Joel Embiid will start Game 3 of Sixers’ second-round series against the Knicks
Injuries to his right hip and ankle kept him out of Game 2's loss at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, the Knicks will be without star forward OG Anunoby.
Joel Embiid will return for Friday’s Game 3 of their second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks, after missing Wednesday’s Game 2 loss with a right ankle sprain and right hip soreness.
The star center was listed as questionable throughout the day, but participated in the Sixers’ shootaround Wednesday morning. Coach Nick Nurse said during his pregame news conference that he expected Embiid to play.
“He’s getting better all the time,” Nurse said during his pregame news conference. “ … I think he’s going to give it a shot here. He’s going to get one last check here to see where he’s at.”
Embiid will try to help the Sixers dig out of a two-games-to-zero deficit in Friday’s Game 3. No NBA team has ever overcome an 0-3 hole to win a seven-game series.
Embiid had been listed as probable to play the afternoon of Wednesday’s Game 2, before being ruled out following the team’s shootaround. Nurse said that Embiid woke up Wednesday with “a bunch of soreness” but was “really disappointed” he could not take the court that night.
“He’s worked extremely hard to get back [from an April 9 appendectomy],” Nurse said. “And he continues to want to play badly. I feel bad for him, because he really wants to be out there.”
Knicks starting wing OG Anunoby, who has averaged 21 points on 64% shooting in this series’ first two games, is out with a right hamstring strain suffered in Game 2. Fellow starter Josh Hart and reserve center Mitchell Robinson, who were both on the injury report, are available to play.
In Monday’s blowout Game 1 loss, Embiid totaled 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting and four rebounds. New York’s Mikal Bridges also hit Embiid in his midsection on a screen during that game, contact that Embiid said he did not believe was “necessary” because ballhandler Tyrese Maxey had already gotten past both players.
“I don’t know if it was dirty or not,” Embiid said. “I guess I’ve got to do a better job of protecting, especially that part [of my body]. … Tyrese was already gone, and it was kind of after the play. I just felt like it wasn’t necessary, but we move on. It is whatever.
“It’s playoff basketball. If that’s the reality of it, I guess we got to go out and be physical, too, and do it, too.”
Without Embiid in Game 2, the Sixers started Andre Drummond (six points, eight rebounds) and used Adem Bona (two points, seven rebounds, two blocks) as the backup. Both players ran into foul trouble, opening the door for productive second-half minutes for Dominick Barlow (six points, two rebounds, two blocks, one steal) as a small-ball center. Paul George even spent some time guarding Knicks All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns down the stretch.
Embiid’s appendectomy kept him sidelined until Game 4 of the Sixers’ first-round upset of the Boston Celtics. His presence and production — he averaged 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in the four games he played in that series — were critical for the Sixers’ rally from down three games to one to win in seven games and advance to this series against the Knicks.
But this has been another injury-affected season for Embiid, who was limited to 38 regular-season games because of the appendectomy, an oblique strain, a shin stress reaction, and issues with both knees. He averaged 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 blocks during the regular season, and for a stretch from mid-December to early February looked like the dominant former NBA Most Valuable Player. It also is the latest Embiid postseason interrupted by sometimes-bizarre ailments, including Bell’s palsy in 2024 and multiple orbital fractures.
