After delivering a herculean effort on the road to bounce the Boston Celtics and complete the franchise’s first 3-1 playoff comeback, Joel Embiid implored Philadelphia 76ers fans to not sell their Eastern Conference semifinals tickets.
The Sixers’ standout big man didn’t want a repeat of their first-round playoff series versus the New York Knicks two seasons ago, in which the Knicks advanced in six games while Philadelphia’s then-Wells Fargo Center became an extension of New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Regardless of what kind of home-court advantage the Sixers have at what’s now Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday night, Embiid will be out there trying to give his team another lift.
Despite still being listed with hip and ankle injuries, which kept him out of a gut-wrenching Game 2 defeat in New York that concluded a back-and-forth affair in MSG, Embiid will play in Game 3 against the Knicks.
New York currently leads the series 2-0.
The often-injured seven-time All-Star has been dealing with a right ankle sprain and right hip soreness, per the Sixers’ Game 3 injury report, the first of which was revealed Thursday and designated Embiid as “questionable.”
Notably, Knicks forward OG Anunoby is out for Game 3. He’s nursing a hamstring strain in his right leg. Anunoby, one of the hottest shooters in this year’s postseason, sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of Game 2.
Knicks wing Josh Hart was listed as questionable with a left thumb sprain, but he’s available, and so is center Mitchell Robinson, who sat out Game 2 with an illness.
As for Embiid, the 32-year-old one-time NBA MVP returned from an emergency appendectomy to help the Sixers stage their historic turnaround against the rival Celtics.
Two weeks and change after Embiid’s late-season operation, he made his first appearance in the Celtics series. The appendicitis was the latest issue he’s dealt with in a season, and a career, full of setbacks.
Embiid appeared in fewer than 40 regular-season games for the third campaign in a row. He missed 13 games with an oblique strain in March. Embiid also missed five consecutive games in February with a sore right knee and shin issue.
After playing in just 19 games last season because of lingering left-knee issues that ultimately resulted in him going under the knife in April 2025, Embiid found himself sidelined again for a significant stretch early this season, that time due to a right knee injury.
He took a beating in the Celtics series, particularly in Game 7 during his 34-point, 12-rebound closeout performance in TD Garden.
Embiid came into Game 1 of the Knicks series with a right hip contusion. He played, but, like the rest of the Sixers’ starters, rested down the stretch of a blowout loss. Going into Game 2, he was “probable” with a right ankle sprain designation, except he was ruled out hours before tip-off, with right hip soreness being added to his listing, as reported by PhillyVoice.
Leading up to Game 2, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said Embiid’s status can be characterized as “day-to-day.” Pregame on Friday, though, Nurse told reporters that Embiid is getting better.
“I think he’s going to give it a shot here,” Nurse said, via 94WIP’s Dave Uram.
Soon after, the Sixers made it official: Embiid is in fact available for Game 3.
