The Philadelphia 76ers have advanced to the second round to face off against the number one seeded team in the East, the Miami Heat. The previous series versus the Toronto Raptors was not perfect for the Sixers but they made their mark in game 6. As celebratory as advancing in the NBA Playoffs might be, this did not come without conflict for the Sixers. Their star player and MVP candidate, Joel Embiid, was ruled out indefinitely for games 1 and 2 of their round two matchup with the Heat.
Joel Embiid’s Injury
Joel Embiid sustained a right orbital fracture as well as a mild concussion in the final game of the Raptors series. To make matters even more unfortunate, the play that took him out happened while the Sixers were up nearly 30 points. This injury is piled up on what already was a torn ligament in his right thumb. It’s never an easy fight for Joel Embiid in the playoffs.
Sources: 76ers All-NBA star Joel Embiid suffered a right orbital fracture and mild concussion in series-clinching Game 6 win last night in Toronto. He will be listed as out and there is no timetable for his return.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 30, 2022
The “good” news about the situation is that the injury doesn’t look as severe as people originally thought. Embiid suffered the same injury on the opposite side of his face in 2018 and was sidelined for three weeks. That injury in 2018, however, required surgery whereas this year it appears it doesn’t. With his orbital fracture not being a huge concern, the focus is on the concussion. Due to concussion protocols, Embiid would need to sit out for a minimum of five days. With his injury occurring on Thursday, he would be able to join the Sixers for game 3 if he passes concussion protocols.
Embiid-Less Sixers Breakdown
The Sixers played their first game of round two on Monday night and the results were as you’d expect them to be. In the first half of the game, the Sixers managed to pace quite well with the Heat after a spark in the second quarter. Miami jumped out to an early 14-point lead, but the Sixers fought their way back to end the half. After two-quarters of play, the Sixers had a one-point lead going back into the locker room.
Despite having the lead, it was clear from the start that Embiid’s absence had a huge toll on the team. They seemed to settle down and find a rhythm to end the half but other than that it wasn’t pretty. There were quite a few turnovers in the first half on both sides of the ball. Tyler Herro checked in and scored 10 straight for Miami, but other than Herro there wasn’t much life to the team. If the Sixers had Embiid, they would have gone into the half up by at least 10.
Where the Frustration Begins
The second half is where the real frustration sets in for all Sixers fans. For starters, DeAndre Jordan was once again starting in this second half after Paul Reed showed out in the first. This was just the beginning 0f a series of awful substitutions by Doc Rivers. It seemed like Rivers started to empty his bench with 10 minutes left in the third quarter. The Sixers’ one-point lead at half turned into an eight-point deficit by the fourth quarter. Even so, this game was still far from over.
Coming back to Doc Rivers, once Herro got hot there wasn’t a defender on the court to stop him. The obvious perimeter defender on the Sixers would be Ben Sim- I mean Matisse Thybulle. Granted Thybulle had barely played in the playoffs, he was giving great energy in the first half. There’s no reason that he should have been sitting on the bench for that long while the heat extended their lead.
Joel Embiid’s absence was the most hard-hitting in the fourth quarter. The Sixers got absolutely destroyed on the offensive glass and gave the Heat way too many second-chance opportunities. Along with offensive rebounds, the three-point shooting that the Sixers lacked in game 1 would have also been affected by Embiid’s presence. It’s very safe to say that this is a completely different ball game and outcome with Embiid in the Sixers lineup.
Supporting Cast
You can’t put the loss solely on Doc Rivers because there were players that really didn’t play well. That includes just about every Sixer that isn’t named Tobias Harris. James Harden had yet another underwhelming performance and Tyrese Maxey was off and on all game. The one thing that was never on for Maxey was his 3 ball which hurt the Sixers. It’s one thing to take a miss a few, but he took a few very dumb shots throughout the game. Our “stars” needed to be better and weren’t, it’s quite simple, really.
The two names that come to mind when you think about role players from game 1 are Danny Green and Georges Niang. Green did have a few good games in the series with Toronto, but his play definitely didn’t carry over into last night’s performance. Green had multiple looks at huge shots for the Sixers and blew them all. The worst part about these misses is that they were from the corner, which is Green’s best shot.
Niang is a bench player that has been very solid throughout the season and he was just off last night. He didn’t hit a single shot after shooting seven three-pointers. Much like Green’s misses, a few of these came at key moments in the game where the momentum was shifting. Niang just has to be better along with Green, it was an uncharacteristic game from both players.
Moving Forward
Doc Rivers has already stated that DeAndre Jordan will be the starter in game 2.
Doc Rivers: “We like DJ. We’re gonna keep starting him whether you like it or not.” #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) May 3, 2022
They will have to plan for Miami to come out swinging, looking for a bounce-back game. Even though they won relatively easily, the Heat still played very poorly. We may see more of a small ball lineup again in game 2 as that seemed to be the most effective lineup in game 1. In 12 minutes, the small-ball lineup was +12 as opposed to the -3 with Reed in 13 minutes and -22 with Jordan in 17 minutes. They’ll need to find some way to manage without Joel Embiid for at least one more game. There’s no saying for sure what will happen with Doc Rivers coaching the Sixers, but they should be fighting to steal one in Miami before returning home.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @HSimpsonNBA, and check out some of our other NBA articles here.
