Joel Embiid sprained his left shoulder in a collision with Cleveland’s Ante Zizic during Wednesday’s 108-94 loss, and reports indicate an MRI revealed “no structural damage” per both ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Charania went on to describe Embiid’s progress as ‘symptom-based’ and both mentioned a re-evaluation is coming in a week’s time.
Source: Testing showed there was no significant structural damage in Embiid’s left shoulder. Embiid’s progress will be symptom-based — with expected re-evaluation in approximately one week. https://t.co/t2NOJVy0FJ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 28, 2020
The Sixers played without Embiid and guard Ben Simmons in Thursday’s game against the New York Knicks, a game Philadelphia won 115-106.
Before the game, Sixers coach Brown discussed playing without Embiid and Simmons.
“It’s a painfully obvious bind,” Brown said. “We’re missing two All-Stars. You yank that from the team and it’s painful.”
The duo’s absence didn’t hurt against the woeful Knicks.
Tobias Harris stepped up to score 34 points, while Shake Milton added 19 points and Al Horford chipped in with 15 for the 76ers, who improved to an NBA-best 28-2 at home.
Harris signed a five-year, $180 million deal in the offseason. He usually takes a back seat offensively to Embiid or Simmons, but Philadelphia needed him to be the go-to player against New York.
“Just taking the opportunities that were presented,” said Harris, who added seven rebounds and seven assists. “We had a good pop to our offense and I was able to get in-the-flow plays.”
Harris had 23 points in the opening half to help Philadelphia to a 61-46 lead at the break. Milton went 4-for-4 from the field including three 3-pointers in the first half. Embiid sat for the 17th time this season due to injury or suspension.
Simmons missed his third game. Injured in a practice, he has a nerve impingement in his lower back and will miss at least two weeks.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
