NEW YORK — Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will miss Game 4 towards the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, and Sixers coach Doc Rivers stated that he is undecided concerning the MVP candidate’s standing past that.
“I do not know,” Rivers stated when requested if he senses that Embiid will probably be out so long as the first-round sequence goes. “I can not reply that. But I’m undecided. I’ll say that.”
Philadelphia leads the sequence 3-0, after a 102-97 win on Thursday by which Embiid sprained his proper knee. Despite the harm, Embiid performed 38 minutes in Game 3 and blocked Spencer Dinwiddie on the rim in crunch time.
“The blocked shot was enormous,” Rivers stated. “But from my understanding, they checked his knee out proper after the sport as a result of he was complaining about some [soreness] behind the knee, which is at all times a scary factor when it is behind the knee with gamers. And there was swelling already, which is means too early, so we did the MRI.
“As a coach, I hate that phrase,” he continued. “I hate these three letters. Because it by no means comes out nicely. It simply really feel like that, at any time when they inform the coach, ‘Hey, we’ll get an MRI,’ it does not prove nicely more often than not. And this one didn’t.”
Brooklyn has been aggressively double-teaming Embiid all sequence. Paul Reed will begin in Embiid’s place on Saturday, and he won’t obtain the identical remedy.
“If they want to entice all our 5s tonight, I’d be actually appreciative of that. I do not suppose they need to change their sport plan in any respect,” Rivers joked. “But I acquired a sense they’ll. And so we now have to nearly determine that out as the sport goes on. I imply, it’s going to be new coverages. I feel our guys must be prepared for that.”
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In 36 minutes with out Embiid within the sequence, the Nets and Sixers have performed to a draw, with every crew scoring a putrid 100 factors per 100 possessions. In the common season, Philadelphia was outscored by 1.5 factors per 100 possessions with out Embiid on the courtroom.
“We’ve acquired a group of bigs,” Rivers stated. “We have loads of guys that may play basketball on our crew. And we have to seek out the proper group that may win video games for us.
Saturday’s absence signifies that Embiid has missed not less than one postseason sport due to harm or sickness in 5 of the final six seasons.
“I talked to him final night time. I imply, clearly, clearly, that is in your thoughts. Like, it’s,” Rivers stated. “But, as I stated [to him]: ‘This is one other impediment within the story that we’ll write this yr. And you are going to be OK. It could take a minute, however that is simply a part of it.’ He’s human. And goodness, this occurs once more. So, let’s win, let’s get him again on the ground and let’s simply carry on our personal journey.”
