Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Embiid makes most of work night before another unwanted day off
PHILADELPHIA » Brett Brown envisions a day in the not-too distant future where he won’t have to count the days, much less the minutes, that Joel Embiid sees the court.
With Embiid never wanting to miss a day’s work, and showing how strongly he felt about that from Day 1 this season despite suggestions he cut back by the Sixers’ medical wizards, Brown and Embiid know that for some things, the sports scientists are going to win the argument. One of them being ... “Joel is not cleared to play back-to-backs yet,” Brown declared Wednesday before the Sixers hosted Wizards of another sort. For that reason, Brown would insert Embiid into the starting lineup on this night against Washington, but schedule him for street clothes duty Thursday night for a road game in Boston.
“We feel like there’s going to be more (opportunity for) rest before the next game,” said Brown, whose team still does a pretty quick turnaround when it welcomes in Detroit Saturday for a third game in four nights. “And I feel Joel has always wanted to play in front of our fans. He feels responsibility, when we have choices, to play in front of our own fans.”
Of course, there are other reasons. Wizards star John Wall is out with a knee, and if that weren’t enough to slow them down, there was a win in Minnesota Tuesday followed by a latenight flight halfway across the country with which to lend a tiring hand to their game legs.
In short, the Sixers had every right to expect to grab a 12th win of the season on this night, and every right to expect a loss to the rocketing Celtics in Boston no matter who plays.
So ... you go with your strength, and go with Embiid as a bit of insurance.
Either way, Brown says he doesn’t have to look far down the road before Embiid can be cleared for 24/7 service.
“You could tell when he hadn’t played basketball (a lot),” Brown said of Embiid. “You especially see it in passing decisions at the post and sometimes in open court, you hold your breath. He sees a driving lane ... but he hasn’t played a lot of basketball.
“But with his fitness and all that coming together you just are going to see less turnovers and more of a dominant player.”
••• Despite leaving early with an ankle injury in Monday night’s loss to the Cavaliers, Ben Simmons realized about an hour before the game Wednesday night that he would be good to go.
“Overall, it loosened up on the court, once I started running in warmups,” Simmons said. “But it’s a little tender.”
Simmons seemed to have no issues in the first half, however. He had 11 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes of action before intermission.
Simmons admitted he was nervous about the extent of the injury when it happened.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. “I ran right out and had an X-ray and it was all negative. That was a blessing.”
••• Robert Covington walked into Brown’s office late Monday night after the loss to the Cavs to let him know he’d heard shortly before the game that a close friend back home in Illinois had been shot and killed. Covington admitted the news impacted him. He shot only 1 for 11 and scored four points in his worst game of the season against the Cavs.
“You ask him about his family, his wife, does he have children. You learn a little bit more about the realities of the situation,” Brown said when asked about his reaction to Covington. “You make sure he understands, and he does, that if he needs to return for a funeral or something else then we will support him.”