After getting a night off on Wednesday, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was back on the floor Thursday night to take on the Dallas Mavericks. While he played in the matchup, Embiid was still on the injury report from the previous day as foot soreness continued to affect him.
“I just thought I would get two days off and stay off of it,” Embiid told reporters on Thursday in Dallas, according to Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire. “It usually feels much better after. So like I said, I just got to keep managing it and keep going.”
When the Sixers returned from the All-Star break last week, Embiid wasn’t present on the team’s injury report for the first time in 12 games. The trend lasted three games before Embiid was back on the report as he continued to deal with foot soreness.
Going into their matchup against the Miami Heat, the Sixers listed Embiid as questionable. Typically when the big man would pop up on the injury report as questionable, he goes into pregame warmup with the intention of playing, barring any unexpected setbacks.
On Wednesday, that wasn’t the case. Thirty minutes before the Sixers and the Heat tipped off, Embiid was downgraded to out. As a result, the Sixers shifted PJ Tucker to the center position while inserting the third-year guard Tyrese Maxey into the starting five.
Without Embiid, the Sixers managed to find success against the Heat after taking on a tight loss against Miami on Monday night in South Philly. When Philly returned to the floor the following night to face the Dallas Mavericks, Embiid was upgraded to probable before getting cleared to play.
Embiid didn’t seem to have any limitations on Thursday night. After getting cleared to play, he checked in for 35 minutes. During that time, Embiid drained 13 of his 21 shots from the field and knocked down nine of his 13 free throws. The big man wrapped up the game with 35 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and one assist as the Sixers fell short to Dallas 133-126.
The Sixers will return to the court on Saturday to face the Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid’s playing status at the moment is unclear, but it seems he still doesn’t feel one hundred percent at this time.
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