Last night, the Philadelphia 76ers lost 102-96 against the Miami Heat in the first game of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Deandre Jordan, Embiid’s backup, scored only four points in the game, which pales utterly in comparison to Embiid’s usual production. Embiid suffered a fracture to his orbital bone at the end of the Sixers dominant game six and series win over the Toronto Raptors last Thursday – which has lead fans everywhere to question why in God’s name Doc Rivers felt the need to have him in so late in a game that was all but over.
Adrian Wojnarowski reported yesterday that Embiid could possibly return as soon as game three or four – when the series moves to games in Philadelphia. Embiid is expected to clear concussion protocol sometime in the next day or two, so it will be up to his fractured orbital bone to determine whether or not he is able to return. He’s already been playing with a torn ligament in his thumb, but considering the team is almost guaranteed to lose the series without him, one would expect that he has strong desires to return. If he is able to come back, he’ll most likely be playing in a mask of some kind to protect his face.
Embiid did not travel to Miami for the first two games of the series, so he will not make any appearances on the bench in tomorrow’s game, which tips off at 7:30pm Eastern Time.
