Joel Embiid's return is enough to get the 76ers to the playoffs, but anything more is a pipe dream
Joel Embiid's return from injury will probably have another disappointing ending.
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Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
Joel Embiid is back.
The Philadelphia 76ers big man made his return to the court Tuesday in triumphant fashion, leading the Sixers to a comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, albeit in a game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams both missed.
Nevertheless, it was a big win for the 76ers, who remain eighth in the Eastern Conference playoff standings, 1.5 games behind the Miami Heat for seventh and two games behind the Indiana Pacers for sixth place. If the season ended today, they’d be in the play-in tournament, a far cry from their third-place standing at the end of January when Embiid got hurt.
With him back, they have a good chance to make the playoffs. In fact, with the easiest remaining schedule in the NBA, according to Tankathon, Philadelphia might just find a way to avoid the play-in tournament altogether. DraftKings has them at -1100 odds to get in. Regardless, the likelihood of a deep run doesn’t seem as promising as it once did.
Including Tuesday’s game, Embiid has exactly seven games to get back into playing shape before the season ends. Maybe less if the Sixers decide to sit him one night of their last remaining back-to-back. And though he contributed to their win over OKC, scoring 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, he wasn’t exactly at peak form, even admitting to not feeling good after the game.
I’m not sure he has enough time to get to a better place before the playoffs.
Joel Embiid on how he feels after his return from his knee injury
“Not good, but glad we got through it and got the win… it took a toll mentally.”
via @NBAonTNT
— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) April 3, 2024
Does that mean the Sixers can’t win a game or two to get out of the play-in tournament? Absolutely not. But from there, the two teams they’d be most likely to play are the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. I wouldn’t give Philly much of a chance to beat either in a seven-game series without the Embiid we saw earlier in the season.
That’s before we get into whether Embiid is even healthy or not. The hope is that he completely finished rehab before returning, but we can never be totally sure knowing how competitive athletes can be and knowing how much pressure Embiid likely feels to win a title. With him back on the floor, the Sixers will at least have a chance to compete for one. I’m just not sure they’ll come very close.
The MVP and ROY put on a show
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
The NBA’s current best player got an up close look at its likely future best player again Tuesday, when Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama’s teams squared off for the third time this season.
It was a battle between the runaway favorites for MVP and Rookie of the Year, and though Jokic’s Denver Nuggets came out on top, one sequence between the two showed the world why Wembanyama might one day be a league MVP himself.
This Wemby and Jokić sequence
pic.twitter.com/aTL3xsEzO7
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 3, 2024
First of all, peep the handles on the seven-footer as he drives towards Jokic from the 3-point line. Then, check out the finish — a scoop layup that he wraps around Jokic’s back. Then, Wembanyama picks up Jokic on defense at half-court and proceeds to block the two-time MVP’s layup before hustling back for an offensive rebound and put-back finish on the other end.
Yes, Jokic got the last laugh with a dunk at the end of the clip, and with the final outcome of the game — he had 42 points and 16 rebounds in the win. But as FTW’s Robert Zeglinski wrote, Jokic could only joke about doing something with Wembanyama, who finished with 23 points, 15 rebounds, nine blocks and eight assists.
These are the type of battles that make the NBA so fun to watch.
One to Watch
(All odds via BetMGM)
Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images
Oklahoma City Thunder (+400) at Boston Celtics (-10.5; -550), 7:30 p.m. ET
I mentioned earlier how the Thunder just lost to the 76ers yesterday, so you can probably guess I’ll be picking against them in Boston the very next night. SGA and Jalen Williams remain out, and the Celtics are relatively healthy outside of a questionable Jaylen Brown. With OKC playings its third of five straight games on the east coast and Boston back home after its own six-game road trip, this feels like a good spot to lay a big number like -10.5 on the Celtics.
Shootaround
— 5 most interesting candidates to replace Steve Clifford as head coach of the Hornets
— The latest NBA mock draft from Bleacher Report has Zach Edey going to the Bucks
— Luka Doncic is making a late MVP push bettors won’t want to ignore
That’s it from me y’all. Check back Friday for more Layup Lines.