Another wounded demon came to Embiid.

The Philadelphia 76ers won 96-88 against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 4 of the 1st round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs held at the Barclays Center in New York on the 23rd (Korean time).

Philadelphia became the first team to advance to the second round with this victory. He also achieved the achievement of advancing to the second round for three consecutive years. Philadelphia has been in the second round five times out of the last six seasons.

However, there was also a heartbreaking thing in the first round series. Ace Joel Embiid was unable to participate in the 4th game due to a knee injury, and the appearance in the early 2nd round is also uncertain.

Embiid suffered a knee injury while blocking Cam Johnson’s rim attack in Game 3 on the 21st. There was optimism that his injury would not last long, but Embiid’s injury was worse than expected. Embiid, who missed Game 4, went back to Philadelphia and had an MRI scan.

Ahead of the 4th game, coach Doc Rivers said, “Joel Embiid is complaining of pain behind the knee, but that area is always scary. It is already swollen. It seems that the MRI examination results did not come out well. It may take some time before he returns.”

Even after confirming their advance to the second round with a victory in game 4, Coach Rivers did not leave much positive comments about Embiid’s appearance. He did not confirm a question about Embiid’s possible appearance in the first leg of the second round.

“I don’t know. I can’t answer that question right now토스카지노,” said Rivers. 

For Philadelphia, the second round is the starting point for a full-fledged match. They’ve made the second round stage with Embiid five times outside of this season, but never made it to the conference finals. Blocked by Boston, Toronto, Atlanta and Miami.

There were many reasons for not being able to cross the wall in the 2nd round, but the fact that Embiid was not able to demonstrate 100% of its power was painful. In the early days of his career, Embiid was blocked by seasoned veterans such as Al Horford and Marc Gasol. In the relatively recent season, he was unable to show as much activity as the regular season due to the aftermath of injuries. 

Embiid is a player who has been plagued by injury to the point of missing the entire first two seasons of his debut. Even after that, his injuries continue to haunt him, and he has never played more than 70 games since his debut.

The same goes for the playoffs. In the first round of 2021, he suffered a knee hyperextension injury, and in the last season with James Harden, he suffered a finger ligament rupture and an orbital fracture injury. Because of the aftermath of his injury, Embiid has become one of the stars who bow their heads when it comes to the playoffs.

For Philadelphia, a difficult fight is expected if Embiid does not enter the second round in normal condition. Currently, their strong opponent for the second round is second-seeded Boston. In the regular season, he showed inferiority against Boston.

Even if they fight with all their might, Philadelphia is evaluated as an underdog against Boston. Even in the first round, the performance in the fourth game without Embiid was not smooth.

Fortunately for Philadelphia, the first-round series ended early, giving Embiid more time to recover. If Boston, which leads with 3 wins and 1 loss, ends the first round series in game 5, the first game of round 2 will be held on April 30, and if Atlanta catches game 5, game 1 will be played from May 2.