Knee issues continue to limit Embiid

CAMDEN, N.J. >> Not that anything else was expected, but the 76ers left Wednesday for Brooklyn with a continuing nagging question about Joel Embiid’s readiness.

Having been a gametime decision in each of the first two games of a best-of-seven playoff series, Embiid did not participate in a light workout Wednesday at the training center. That scheduled rest, as it has been throughout his career, technically was designed to make the Sixers’ center available for Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets Thursday despite continuing tendinitis in his left knee.

Embiid officially is listed as questionable for the 8 p.m. game.

“He did not participate in the shootaround,” was Brett Brown’s report after practice, which was closed to the press. “He was getting treatment.”

As the Sixers have been doing later in the season, their practice was broken into multiple video stations. At each, the players studied vital film clips of certain situations and responsibilities, then relatively gently went over them on the court.

Embiid, though not in full practice gear, was seen after the workout. He did not address the media.

“He was still a part of all of the things that we did,” Brown said. “But nowadays, our practices are more classroom-type stuff. His involvement was more sort of participating while he got treatment.”

If Games 1 and 2 revealed anything, and not that it was a secret, it was the value of Embiid. Having rested through the Sixers’ final five regular-season games, Embiid was less than himself in the first playoff game, taking five of his 15 shots from three-point range and not making any. In Game 2, he was decidedly more aggressive against Jarrett Allen, at one point landing an elbow on the young Net’s face. Embiid took 12 Game 2 shots, none from distance.

On an unspecified sports-science minutesrestriction, Embiid played 24:15 in Game 1 and 20:55 in Game 2. As the series lengthens, and it is guaranteed to go at least five games, the Sixers will need a more thorough contribution from their All-Star center.

“We’ve got to buy some time to get him healthy,” Brown said. “Win, buy two days. Win, buy three days. Lose, but stay alive, buy another two days. Whatever it is, it is. It’s buying time. And in that path, in that motion, incrementally his fitness will keep getting better and better and better. In Game 2, perhaps, he could go rim-to-rim more easily. That was a game plan thing. When you look at where our bread is buttered, where our strength is, it’s him.”

••• With 19 points, five rebounds and two assists in Game 2, Tobias Harris finished as the first Sixer since Allen Iverson to finish a playoff game as a plus-30.

In a Game 1 loss, Harris was held to four points.

“Coming off the Game 1 loss, it was tough,” Harris said after practice Wednesday. “But it was also humbling. It showed how you have to understand every night how focused you have to be. I was locked in.”

••• Having recovered from a quad injury sooner than expected, James Ennis played 12 minutes in Game 2 and contributed 11 points. He will be ready for Game 3, though on a minutes restriction.

“Whatever they need me to do,” he assured, “I will be able to do.”

The Sixers will welcome his contributions.

“He brings a lot of energy,” Ben Simmons said.