Joel Embiid received benched and the 76ers received beat on the horn.
A season stuffed with championship hopes has was a debacle for the 76ers. The newest blight got here towards Brooklyn on Saturday night time after they misplaced their seventh straight recreation, this one on a buzzer-beating tip-in — and with Embiid on the bench.
A two-time NBA scoring champion, the oft-injured Embiid sat out all the fourth quarter within the 105-103 loss after a tough three quarters. Embiid scored simply 14 factors in 31 minutes, missed all six 3-point makes an attempt and was a bystander within the fourth when the 76ers rallied from 17 all the way down to take the lead late, till they had been completed off by Nic Claxton’s winner on the horn.
Embiid, who signed a three-year, $193 million contract extension in September, declined to remark.
Embiid has been hobbled by accidents all season and was gradual to rise up late within the third when he misplaced the ball and hit the court docket. Embiid mentioned earlier this week that he wanted to “repair the issue” in his left knee to return to his dominant All-Star type.
“The way in which I used to be taking part in a 12 months in the past shouldn’t be the way in which I am taking part in proper now,” Embiid mentioned Thursday after the 76ers misplaced to Boston. “I most likely want to repair the issue, after which I will be again at that stage. Nevertheless it’s exhausting to have belief once you’re not your self.”
He has performed in simply 19 of 56 video games for the Sixers, who fell to 20-36 and are greedy on the fading shot of incomes a berth within the NBA play-in match.
Coach Nick Nurse mentioned he benched Embiid within the fourth just because the lineup on the court docket — that included huge man Guerschon Yabusele — was taking part in properly within the quarter.
“They’d an excellent really feel for the sport at that time,” Nurse mentioned. “Simply needed to allow them to roll with it.”
Embiid performed simply 39 video games final season as a consequence of a torn meniscus in his left knee. The 76ers introduced in early February of that season that he had undergone surgery. Embiid got here again in early April, was a part of the 76ers’ playoff run after which received a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic workforce final summer time.
Embiid acknowledged earlier this month that he did not have sufficient time to completely recuperate after present process surgical procedure final 12 months.
“He is giving us what he can. He is not himself, everyone knows that,” Nurse mentioned. “He is not definitely the man we’re used to seeing play at a super-high stage. I commend him for giving us what he can.”
Reporting by The Related Press.
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