In championship hunt, Sixers dealt a tough hand

As they departed for Toronto last week to continue their first-round NBA playoff series, the 76ers knew of the dangers. Some, they could accept. One, they could not survive.

After two routs of the Raptors at the Wells Fargo Center, they were hoping to complete a sweep, win a week of rest and be qualified for the second postseason round. That option vanished Saturday with a 110-102 defeat. They didn’t play well. It happens. But they did split the pair in Toronto and will be heavily favored to end the series in Game 5 Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. So the immediate panic, if there was any, would be muffled.

The Sixers will survive a lost basketball game. They cannot survive the other occurrence that befell them in Canada. Namely, they cannot survive Joel Embiid being injured to a point where he is unlikely to remain as historically dominant as he has been all season.

“It’s a concern,” Tyrese Maxey said. Just a little. Though Embiid doesn’t know when it happened, theorizing that he must have caught it in a Raptor’s shirt during Game 3, his right thumb has ceased to properly function. The Sixers are waiting until an MRI confirms what appears obvious, which is that a ligament that keeps the thumb functioning has been compromised and eventually will require surgery.

That means that if Embiid intends to successfully counter double-teams, shoot without pain, catch the ball without thinking or thumb a ride to the shore, it will be difficult if not unrealistic.

“When it comes to rebounding or at the freethrow line or passing, I don’t know how to explain it,” Embiid said. “It’s whatever.”

With the way they are constructed, the Sixers cannot dismiss the Embiid injury with a simple “whatever.” Not this time. Not after all these years. As they explained it, that thumb is not going to heal, not this season. Surgery likely would help, but neither the Sixers nor Embiid have time for that. Daryl Morey just traded two first-round draft picks, a star-level center and Ben Simmons for James Harden and change to win immediately, meaning the Sixers are in no position to grant the most valuable player in the Eastern Conference postseason sick time.

Over the years, players with similar ligament trauma have been able to play with an unobtrusive splint. But since Embiid’s

injured thumb is on his shooting hand, that’s not an option. His only choice is to play in pain, keep an ice bag at the ready and hope that competitive, championshipminded NBA players will be humane enough not to bang on his malfunctioning hand as if it were the bell at a busy hotel checkin desk.

Embiid can play with some pain. He can find the ice.

The NBA’s big men, though, just might not be so willing to leave him alone.

Acknowledging that the Sixers were due for a lull Saturday, it’s possible that Embiid just had, by his standards, an ordinary game, collecting 21 points and eight rebounds. But at least five times — only a few because of contact — he crashed to the floor as if in physical distress. Prodded by coach Nick Nurse’s groaning for the officials to permit more physical play against Embiid, the Raptors pounded him all afternoon. Several times, Embiid was seen wincing, massaging his thumb or seeming to shake off the soreness.

“All injuries are different,” Embiid said. “But I wish it would have happened to my other hand. I am just going to adjust. I guess that means I am going to have to use my left hand even more than I am used to.”

He’s the most talented player, skill for skill, in Sixers history, and he should be the MVP for what he did in the regular season. But if Joel Hans Embiid can lead the Sixers to 13 more victories with increased use of his nondominant hand, he will soar to the top of the list of all Philadelphia postseason legends. Got that, Nick Foles?

One game into that plan, that did not look possible. Proud as he was to have solved the Toronto double- and-triple-teaming with unselfish passing and no Game 1 turnovers, Embiid’s passes were often slow and sloppy Saturday, explaining his five turnovers.

To his credit, he is demanding to play. He said he was quite sickly in Games 1 and 2, but that news flash never slipped. The Sixers, said Doc Rivers, have been told that Embiid can do no more damage to the thumb by playing. The question: Can playing do damage to the offense?

“It’s painful,” Embiid said. “In basketball, you need to use your hand a lot.”

As for the Sixers, they needed to return from Toronto with two healthy Embiid hands for a healthy shot at a championship.

They didn’t.