76ers star Joel Embiid tears meniscus in left knee; it’s unclear how much time…..
Joel Embiid looked like he was on his way to another NBA Most Valuable Player award. But now the Philadelphia 76ers star might not get that opportunity.
The 76ers’ worst fears were realized Thursday when a team official said Embiid suffered a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, an MRI revealed the injury, which will at least keep Joel Embiid out through the weekend so that a treatment plan can be determined. The severity of the tear is unknown.
The 76ers center, the NBA’s leading scorer at 35.3 points per game, left Tuesday’s game against Golden State in the fourth quarter the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga fell on his leg while going after a loose ball.
Before that, however, Embiid aggravated his left knee, which has been an ongoing problem, during last Thursday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The 76ers, who didn’t like how he looked during warmups Saturday, were fined $75,000 for an injury report violation for leaving him off the injury report before the game, which they lost to Denver. He missed Monday’s game at Portland as well, before returning Tuesday.
The 76ers, currently fifth in the Eastern Conference, have lost four straight heading into Thursday’s game at Utah, which will be the 13th game that Embiid has missed this season.
With the latest injury diagnosis, he’s at risk of not qualifying for the league’s postseason awards, such as MVP and all-NBA, if he misses four more games.
In addition to his league-high scoring numbers, Embiid, who scored 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs last week, is averaging 11.3 rebounds per game and 5.7 assists.
The injury will likely cost Embiid a trip to the All-Star Game in Indianapolis, where he was set to start.
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1st-time All-Star Maxey scores career-high 51 points to help Embiid-less 76ers beat Jazz 127-124
Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 51 points hours after being selected to his first All-Star Game, helping the Philadelphia 76ers overcome star center Joel Embiid‘s absence for a 127-124 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night.
After missing three games because of a sprained left ankle, Maxey topped his previous career high of 50 — set Nov. 12 at home against Indiana — with two free throws with 4.1 seconds left.
“Blessed!” Maxey said. “It’s been a wonderful day. I keep saying I’m just happy we got to win. It wouldn’t have mattered if we lost as we would have been sitting there sad on this long flight to Philly.”
Embiid has an injured lateral meniscus in his left knee and will miss games at least through the weekend. He was already set to sit out against Utah, but an MRI revealed the injury that will cause him to miss more time.
“We needed this emotionally after Big Fella went down and the four games we lost on this trip,” Maxey said.
Tobias Harris added 28 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 16 for Philadelphia. The 76ers finished 1-4 on their longest trip of the season.
Maxey was 17 of 27 from the field, 7 of 9 on 3s and made 10 of 11 free throws. He’s the first 76er to have at least seven 2-point field goals, seven 3s and seven free throws.
“I just wanted to be aggressive. I was like, ‘Man, if I’m going to be out here, I got to go all out for my teammates,’” said Maxey, who admitted he had no idea he play 41 minutes on his first game back.
Lauri Markkanen scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter for Utah, and Collin Sexton added 22. The Jazz have dropped three in a row.
“We got to pay attention to all the little details,” Markkanen said. “There’s little things in the game we can get better at and we’re going to learn from them.”
Maxey made a 33-foot 3-pointer and then Patrick Beverley hit another 3 from the corner to put Philadelphia up 123-120.
The Jazz trailed almost all game but Markkanen and Sexton hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give them a 120-117 lead with 2:30 to play.
“We got to up our awareness to what’s going on in the game because I think that we’re fighting hard physically and, at times, we just seem a little bit mentally unavailable,” Utah coach Will Hardy said.
Despite some fatigue, the 76ers took advantage of turnovers and got out in transition for 27 fast-break points. Maxey scored from everywhere on the court and the Jazz even employed a full-court box-and-one defense at times to try and slow him.
“Tyrese played the whole second half and he was gassed. Tobias was gassed. I was burning timeouts everywhere I could just to get them some rest,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said.
Maxey scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting through the first six minutes, setting the tone for a wide-open offense with Embiid.
“He got us going early on and created energy for us, making big shot after big shot,” Harris said.
In the second quarter, Maxey hit four free throws to cap a 13-3 run that helped the 76ers take a 71-61 lead into the second half. Maxey had 32 points and made all six of his 3-point attempts in the first half, a career high.
Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey named All-Star for first time in his career
The Philadelphia 76ers already knew that they’d have representation at the All-Star game on Feb. 18 in Indiana, but now they will send another player to Indianapolis.
Tyrese Maxey, who has taken over the starting point guard job after the James Harden saga, is averaging 25.7 points, 6.6 assists, and 3.6 rebounds. He’s shooting 44.8% from the floor and 37.3% from deep as he has been fantastic taking the job over from Harden.
On Thursday, Maxey was named an All-Star reserve. This is the first All-Star selection of his young career and it most definitely will not be the last. He will join Joel Embiid as representatives for the Sixers in the game.
As for the on-court challenges for the Sixers at the moment, Maxey will be looking to get the Sixers back in the win column. Philadelphia is on a 4-game skid and has slid to the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference and will look for a win over the Jazz on Thursday.
76ers vs Jazz live stream: Can you watch the NBA game for free?
Despite Joel Embiid being out for tonight’s game as the Philadelphia 76ers (29-17) travel to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz (24-25), the Jazz find themselves as a four-point favorite in tonight’s matchup, as the 76ers are limping into the game. Hopefully they can get a win and get their heads above water to get to .500 record. They’re now ranked tenth in the West and need to move up a bit if they want to think about a possible postseason run.
The game is starting soon, at 10:00 p.m. ET on West Coast Feed, and here is all the information about where you can catch a live stream of the matchup.
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