The Philadelphia 76ers stunned the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of their first-round series on Tuesday night, 111-97. And even more stunning is the fact that they did it without Joel Embiid.
Even better news for the Sixers is that Embiid actually took part in practice on Thursday, signalling that a return for the big man could be in time to help Philly really make life uncomfortable for Boston.
Head coach Nick Nurse told the media that Embiid wants to play, and they certainly want him to. But the coach stopped short of giving us a definitive timeline for a return.
Nick Nurse on Joel Embiid, who participated in parts of today's practice."I think we're going to know a lot more probably by the end of today where he is…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 there's some progress… pic.twitter.com/yQYVuS3MPV
“I think we’re going to know a lot more probably by the end of today where he is…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 that the seven-time All-Star took part in “parts” of practice on Thursday, one day ahead of Game 3.
When asked what Embiid was able to participate in at practice today, Nick Nurse notes that today's practice was "a little more than a walkthrough", but not much more in terms of intensity level.
Embiid is recovering from an emergency appendectomy on April 9. This is his first time back on the court with teammates in the two weeks since then.
Of course, it’s always been a challenge trying to keep the Big Fella healthy and on the court over the course of his career. This season, he managed to play just 38 games in the regular season, following just 19 games the year before, and 39 games two seasons ago. But when he is on the court, he can still be dominant. This year, in those limited games, he averaged 26.9 points, though his rebounding was down to just 7.7 per game, a career low.
The Sixers are back in Philly now and will try to hold serve at home to put the heavily favored Celtics on their heels. Having a near-healthy Embiid (the best they can hope for) in the lineup, to go with the red-hot backcourt of VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey (30 and 29 points, respectively, in Game 2), would do wonders for the team’s chances of actually being a real threat to the Celtics.
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