Joel Embiid Will Not Return To Game 4 With Right Knee Soreness

The Philadelphia 76ers started Game 4 with a hot start, taking a healthy lead early on at 20-12 and it looked like they were well on their way to a sweep of the Wizards. However, with four minutes to play in the first quarter, Joel Embiid got blocked on a drive by Robin Lopez and crashed hard to the floor, causing him to get up holding his lower back/tailbone area and getting up gingerly.

Embiid would stay in for a bit, playing 11 minutes in the first half, but later left the game for the locker room with what most assumed was an issue from that fall. As the second quarter wore on and Embiid did not re-enter the game, there was concern about what he was dealing with, and the official diagnosis from the Sixers was not what anyone expected. At halftime, the team announced that the All-NBA center would not return to Game 4 with right knee soreness.

It isn’t clear whether the knee soreness was an issue from the way he landed — he did have his right leg land just before his left prior to falling — or if it happened at another point after that, but it is clearly bothering him enough to keep him out of action. Without Embiid, the Wizards were able to rally back to take the lead briefly before a Danny Green three gave Philadelphia a one-point halftime edge. Ben Simmons likewise played sparingly in the first half due to foul trouble, but the load will now shift heavily onto Simmons and Tobias Harris to create offensively as they will have to look to close out the Wizards without the services of their MVP candidate, who everyone hopes is being held out for caution and not with an issue that will linger long-term.