On Thursday night, the Philadelphia 76ers face a big game when they host the rival Boston Celtics. On Wednesday afternoon, we learned that the path to winning that game will be a little tougher than anticipated as it was announced that star big man Joel Embiid will miss the game due to his dislocated finger.
After Embiid returned to the game against the Thunder on Monday when the injury occurred, the feeling was that he would be okay. However, after the game he mentioned the possibility of missing Thursday’s game. After he missed practice on Tuesday while getting off-site testing on the finger, doubt started to creep in. And today we got the news we were hoping to avoid.
Joel Embiid is OUT tomorrow against Boston with a right ring finger injury #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) January 8, 2020
It’s certainly a blow to the Sixers. Their uneven play over the early part of the season has left them in a battle for positioning in the Eastern Conference, where they currently sit fifth. They are three games behind the Celtics, so Thursday’s game definitely carries some weight.
We’ll have to wait and see how much time Embiid will ultimately miss, but for now his Sixers face a daunting challenge on Thursday without him.