Within an hour of arriving in Miami on Wednesday, the 76ers were on a practice court and Joel Embiid was with them for a second consecutive day. But, his return to playing is still unknown as he was officially listed as doubtful for Game 3.
Doubtful does not inspire confidence or probability, but it is definitely an upgrade from being listed as out.
Embiid took part in what coach Brett Brown called "light practicing" with a "little bit of contact" on Tuesday in Camden and again in Miami on the eve of the third game in the first-round series against the Miami Heat. The series is tied, 1-1.
"I'm not really anything," Brown said when asked if he was optimistic about Embiid possibly returning for Game 3. "I am completely neutral. We'll coach and plan and think like that until somebody tells me otherwise."
Doubtful in the NBA is defined as having a 25 percent chance of playing, but as we've seen before with Embiid, anything can happen. On Jan. 3, with a sprained right hand, Embiid went from being doubtful, to very doubtful, to out, and then flipped the script, playing that night against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Sixers will hold a morning shoot around on Thursday, giving another opportunity to evaluate Embiid before the game.
Having Embiid on the court with the team the last two days changed to tone of the room. One after another the players said that just having Embiid going through practice is a boost.
"It was really good just to see Jo out there running in the offense and schemes and everything," Robert Covington said Wednesday. "His spirits are up just to be out there with us. Everyone is just really happy that he's back, and now we've got to incorporate him into what we've been doing."
What the Sixers have been doing is playing at an increased pace since Embiid's injury on March 28, and there's no doubt that his return will slow things down a bit, but Brown seemed confident that Embiid would return to form faster than most because he is in such good shape and because he is able to pick things up with ease.
"I think the adjustment offensively might be a little bit more noticeable than defensively initially" Brown said. "But he's so gifted and intelligent. He really is as smart and an instinctive player as I've coached. He can look at something without doing it and then go do it."
