Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid, donning a black mask, returned to the court Friday night after missing one game due to a sinus fracture. Embiid put together his best performance of the season, finishing with 34 points, nine assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the Sixers’ 108-98 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
It marked just the seventh game Embiid has played this season. Embiid has been sidelined with what the Sixers are calling left knee injury management and was hit with a suspension for shoving a columnist in the locker room. He’s also missed time due to swelling in his left knee and has routinely sat out one game of each of Philadelphia’s back-to-backs that he’s been healthy for. He’ll be sitting out Saturday night’s game to follow that trend, per Sixers coach Nick Nurse.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Sixers and Embiid, but Friday night showed yet again how dominant of a player he is when healthy. Embiid took over in the second half, scoring 24 of his 34 points during that span, as he took advantage of a Hornets team that has dealt with its fair share of injured players.
“I thought he looked good,” Nurse said after the game. “He obviously was scoring the ball after, again, little bit of a slow start. He got a good number of assists, especially early. He looked pretty good.”
Embiid sustained the fractured sinus during Philadelphia’s 121-107 loss to the Pacers on Dec. 13. He played just 17 minutes in that game and sat out the following game to deal with the fracture. While he’s sitting out Saturday night’s game, the hope is that he’ll be able to stack up consecutive games going forward so the Sixers can at least try and turn what’s been an incredibly disappointing season around.
Philadelphia is currently 9-16, which puts them 12th in the Eastern Conference. Fortunately, in a weak Eastern Conference, the Sixers do have a realistic shot at climbing out of this early-season hole they’ve gotten themselves into, as 3.5 games separates them and the sixth-placed Miami Heat right now.
But Philly turning this season around all hinges on the health of this team. Embiid seemingly can’t catch a healthy break. Paul George has already missed time from preseason through the regular season after hyperextending his knee twice. Shining rookie Jared McCain is out indefinitely with a torn meniscus, and Tyrese Maxey has also missed time. If the Sixers can’t field a healthy team on a consistent basis, then at some point they’re going to have to consider punting on the season and focusing on next year. It’s still only December, but if we get to February and this team is still dealing with all of these injuries, then that’s a conversation worth having.
