The Philadelphia 76ers are in the middle of a 4-game road trip and they will begin a back-to-back on Friday when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans and then the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. This is a big challenge for them as they continue to manage the injury to Joel Embiid.
Embiid missed 10 games due to a bone bruise in his left knee and he sat out the second game of a back-to-back in his most recent return. Considering that he is continuing the recovery from the injury, the Sixers will have to make a decision.
Coach Doc Rivers said there currently is no plan to load manage him, but they will see how he feels after Friday’s game.
“We’ll see how it goes,” said Rivers before Friday’s game. “He’s just getting back. We’ve talked about it, but there is no plan. We’re gonna wait until after the game. That’s basically what we’ve done this year.”
It is smart to not have a plan right now. As long as they take it game by game and make sure that he is in the best condition, the team will be fine. The goal is to make sure he is ready for the playoffs so Rivers and the rest of his staff will figure it out from there.
“Finding out stuff doesn’t work in a lot of cases,” Rivers finished. “What if the guy plays 20 minutes and he feels great? Should we sit him because we that plan already? We’ve typically waited until after the game to make the decision.”
The Sixers are playing a tougher Pelicans team on Friday and then facing a rebuilding and young Thunder team on Saturday. It would make sense to sit him in Oklahoma City, but that remains to be seen as they won’t know until Friday night after the game in the bayou.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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