Sixers star Joel Embiid is listed as questionable for Monday’s first-round Game 2 against the Knicks due to left knee injury recovery.
Asked after Sunday’s nominally optional workout how Embiid’s knee was faring, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse shrugged off any worries.
“Uh, pretty good, I think,” Nurse said. “I asked him how he was feeling; he said pretty good.”
That Embiid returned to play the second half of Saturday’s opening loss — the 76ers termed it as merely “injury recovery” instead of a specific aggravation — and Nurse did everything he could to downplay the injury all are positive signs.
But the fact that the Sixers have been less than transparent in their injury reporting where Embiid is concerned means it should all be taken with a grain of salt.
Embiid, who missed 29 games after suffering a torn left meniscus on Jan. 30, clearly has not been 100 percent since returning on April 2.
The reigning MVP sat out April 7 against the Spurs, then was forced off the court shortly before halftime five days later against the Magic only to return and play the second half.
Now, Embiid has done the same thing, after aggravating the injury late in the second quarter Saturday and limping off only to come back and start the third.
Embiid, who has dealt with an orbital fracture in the past, also took a shot to the face and was wearing shades Saturday night and again Sunday morning.
“It’s OK. It’s OK,” Nurse said of Embiid’s eye, saying there was no new fracture. “Nope. He’s OK.”
The Sixers had better hope so.
While Embiid had 29 points, eight rebounds, six assists and finished plus-14 in his 36:33 on Saturday, Philadelphia was outscored by 21 points in the 11 minutes he sat. T
he Sixers likely can’t win if he’s sidelined or even limited, and there is ample evidence the latter may be the case.
After Embiid dominated with 18 points and five rebounds on 6-for-11 shooting in the first half, he was immobile in the second.
The MVP had 11 points but had just three boards and was 2-for-11 after returning, boxing out but rarely jumping.
“Joel battled pretty good down there, trying to get his body on people to block out,” Nurse said. “There’s some other things we can do that I can’t really tell you about that we can help him with. But I think he did a pretty decent job. I mean, decent; he needs to do better. But he was putting his body on them and moving them out quite a bit. So again, yes he needs to do better, but so do the other four guys out there.”
Nurse added he may play Paul Reed alongside Embiid more than in the regular season to help with rebounding.