Joel Embiid sustained a sinus fracture when he was struck within the face going for a defensive rebound late within the first half of the Philadelphia 76ers’ loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday evening.
Embiid was battling Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin when he caught an errant forearm and elbow to the bridge of the nostril. Embiid crumpled to the bottom as play continued up the ground and stayed down close to the Philadelphia bench, holding his face.
Embiid left Wells Fargo Middle for analysis, with the 76ers later asserting the sinus fracture. The group mentioned he can be additional evaluated this weekend.
Embiid had 12 factors, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in 17 1/2 minutes in Philadelphia’s 121-107 loss to the Pacers.
Embiid was solely enjoying his sixth sport out of the 23 that Philadelphia has performed. He has been bothered by swelling in his left knee and likewise served a three-game suspension for a bodily incident with a reporter.
Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George — billed as Philadelphia’s “Large Three” after George’s offseason arrival — have performed components of solely three video games collectively. The Sixers are 7-16 on the season.
“You simply have to maneuver on and apply after we apply once more and have a subsequent man up mentality,” mentioned Maxey, who led Philadelphia with 22 factors. “What sucks about that is that we had been transferring in the correct path. Guys had been determining roles, what coach needs from them and enjoying the correct approach. We all know the right way to play with Joel – and now, we might need to revert our minds again to enjoying with out him. That’s OK. It’s totally different. That’s how life is.”
Embiid additionally has had plenty of face accidents, together with an orbital bone fracture after a collision with Toronto’s Pascal Siakam in the course of the 2022 playoffs and one in 2018 after colliding with teammate Markelle Fultz. Final 12 months, Embiid had Bell’s Palsy throughout a first-round playoff loss to New York.
Embiid instructed ESPN after Sunday’s victory in Chicago that his left knee points this season had been “miserable” due to the swelling not being associated to an harm. That was Philadelphia’s final sport earlier than Friday.
“He’s been in a extremely good place all week and he practised all week,” coach Nick Nurse mentioned when requested about Embiid’s frame of mind. “We did plenty of stuff to stand up to hurry with him. However I can think about that he can really feel just like the black cloud is over him a little bit bit. He simply retains working into one thing, actually, sadly.”