76ers waiting to see if Embiid can come back
Injury occurred late in blowout victory
PHILADELPHIA — Doc Rivers caught some criticism for playing Joel Embiid and the other 76ers starters late in a blowout victory to close out the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
With the Sixers up 29 points, Embiid suffered an orbital bone fracture near his right eye and a concussion with 3 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in Game 6 of the opening-round series. He was hit in the face by an inadvertent elbow delivered by Toronto’s Pascal Siakam, who eventually was called for an offensive foul.
The MVP candidate is sidelined indefinitely by those injuries heading into the Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Miami Heat that begins Monday.
Embiid will not accompany the Sixers on their flight to Miami on Sunday. After Saturday’s practice, Rivers was asked why Embiid was still in the game with the team up by 29 points with four minutes left.
“Because everyone was in,” Rivers answered. “The other team had all their guys in, too. The last five minutes of the game, we made the run the last minute … right before that. That’s when we got up 29.
“After Joel made the shot and did the (celebratory) airplane, if you watched the game, I turned and said, ‘I’m calling a timeout on the next possession.’”
Rivers was going to call the timeout to take Embiid out of the game. Unfortunately, Embiid’s injury happened before he could do it.
Hindsight is 20/20, but the Raptors were battling for their postseason lives against a Sixers squad known for blowing huge leads. They blew an 18-point lead in Game 4 and a 26-point lead in Game 5 of last season’s conference semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks.
Rivers added that he’s not upset that Embiid was in the game.
“You can make that a big deal if you want,” he said. “But just go and look at every team and every game and their guys are in until about the 4-, 3-minute mark.”
KINGS: General manager Monte McNair and his staff have narrowed down their list of candidates as they prepare to move into the next phase of Sacramento’s coaching search.
A league source told The Sacramento Bee the Kings were notifying candidates Saturday after selecting Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown, Brooklyn Nets adviser Steve Clifford and ESPN analyst Mark Jackson as finalists for the job.
Brown, Clifford and Jackson were among seven known candidates who participated in a first round of virtual interviews over the past several days. The others were New Orleans Pelicans coaching adviser Mike D’Antoni, Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, and Boston Celtics assistant Will Hardy.
Finalists will move on to a second round of in-person interviews with the Kings, who are seeking their 12th head coach in 16 years since their NBA-record playoff drought began.
KOBE JERSEY: A jersey worn by Kobe Bryant in his rookie season, including two playoff games, will be sold at auction. The jersey from the 1996-97 season could fetch between $3 million and $5 million in an online auction that begins May 18, David Kohler of SCP Auctions said Saturday. Kohler said the seller, who wants to remain anonymous, approached him after seeing another of Bryant’s rookie jerseys went for $3.69 million last year.