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Joel Embiid, Sixers have more time thanks to Trae Young's heroics vs. Celtics

noah levick
·3 min read
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Embiid, Sixers have more time thanks to Trae Young's heroics in Boston originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Because of his right knee sprain, Joel Embiid played zero part in the Sixers’ first practice after their first-round playoff series sweep of the Nets.

The Sixers would love for him to play a much larger role in the team’s second-round matchup. And thanks to Trae Young's heroics, that series will officially begin next Monday.

Atlanta's star guard spearheaded a Hawks comeback from 13 points down with under nine minutes left Tuesday night at TD Garden. He reached 38 points with a deep, go-ahead three-pointer and the Hawks stunningly avoided elimination with a 119-117 Game 5 victory over the Celtics.

Embiid appreciated Young's performance on Twitter.

The Hawks will aim to force Game 7 on Thursday. Regardless of how that series concludes, Atlanta's Game 5 win means the Sixers will start Round 2 next Monday instead of this Saturday.

The Sixers will play either the Celtics or Hawks on the following dates. Start times and broadcast information have yet to be released.

  • Game 1: Monday, May 1

  • Game 2: Wednesday, May 3

  • Game 3: Friday, May 5

  • Game 4: Sunday, May 7

  • Game 5: Tuesday, May 9

  • Game 6: Thursday, May 11

  • Game 7: Sunday, May 14

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Embiid was at the Sixers’ practice facility in Camden, New Jersey. However, he didn’t do anything with his teammates outside of watch film, according to head coach Doc Rivers.

“There really isn’t any update yet,” Rivers said of Embiid’s injury, “other than what we gave a couple of days ago. So we won’t know anything for at least a couple of days, probably, before we can move forward.”

During the Sixers’ post-practice media availability, Embiid did resistance band work with head athletic trainer Kevin Johnson.

If Embiid misses the beginning of Round 2, the Sixers figure to lean more on Paul Reed, who’s coming off of a tremendous second half in the Sixers’ Game 4 win over Brooklyn, as well as small-ball center P.J. Tucker.

Including that victory Saturday, the Sixers are 12-5 this season in games without Embiid.

“I think No. 1, accepting it,” Rivers said of the Sixers’ development in Embiid-less games. “My first year here, I remember the first couple of games Joel didn’t play, you would walk in the locker room and be looking at guys (who were) like, ‘Oh my!’ And I kept saying, ‘OK. He’s not playing today. It’s going to happen. We’ve got to still play.’ And I thought we talked about that a lot the first year. We don’t talk about it anymore.

“Secondly, we have better players. We’ve added more guys. Even the guys that are (still) here are better. And then the last thing is we believe we can win games, period — no matter who plays. I think that’s been our message all year, and that may serve us well moving forward for a while."