This could prove to be a very long weekend for the Philadelphia 76ers if things don’t turn around quickly.
After dropping their last three contests, the Sixers kick off a road back-to-back with a visit to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night. This is the start of their 11h back-to-back of the season so far, with the squad headed to visit the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday for the second leg.
The problem? Joel Embiid has already been ruled out for the Sixers for at least the Saturday leg. Embiid had reported right shin soreness over the All-Star break, missed Thursday’s contest against the Atlanta Hawks and was set to be re-evaluated before this weekend’s back-to-back. On Friday evening, he was officially listed as out to face the Pelicans for both right knee injury management and right shin soreness. No word on whether the team is even considering re-evaluating him for Sunday.
The Sixers did beat the Pelicans 124-114 in their last meeting back on Jan. 31 in South Philadelphia, but Embiid contributed a 40-point, 11-rebound double-double to help them along. Recent performances without the star center have been a different story, though, with the Sixers going 0-3 in their last three games with Embiid sidelined. None of them have been particularly inspiring losses either, including their most recent loss to the sub-.500 Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.
Only Paul George (suspended) joins him on the Sixers’ injury report as of Saturday morning.
The Pelicans are coming into this one on the second leg of a back-to-back for them, so we won’t know their official injury statuses until this afternoon. That being said, New Orleans was without their top scorer in Trey Murphy III (22.1 points per game) last night, who missed that Friday game with a shoulder contusion. The Sixers should cross their fingers he’s unable to go again Saturday, because it seems they need all the help they can get right now.
The bottom line of this one is honestly going to be the Sixers needing to find a way to play some level of competitive basketball when Embiid is unavailable… what else is new? The squad had clearly gotten much more comfortable with the strategies and spacing of playing with him out there, but now they are back playing an unsustainable, borderline 2024-25 season level of basketball with him sidelined. It’s deja vu all over again.
The Pelicans will give them the perfect opportunity to right the ship, though. New Orleans is 14-42 on the season, and currently rank 25th in offensive rating (112.4) and 27th in defensive rating (118.3). They are coming into Saturday on the second leg of back-to-back after they lost by 21 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. They might even be without their top scorer in Murphy.
If you can’t win this one without Embiid, I’m not sure where Philadelphia goes from here.
At 30-25, the Sixers are currently in sixth in the Eastern Conference, but there’s only a handful of games separating them from the ninth or 10h seed in the East. Things could go south — well, more south — for the Sixers very quickly here if they aren’t careful.
The Sixers and Pelicans will tip off at 7 p.m. ET.
Game Details
When: Saturday, February 21, 7 p.m. ET
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers