After Tuesday's practice, the Sixers said that Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kyle Lowry will all miss Wednesday evening's home game against the Houston Rockets. The news represents another difficult setback amidst a 3-13 start to the season.
A quick refresher of how we got here…
Embiid, who missed the first six games of the season due to the management of his left knee which underwent surgery last February and three more games due to a suspension, played in four of the Sixers' next five games before returning to the sidelines on Friday night.
Following the team's shootaround prior to their dramatic home victory over the Brooklyn Nets, Embiid was listed as questionable on the injury report. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said during his pregame press conference that Embiid would warm up on the floor before the game and then the team would make a decision on his availability, but Embiid never did warm up. He was ultimately ruled out for the game, and at halftime of the game, the team put out an update which also ruled him out for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
"Joel Embiid is managing swelling in his left knee," the team said. "In consultation with the team’s medical staff, Embiid missed tonight’s game and will also miss Sunday’s game. He is receiving treatment and further updates on his status will be provided early next week."
After Friday's game, Nurse was asked what had changed since his pregame comments.
"So again, he has some swelling from the last game. That's kind of something we knew we were going to be dealing with going into the season," Nurse said. "They do what they can do to remove that swelling, but just didn't feel good enough to go. We were pretty well aware of that not much longer after [the pregame press conference] that he wasn't going to be able to go tonight. And they obviously looked at it again during the game and decided they need to treat it, so we'll go from there."
MORE: Is Nurse on hot seat?
George suffered a left knee bone bruise during the Sixers' road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last Wednesday, the second time in as many months he had experienced a bad landing which was initially diagnosed as a hyperextension and later revealed to be a bruise. When George suffered the first injury in a preseason game, it caused him to miss the remainder of the team's exhibitions as well as the first five games on its regular season schedule.
It took 21 days for George to return to the floor. He played in five games on a minutes restriction, sat out for a game and then was "out of the woods," as Nurse put it. But in George's third game at full-throttle, a vicious cycle repeated itself.
All along, the Sixers have expressed confidence that this injury was not as serious as the one which came before it. Nurse even said George nearly returned to that Memphis game before his knee tightened up a bit. George received an MRI the following morning, which the team said revealed no structural damage.
The 38-year-old Lowry had a terrific start to the season, shooting the lights out for six games to overcome his athletic deficiencies. But as a massive slump from three-point range ensued, Lowry's weaknesses were exposed at the worst time: Tyrese Maxey had suffered a hamstring injury which kept him out for two weeks, so Lowry was forced into an even greater role than the one which had already appeared to be too burdensome for him.
| Lowry first six games (four starts) | Lowry next seven games (six starts) |
| 23.1 minutes per game | 25.1 minutes per game |
| 9.8 points per game | 3.0 points per game |
| 60.0 three-point percentage | 8.7 three-point percentage |
| 4.2 three-point attempts per game | 3.3 three-point attempts per game |
After Lowry posted his third scoreless appearance of the season in the Sixers' horrific Nov. 18 loss to the Miami Heat — a game which prompted a controversial team meeting reportedly initiated by Lowry — the team said the veteran point guard was dealing with a right hip strain, ruling him out for at least three games. The team's loss to the Clippers on Sunday was Lowry's third game in street clothes. There had not been an update on Lowry since then.
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