MVP version of himself.