The Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid will get extra days of rest after Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics to extend their first-round playoff series Tuesday night.
Young had 38 points and drained a long go-ahead 3-pointer from beyond the top of the key with 2.8 seconds left to help the Hawks cap a late comeback and beat the Celtics 119-117.
The Celtics now lead the series 3-2 with Game 6 taking place in Atlanta on Thursday.
If the Celtics had won and closed out the series Tuesday, they would have played the Sixers in the Eastern Conference semifinals in Boston on Saturday. With the Hawks winning however, the second round series against either team will start Monday, giving the Sixers eight days off in total.
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Rest is especially important for the Sixers as their MVP-caliber big man Joel Embiid continues to recover from a knee injury that he suffered in Game 3 of their playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets.
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According to Rivers, Embiid had an MRI following his knee injury.
“My understanding is they checked his knee out right after the game because he was complaining about some soreness behind the knee,” Rivers said Saturday, “which is always a scary thing when it’s behind the knee with players. There was swelling already, which is way too early, and so we did the MRI.
“As a coach, I hate those three letters, because it never comes out well. It just feels like whenever they tell a coach, ‘Hey, we’re doing an MRI,’ it doesn’t turn out well most of the time. And this one did not.”
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Monday on NBA Today that Embiid has a sprained LCL in his right knee and will be re-evaluated in the middle of this week.
NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark confirmed that report Tuesday morning.
The situation is somewhat reminiscent of Embiid’s 2021 postseason. After suffering a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee during the Sixers’ Round 1, Game 4 loss to the Wizards, Embiid sat out the team’s Game 5 victory. He then played through the meniscus tear for the entirety of the Sixers’ seven-game defeat to the Hawks in the second round.
Tuesday night, Embiid showed some appreciation for Young on Twitter.
