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Joel Embiid is not going to play in Game 4 of the first-round collection between the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets on Saturday resulting from a sprained knee, in response to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne. The MVP candidate underwent an MRI after Game 3 which revealed the harm.
In the center of the third quarter of Game 3, Embiid went as much as contest a drive by Cameron Johnson and took an ungainly fall subsequent to the basket stanchion. He stayed on the bottom for a quick interval and when he acquired to his ft he was clutching at his knee and flexing it. He remained in, nevertheless, and performed the remainder of the sport.
Neither Embiid nor the Sixers had been at their finest in Game 3. The massive man was concerned in a weird incident within the first quarter the place he kicked at Nic Claxton and was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul, and completed with simply 14 factors and 10 rebounds on 5-of-13 from the sector. Still, the Sixers had been in a position to grind out a 102-97 win to take a 3-0 lead within the collection.
That provides them the power to play it protected with Embiid, and they need to be capable to win the collection with out him at this level. However, that is now an actual concern transferring ahead, particularly in the event that they find yourself going through the Boston Celtics within the second spherical. While Embiid might reportedly be able to return by subsequent week, there is no assure he’ll be at one hundred pc by that time.
This is, sadly, simply the most recent playoff harm for Embiid, who has struggled to remain wholesome at this level of the season all through his profession. In the 2019 playoffs he handled a knee harm that stored him out for a sport; in 2021 he suffered a torn meniscus that, although it solely stored him out of 1 sport, restricted him at factors; in 2022 he had a torn ligament in his thumb in addition to a concussion and damaged orbital bone, all of which held him out of two video games and impacted his efficiency in others.
