APRIL 23: Embiid will suit up today in a possible closeout Game 4 against the Raptors and then will will undergo an MRI on his injured right thumb after the Sixers travel back home, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
APRIL 22: Sixers MVP finalist Joel Embiid is dealing with pain in his right thumb, but was able to practice Friday and plans to play in Game 4 against Toronto, which takes place on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski. Embiid might undergo an MRI soon to see if he has a ligament injury.
The star center’s injury is listed as a right thumb sprain, but he will be available to play, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Embiid wore a brace on his wrist and had his thumb taped after a medical treatment session following the Game 3 victory on Wednesday, during which he hit the game-winning three-pointer at the end of overtime.
“I don’t know exactly know what happened,” Embiid said at his press conference on Wednesday, nearly two hours later. “But I just started feeling pain and think I might have twisted it. So we’re gonna see what’s going on [Thursday].” Embiid was adamant that he wouldn’t miss any games with the injury.
As Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice notes, if Philadelphia is able to close out its series against Toronto on Saturday, Embiid would receive an extra week of rest before facing the winner of the Miami/Atlanta series, which Miami currently leads 2-0. Embiid told reporters that his wrist and thumb were “sore, but okay.”
“He’s good,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “We did a lot of stuff, we just don’t want anybody to hit his arm and all that, but he was fine.”
Shortly after ESPN’s report, Shams Charania of The Athletic relayed (via Twitter) that “there is fear” that Embiid has a torn thumb ligament, but plans to keep playing despite the injury.
However, a source told Neubeck in a separate article for PhillyVoice that an official diagnosis would be premature due to the lack of testing done on the injury. The star center is expected to continue playing with the thumb taped, and the team’s medical staff will provide pain management.
Obviously, Embiid’s potential absence could have a profound impact on Philadelphia’s title hopes, but all signs point to the ailment being manageable at this point. Through three playoff games against Toronto, all victories, he has averaged 27.7 points and 13 rebounds on .510/.333/.794 shooting in 39.7 minutes per contest.
That would be a disaster for Philly if he can’t continue…
Embiid is a true Philly guy. He’s just gonna rub some dirt on it and get back to work.
Negative. He’s a true African
He’s not getting to a championship with torn ligaments in a thumb. He can do a lot but it will likely get worse and he won’t be able to keep up the physical force dominance. He’s a great warrior but self preservation isn’t in his DNA while doing battle.
Considering we are up 3-0 and they will be without Scottie Barnes. I wouldn’t mind see us rest Embiid. Give his minutes to Jordan (10), Millsap (15) and Reed (10) or something like that.
Toronto don’t exactly play big anyways. Birch is 6’9, Achiwura is 6’8 and Boucher is 6’9. It’s more about winning rebounds and contesting shots than anything.
If we win then sweet Embiid gets a good rest before we take on Miami. If we lose it’s alright we go back home to Philly and Thybulle returns.
Even if we start Embiid and finish the 4th quarter with Embiid and only play him like 18 minutes. Have to manage our stars cause next series will be real physical
If one of the thumb ligaments is torn, one game of rest will not do a thing to help it heal. He’s clearly planning on playing through it and had it when he went crazy in that second half against Toronto.
True but if it is just a sprain as listed or some else minor then rest here could be a huge asset. Say we sweep the Raptors sitting 1 game here could give Joel 10-15 days of rest from game three to the first game of the second round
They gotta sweep.
No way can Doc Rivers afford to go up 3-1 again.
They don’t gotta sweep. If it ends up 3-1 then they head back home, Thybulle can play again it’ll be fine.
Awwwwwwwwww
A thumb really ????
Sounds like an excuse ……. Ready to be used. When Heat beat them.
Precisely. Why else say anything in the media about it?
And this dude thinks he should be MVP. HA
just more excuses for a clearly inferior Joke to win…
Your father walt couldn’t handle Chamberlain or jojo.
Drained a buttery nothing but net ot game winner with a thumb torn off. But the lottery Knick fans can’t handle it. Sad.
Most of the top seeds in both conferences have significant players that are injured. Part of the game as they say. I can’t wait for the playoff losers to explain how the injury to their guy was the worse and therefore the NBA champ won by luck and tries to devalue what they did. We are just a few steps away from “the refs” robbed us or “the NBA” didn’t “want” the (fill-in-the-blank-with-team-name) to win excuses.