The Philadelphia 76ers began the season with a 117-116 win over the Boston Celtics regardless of Paul George and Jared McCain not taking part in. Tyrese Maxey erupted for 40 factors. Rookie VJ Edgecombe added a cool 34 for the best scoring output in an NBA debut since Wilt Chamberlain in 1959.
That is the excellent news.
76ers’ VJ Edgecombe breaks information held by LeBron James, Allen Iverson in unbelievable NBA debut vs. Celtics
Cameron Salerno
The dangerous information, should you’re a Sixers fan or anybody inside that group, is Joel Embiid regarded positively cooked. He scored 4 factors on 1-of-9 capturing. He was a game-worst minus-16 in 20 painful minutes. Extra alarming than his incapability to do a lot of something offensively was the truth that he appeared bodily incapable of even primary actions or any type of leaping on the defensive finish.
To say there isn’t any carry in these legs could be an understatement. He could not recover from a cellphone e book. After Xavier Tillman snuffed out Embiid’s slow-motion shot in that remaining slip, he proceeded to run the ground for a layup on the opposite finish as Embiid jogged helplessly behind.
In the meantime, Sixers coach Nick Nurse was busy making an attempt to get forward of the story by portray a downright optimistic image of Embiid’s efficiency.
“Nicely, I am tremendous glad he was on the market,” Nurse stated. “I feel that he performed good. I do know that is going to sound foolish, 1 for 9 [shooting]. He simply did not shoot it excellent. I assumed he transferred the ball good. I assumed he made some good choices. Thought he took good photographs. I assumed he protected the rim. So once more, that is like, he hasn’t executed a lot, proper? He is type of performed a scrimmage and a preseason recreation, and I feel there’s some rust there. However I assumed he was transferring good and made good choices, which is basically optimistic.”
For the file, Embiid was the league’s MVP and scoring champion three years in the past. In case your commonplace for “good” play from a participant of that caliber is to “switch” the ball and make some good choices, you are in denial. It is not that the rust factor is not actual. The man most likely hardly performed basketball over the past eight months. However that is type of the issue, is not it?
Embiid managed to play simply 19 video games final season and 39 video games the yr earlier than that. He is had 4 surgical procedures on the identical left meniscus, a portion of which was eliminated in February of 2024, with the newest being this previous April. He is additionally had three foot surgical procedures. He is a large human being — 7-foot and practically 300 kilos. It is not a matter of if the knees and ft of a person that dimension, who’s had that many surgical procedures, are going to present out. It is solely a matter of when.
Let’s hope that point hasn’t totally arrived for Embiid, but when it hasn’t, it positive appears to be like prefer it’s getting shut.
