Sixers react to Joel Embiid injury scare in big win over Magic (2024)

The Center crowd went mostly quiet when Joel Embiid scored his 21st point in the first half, but quickly signaled to the team’s sideline that he needed a sub.

Embiid never fell but knew immediately he’d tweaked the knee then hobbled straight to the locker room. Our reigning MVP had a surgical procedure on that knee back in early February before missing more than two months of game action. This was his fifth game back in the lineup.

We weren’t told on the NBCSP telecast what exactly occurred so fans speculated for the rest of the 125-113 victory about Embiid’s health.

But reporters on the scene all saw Embiid reach for that troublesome knee right away:

For the next hour-and-a-half there was at least a glimmer of hope that this was something less worrisome.

Fans were certainly relieved as Embiid jogged out of the locker room to warm up for a crucial second half.

In the third quarter, Embiid took a few three-pointers, played some offensive decoy as he felt the situation out, but lent his typical stalwart rim protection.

He didn’t move that well to my eye in the second half, but he got better as the game went on. He continued to rack up numbers and stops that spurred the Sixers toward a massive team win, and kept their hopes of avoiding the Play-In (where the Miami Heat will almost certainly be lurking), buying their studs nearly a week off before the playoffs begin April 20.

Embiid was permitted to play nearly 15 second-half minutes. Post intermission, he shot 4-of-11, and scored 12 of his game-high 32 points. He chipped in four boards and a block, as the team outscored Orlando by 12 in the minutes Jo played.

Apparently, this model applies to a not-fully-healthy Embiid as well.

To my eye, the mechanism of injury — or injury scare — looked similar to a play that had Embiid wincing and grabbing at his knee in the prior battle vs. Detroit:

Nick Nurse’s postgame reaction

After the game, Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse addressed reporters in attendance at The Center, and confirmed, it was indeed that knee which was the cause of Embiid’s need for treatment.

According to Nurse, team medical staff “assessed him at halftime. No swelling, no damage, none of that kind of stuff,” Nurse divulged.

“Both of them said he should be OK to try it, and he wanted to try the second half,” the former 2019 championship winning coach continued, “and it was OK. Now, just like we do with everybody every game, we’ll have to make sure we assess it again tomorrow morning and see what happens. But you saw him, he looked fine.”

Pray for no swelling Saturday, if you’re so inclined.

When asked specifically to confirm if it was the left knee Nurse said simply “same knee, yeah.”

Embiid skipped his typical postgame locker room interviews and was out of the building before reporters were even granted access. (Straight to a 8’ hyperbaric chamber? Video games from a jumbo-sized ice bath?)

But NBCSP’s Play-by-Play broadcaster, Kate Scott, snagged Embiid

“You scared the you-know-what out of all of us, how ya’ feeling right now big fella?” Scott asked, also noting how awesome it felt to see him out there smiling after returning and leading his team to a monster victory.

“Umm, I’m good,” Embiid said. “You know we gotta fight through it, we gotta fight through it,” Embiid said with a wry smile and a shrug.

Alaa Abdelnaby followed up with a broader question about Embiid’s return from surgery, following the fateful game (Embiid should have been yanked from after stumbling around for three quarters) on Jan. 30 injury vs. the Golden State Warriors.

What’s that been like?

“Every single game, I’m getting in a little bit better shape,” Embiid said. “So I just gotta keep pushing.”

Embiid said he was happy he was able to play the full first quarter and finish the game strong, in terms of conditioning.

“Basketball-wise, the game is still kind of going too fast for me, I still gotta get used to it,” Jo continued. “I think that’s the reason that I’ve been turning the ball over which is pissing me off, and then obviously the shot-making ability. I missed a lot of easy ones [vs. Orlando], so I just gotta fix that,” Embiid admitted.

“And then mentally, I still gotta trust myself, the knee, y’know just my body in general. That’s gonna take awhile but that’s a grind. I like where I’m at and where I’m headed. And as a team, I told them I said ‘we have to go on a run,’ especially when I came back. We’re doing it, so yeah,” Embiid said.

