One body part is about to decide an entire conference’s playoff race.
It’s the aching knee of Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid. The talented but oft-injured forward just submitted his best regular season yet with 27.5 ppg, 13.6 rpg, nearly four dimes and two blocks per contest, all while hitting 48.4 percent of his shots from the field. That’s MVP-level stuff.
But due to knee problems that have limited him to just 10 games since the All-Star break, the Sixers may be without Embiid to start their series against the Brooklyn Nets … and it seems like there’s a lot of mystery around when he could be back:
Head coach Brett Brown didn’t help matters:
Welp.
This is obviously huge for a variety of reasons. The Sixers lost twice this season to the Nets, who are a fiesty, deep and dangerous team with a savage fan base. Embiid played in all four of those games, so the Sixers are going to need all the help they can get here.
Even if the Sixers can get past Brooklyn — and you would hope a team that shoved all its chips to the middle of the table by trading for Tobias Harris AND Jimmy Butler in the same year would be able to do so — this is a stacked team that has a legitimate shot at making a dent in the conference. They’ve found ways to beat the Bucks and Raptors once apiece this year and Embiid has been in the lineup for both victories.
Without Embiid? They’re just not going to be able to keep up with those contenders, and there are already people thinking they’re in trouble in the first round:
Deep breaths here, Sixers die-hards. Maybe he’s out just one game and the rest helps him. Or this could be the body part that knocks out a playoff contender that might have the favorites nervous.
