Sixers center Joel Embiid‘s status is uncertain after being diagnosed with a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee, but the team remains hopeful that he’ll be able to return sometime during the playoffs. In a session with reporters this afternoon, head coach Doc Rivers was asked if he thinks Embiid will be back on the court this postseason, tweets Derek Bodner of The Athletic.
“Yeah, I do. Or at least I’m hopeful, I think that would be a better way of putting it,” Rivers replied. “He’s going to do his treatment and we’re going to assess him day to day, and see what we can get.” When asked specifically about the second round, Rivers said, “I have no expectation, other than I hope for him to be back. I can’t give you a timeline. … I can just tell you that he’s willing to go through whatever it takes to get back on the floor. He’s a warrior.” (Twitter link).
Embiid was dominant in the first three games of Philadelphia’s first-round series with Washington, averaging 29.3 points per night as the Sixers took a 3-0 lead. He played just 11 minutes in Game 4 before leaving with knee soreness, and the Wizards were able to remain alive, setting up a potentially pivotal game tonight.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Rivers defended his other star after the Wizards took advantage of Ben Simmons‘ poor free throw shooting in the Game 4 victory, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Washington committed four intentional fouls on Simmons, who missed three free throws in the final two minutes. “You want me to take Ben Simmons off the floor? He’s pretty good. I’ll pass on that suggestion,” Rivers said. “He could have (made more free throws) but he didn’t. But he still does other things. I’ll take that. Listen, keep the narrative going, we’re just going to keep playing.”
- The Nets quickly shifted their focus to a second-round series with the Bucks after finishing off the Celtics Tuesday night, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN. “I’m thinking about them right now,” James Harden said at the post-game press conference. “Just the matchups and things that they do on both ends of the ball. Obviously, we know how good they are on both sides and their individual talents.”
- The Knicks aren’t giving much attention to provocative comments from Hawks center Clint Capela, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. “Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care,” Julius Randle said. “I just heard about it and I do not care. We’re not focused on that. We’re focused on what we’ve got to do as a team.”
Doc Rivers has another star on his team besides Embiid? Is Tobias Harris really a star?
Being able to appreciate the greatness of a guy like Ben Simmons or a Paul Pressey is a really good measure of whether someone knows the game of basketball or not… you’ve exposed yourself a bit there
Who is the current best player who has never been selected as an all star?
Jrue Holiday
Tobias Harris
Grizzlies big man JV
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Clint Capela, De’Aaron Fox is a better trio
Yes but Fox is 23 years old
SGA is 23 years too.
Capella is a young guy
Holiday and Harris playing 8,9 years of high level
I don’t see how age has anything to do with it. DFox, Clint & SGA are a better trio straight up. More productive & more talented
Jrue was an all-star in 2013
Wonder if the move is to throw a couple games and get joel some more time to rest before round 2.
that wouldn’t be smart at all. But at the same time Atl vs Phi with no Joel would look alot like Atl vs NYK, especially if Cam is back for rd2
1 game? You really think Wizards can win 2 more?
Can’t imagine…they want to move on
Capela is just grateful Mitch is not playing. Have to win today. And then I want to see him talk for gm 6.
Guess we’ll have to get a raincheck on that gm6. Capela was even more dominant than usual tonight. Wouldn’t been any different with Mitchell Robinson lol. Hawks just made quick work of a lesser team exactly like they were supposed to. Knicks have some pieces & a defined identity/culture. But it’s gonna be a long while before NYK is good enough to challenge Atl in a 7gm series
Just responding to recent post first of all mitch Robinson would have made a major difference he would have given trey fits penetrating to the bucket,capela would have struggled with mitch presence in the paint. The knicks are the team of the future we have 60 mil cap money,draft picks one of the best front office our future is very bright.
Lol we completely shut down Julius Randle yet u believe that Mitchell Robinson would’ve been too much for us to handle. Extremely delusional lol. Clint would’ve dominated Mitch just like he dominated the rest of the Knicks frontline. Nerlens was top3 in the league in blocked shots. Yall weren’t lacking for rim protection, yall were lacking overall talent. Knicks obv have to be a team of the future bc their past is awful and the Hawks just extinguished them here in the present. But the future of the Hawks is obv much brighter than NYs. We have better young players, a better front office & our coach just outcoached your coach.
First of all buddy did you watch the entire series the difference was trey who is you guys engine without him on your team the Hawks are lottery bound. Mitchell Robinson is our rim protector that we missed he would have made a difference regardless of randle struggles. Nate McMillan is tag is interim coach,he saved yall season. Hawks will be going home against Philadelphia with or without embiid. We will learn from this experience and next year we will be back.