Well, this is all moving quite fast now isn’t it.
The Sixers released their injury report ahead of Game 3 as the first round series to shift to Philadelphia, and Joel Embiid wasn’t initially ruled out on it. He is listed as doubtful with post appendectomy surgery recovery. It’s truly remarkable that Embiid could play in a playoff game just 15 days after the emergency procedure back on April 9.
Word around Embiid started trending in a positive direction earlier in the day at practice. The team announced
that he was a partial participant. Nick Nurse told reporters that he was “hopeful,” but didn’t know “how close” the big fella was to getting back on the court. The extended quote is below courtesy of Ky Carlin of SixersWire.
Embiid being able to take the court sooner than anyone expected would of course make that Game 2 win for the Sixers even bigger. It’s really hard to guess how Embiid would look like if he is able to go, but just his presence in the starting lineup would obviously be an upgrade in the starting lineup.
He’s obviously not asked to carry any sort of scoring burden, but Adem Bona shooting 12% on his layups sums up how his series has gone from pretty well.
Regardless, this would be an insane recovery if Embiid is able to come back about a week or two earlier than the typical recovery time from an appendectomy. It would go right to the top of the list up there with bell’s palsy and a broken face in terms of insane injuries Embiid has pushed through to play in a playoff game.
