PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid will make his series debut in Game 4 against the 76ers, after previously being listed as doubtful. Embiid missed the first three games of the series as he continues to recover from an emergency appendectomy surgery on April 9th.
Embiid was upgraded to questionable and went through his full warm-up. Philadelphia made him available about 30 minutes before tip-off.
Embiid will take some of the minutes away from Adem Bona, who has been starting this series, and Andre Drummond,
who has been playing the majority of backup big minutes.
Joel Embiid will make his debut in Game 4
Embiid averaged 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game this season, while shooting 48.9% from the field and and 33.3% from three.
Nick Nurse said pregame he did not know whether Embiid would be on a minutes restriction if he did become available.
Pregame, Joe Mazzulla declined to get into how different the Celtics’ game plan would be if Embiid did play, but Neemias Queta did say on Saturday that Philadelphia would get a boost if the big man made his return.
“One of the best players the last couple of years, so it can only be better than them when he’s out there helping,” said Neemias Queta. “I’m not really worried about that yet, nothing confirmed about it yet. But until then, we’re worried about what’s confirmed. But he’s a hell of a player, and he can make them a lot better. We’ll embrace the challenge if he comes.”
