PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid is out of the lineup indefinitely after suffering a right orbital fracture and a mild concussion. The team addressed the news at their practice facility in Camden.
Joel Embiid spoke about his injury with NBA TV after Thursday's series-clinching victory over Toronto. "I think I might have broken my face, but it's all good," he told interviewers. "It's the playoffs."
The injury was likely caused by an elbow strike from Toronto's Pascal Siakam. With no known timeline for Embiid's return, Sixers coach Doc Rivers said they'll most certainly have to make some lineup changes. They head into the second round of the NBA Playoffs Monday against the Miami Heat.
"Joel is so much more dominant than everybody. So if you miss a Joel, it clearly allows the other team to do different things defensively, that they would never envision to do with Joel on the floor," said Rivers.
Center DeAndre Jordan said filling that space isn't easy.
"You can't replace the MVP. He's averaging 30 and whatever for the season and he's extremely dominant, but I think that we'll just have to pick it up by committee and everybody be ready to go," he told press.
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"You know, obviously he was dealing with the thumb issue since Game 3 and you know, for something that happened like that to close our game, it kind of sucks. But you know, it's the nature of the beast, it's the playoffs."
But Rivers said he's not worried.
"We're fine. You know, obviously, we need him back at some point, but we don't know when. This is why we pay everybody," he said.
Power forward Tobias Harris echoed those feelings. "We're a confident group. We know what we can accomplish," he said.
"We are smart enough basketball players and good enough staff to get this thing done, and we'll be fully prepared to do what we need to do."
It's been a crazy couple of weeks in Philly basketball. The Jawncast is here to make sense of it.