The Philadelphia 76ers entered Thursday’s matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers already missing one star in Ben Simmons who was a late scratch with left calf tightness. They could ill afford to lose the other one.
Joel Embiid went up for a block in the first quarter and he landed awkwardly on his right knee. He was then writhing in pain on the floor before getting up and walking off with his own power.
He then went to the locker room before returning and he looked fine. He had 25 points in the second quarter alone to keep Philadelphia in it before they faded away in the second half.
“I didn’t see it,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I saw it on the replay. By the time I looked, he was up. I don’t even know what happened, honestly. Walking off, he told me he’s alright. He just needed to get it checked. I didn’t have much of a reaction.”
As for Embiid, he expressed some concern he had at the beginning, but he had to keep pushing in order to put his team in a position to try and win the game. Especially without Simmons being able to help out.
“I was pretty concerned,” he stated. “You never want to mess with any injuries, especially the knee. I kind of felt that when I landed, but I ended up coming back and pushing through it. As the game kept going, I wasn’t all the way there, but I just wanted to push and make sure that we get a chance.”
The Sixers now have to make sure that he is all good for Saturday’s big matchup with the Brooklyn Nets at home. The Nets don’t have a big man to match up with Embiid, but they still have supreme scorers in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. They will need Embiid at his best for that one.
“I feel good,” said the big fella. “We’ll see how it feels tomorrow when I wake up and, but I should be good.”
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