Embiid was next asked about just how big Kelly Oubre, Jr. and Tyrese Maxey have been lately.

“Man, they’ve been great. I think it was kinda good that I wasn’t around [when rehabbing]. Tyrese saw a bunch of different coverages, getting doubled. And then Kelly... he’s back to himself, he’s been really our second- [he appeared to correct himself], third-best player, y’know, behind Tyrese.”

Speaking of Maxey and Oubre, Jr....

Against Orlando, in perhaps the biggest win of the season in terms of playoff/Play-In positioning Maxey was once again stellar.

After the game Maxey was asked about his teammate’s injury scare

“We had to kind of keep playing and finish out the half — which we did, thankfully. But we got him back in, checked on him to see if he was all right, and he was good to go.”

“....I just tell [Embiid sometimes] ‘I got us.’... Him being out was bad of course, but it was a blessing in disguise. It kind of had me grow up a little bit and grow into this role,” the Kentucky product added.

Kelly Oubre, Jr. spoke about Embiid’s injury scare as well

The ninth year, 28 year-old journeymen, has hopefully found a long-term home in Philly. He’s growing as a playmaker in Philadephia (enjoying the best assist-percent per 100 possessions of his career) and may have played some of the best ball of his career during Embiid’s absence.

(Tobias Harris didn’t field questions but was a team high +24, recording a well-rounded 14 points on 10 shots, to go with 6 boards, 3 dimes, 2 steals, and 2 blocks — not bad for a guy who heard a smattering of boos from the home crowd Friday).

But Oubre, Jr. admitted he was a bit nervous when Joel had to exit the game.

“It was scary, of course,” KO added. “I know he’s a soldier, I know that he’s tough and he’ll fight through whatever.... Obviously, everybody gasps for a second, everybody’s heart drops. You hear the crowd. Jo, he’s a fighter. He used to fight lions and tigers and bears and stuff like that, so I think this basketball stuff is off that same ilk.”

Lions and tigers and meniscus scares, oh my.

“At halftime they’ve got him in the training room, and we’re trying to decide what we’re doing if he’s not coming back,” Nurse said. “[Embiid] said he was going to go out and test it a little bit so yeah, we thought about [the scenario where he couldn’t return].”

Probabilities and seeding notes related to the injury scare

The Sixers injury report for Sunday’s final regular season game vs. the Brooklyn Nets in Philly has not been released yet. But you can probably wager that Embiid will at least be listed as “questionable” at best.

There is a lot at stake since the team can still — with some help from an Indiana OR an Orlando loss — avoid the Play-In. For more on rooting interests for the final game, click here.

For what it’s worth, DraftKings has listed Philly as -14.5 point favorites Sunday, an implied 93 percent chance of securing another monster victory.

If we incorporate DraftKings odds from the Magic (hosting the banged up Bucks, missing Giannis, and perhaps even Damian Lillard, who sat out during a crucial standings loss vs. OKC recently) and Pacers (hosting the flailing Hawks) the Vegas geniuses and bots give the Sixers roughly a 40-44 percent chance at finishing No. 6 (or higher).

That means that the Sixers first-round playoff opponent as of this writing looks like it’ll be the New York Knicks. And that could be the case whether Philly finishes as a No. 6 or a No. 7 for reasons I won’t bother to get into here.

If you want to get as nerdy as me, and you’d prefer the team to play the (perhaps) Giannis- less Bucks instead of the New York Knicks from that No. 6 seed in round one, the DraftKings implied odds (I crunched myself) of Philly facing Milwaukee in round one, while avoiding the Play-In are about 8.6 percent. Add Jim Carrey meme.

With that in mind, trusting Oubre, Jr. that Embiid has wrestled lions, tigers and bears, I’m penciling him in to suit up Sunday afternoon to keep hope alive.

Please study this and have it memorized for tomorrow’s pop quiz.