The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 111-97 in Game 2 of their first-round series on Tuesday night. And even more surprising is the fact that they did it without Joel Embiid.
Even better news for the Sixers is that Embiid actually participated in practice on Thursday, indicating that the big man’s return could be in time to help Philly make life uncomfortable for Boston.
Head coach Nick Nurse told the media that Embiid wants to play and they definitely want him to play. But the coach did not give us any specific deadline to return.
“I think we’ll probably know a lot by the end of today as to where he’s at. … He wants to play, and we want him to play. I don’t know how close we are to that at this point, but I think there’s some progress being made.”
He said the seven-time All-Star participated in “parts” of practice Thursday, the day before Game 3.
Embiid participates in practice for the first time since emergency appendectomy
Embiid is recovering from an emergency appendectomy on April 9. This is his first return to the court with his teammates in two weeks since then.
Of course, keeping the Big Fella healthy and on the court throughout his career has always been a challenge. This season, he only managed to play 38 games in the regular season, after playing only 19 games last year and 39 games two seasons ago. But when he’s on the court, he can still dominate. This year, in those limited games, he averaged 26.9 points, although his rebounding dropped to just 7.7 per game, the lowest of his career.
The Sixers are now back in Philly and will look to hold serve at home to put the heavily favored Celtics on their heels. Having a near-healthy Embiid in the lineup (the best they can hope for), to go along with a red-hot backcourt of VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey (30 and 29 points, respectively, in Game 2), will really do wonders for the team’s chances of being a real threat to the Celtics.
Game 3 is scheduled for Friday night, with Game 4 on Sunday.
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