The Philadelphia 76ers’ hopes of winning the Eastern Conference might be dependent on Joel Embiid’s left knee. The All-Star center has been dealing with tendinitis in the knee, and while he was able to play against the Brooklyn Nets’ during Philly’s five-game series win, he did sit out Game 3 in Brooklyn. As it turns out, despite the layoff between the end of that series and the start of Philly’s conference semifinal matchup with the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, the injury hasn’t gotten all that much better.
“It’s still not there. It’s still trying to get better,” Embiid said, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “But that’s an issue that’s going to be there at least all playoffs until I actually get some real time to get some rest and work on myself.
“But, we did a good job managing it,” Embiid continued. “Obviously I only averaged about 24 minutes last series, so this one I’m definitely going to need way more than that.”
Embiid did make a major impact against Brooklyn when he was on the floor, but with all due respect to the Nets’ frontcourt (which dealt with its own injury issues due to Ed Davis’ absence from the final two games), Toronto’s 1-2 punch of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka is a more formidable task. Gasol has especially been a thorn in Embiid’s side throughout his professional career.
The Sixers have some other options if Embiid’s knee really starts acting up, as Boban Marjanovic was impressive against the Nets and Jonah Bolden has shown flashes, even if the Sixers limited him to garbage time minutes in round one. Still, everything comes down to Embiid and his knee, which he understands.
“It’s hard because I’m known for playing through anything and pushing, pushing it,” Embiid said. “And in some situations like Game 3, I couldn’t go because it was too much. But like I said, I just got to keep managing it and see how I feel and then go from there.”
(Via ESPN)
