At this level, in case you’re a Philadelphia 76ers fan, it is laborious to know whether or not to chuckle or cry at how ridiculously terrible this season goes. It was purported to be a season of pleasure and competition for the Sixers after including Paul George in the summertime, however the whole lot, ultimately, nonetheless hinges on Joel Embiid and the man simply cannot get on the court docket.
And even when he does get on it, he cannot keep on.
Embiid has performed in a grand complete of 5 video games this season, 4 of which the Sixers have misplaced. He was taking part in in his sixth on Friday, and would not it, within the waning seconds of the primary half he took a shot to the face courtesy of Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin.
Embiid did not play the rest of the sport, a 121-114 loss at Indiana to drop Philadelphia’s file to a dismal 7-16. He completed with 12 factors and 5 assists. The Sixers had been outscored by 11 factors in his 17 minutes.
The Sixers will now start the all-too-familiar course of — pun form of supposed — of ready for additional information on Embiid’s harm. Who is aware of how lengthy he’ll be out this time. Sixers coach Nick Nurse had no data on Embiid’s standing after the sport, aside from to say he was “nonetheless getting examined.”
The Sixers have been further cautious with Embiid all season as they play the lengthy sport of attempting to have him wholesome for the playoffs, however it’s attending to the purpose the place they’re in peril of lacking the playoffs if their MVP would not begin placing some constant stretches of video games collectively.
You would possibly recall that Embiid broke his proper orbital bone in Game 6 of Philadelphia’s first-round playoff win over Toronto in 2022. The harm induced him to overlook the the primary two video games of the Sixers’ second-round collection vs. Miami earlier than he got here again in Game 3 sporting a masks.
Hopefully it isn’t a fracture and there aren’t any concussion points this time round. Embiid will certainly be checked for each as this was a fairly good shot to the face. We will proceed to replace this story as data turns into obtainable.