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Tim Bontemps, ESPNApr 20, 2024, 10:57 PM ET
NEW YORK CITY– Following a 2nd short injury scare including super star center Joel Embiid in simply over a week, Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse stated after Saturday night’s 111-104 Game 1 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden that there are no strategies to close down the ruling MVP.
“He truly is a warrior, and he’s fighting,” Nurse stated of Embiid. “I believe he definitely wishes to play.”
Embiid left the video game for the last 2:37 of the very first half after an exceptional play that saw him toss down an outrageous one-handed dunk after passing the ball to himself off the backboard.
Embiid, who led all scorers with 18 first-half points, was at the complimentary toss line with Mitchell Robinson securing him when he dipped under the Knicks center, fired the ball off the backboard and, all in one movement, jumped in the air, captured it with his right-hand man and knocked it through the hoop.
When Embiid came down, he landed on his left leg and right away went down to the flooring. Play continued, with the Knicks getting a layup at the other end, before Philadelphia might call timeout and have a look at him. After a prolonged duration on the court, Embiid ultimately got to his feet and gradually strolled off straight to the Philadelphia locker space under his own power, staying there for the remainder of the very first half.
It was a minute strangely similar to Embiid’s exit from a video game 8 days ago versus the Orlando Magic when he drove to the basket in the last 2 minutes of the very first half, scored, decreased, strolled off under his own power then went back to the flooring for the start of the 3rd quarter.
And like because contest, Embiid went back to the bench right before the start of the 2nd half and rejoined his colleagues on the flooring.
“I understood when I entered at halftime that they were examining him out,” Nurse stated. “And that he was up and moving. And they did state we are seeing. They didn’t rule him out. They simply took him all the method to the end there to get him ruled back in.”
Embiid decreased to talk with the media after the video game.
He completed the video game with 29 points, 8 rebounds, 6 helps and 2 takes in 37 minutes, and Philadelphia was plus-14 in his time on the court– implying it was outscored by 21 points in the 11 minutes he was on the bench. After Embiid scored 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting in the very first quarter, he had 14 points on 3-for-13 shooting over the last 3 quarters, consisting of going 2-for-11 in the 2nd half.
Throughout that Orlando tilt recently, Embiid likewise had a hard time after halftime,