USATSI
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid put up 29 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and a steal in his return from a 15-game injury absence on Tuesday, leading his team to a 118-116 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Embiid played 36 minutes, a season-high, and made 12 of his 23 field goal attempts. He also shot 4 for 9 from the free-throw line, but given how well he played — especially in comparison to his previous returns from extended absences — the Sixers likely aren’t too worried about that.
Embiid’s biggest bucket of the night was a go-ahead layup with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter:
Generally speaking, Embiid looked comfortable, confident and light on his feet. A two-point win against a severely shorthanded Mavericks team — they were missing the newly acquired Anthony Davis and Caleb Martin, plus Dereck Lively II, PJ Washington and Dwight Powell — is normally not cause for celebration, but Embiid basically looking like himself is.
And given how this season has gone, Philadelphia will take any win it can get.
Will Embiid be able to stay on the floor?
This was the Sixers’ 49th game, and it was Embiid’s 14th appearance. His 15th won’t come until they visit Detroit on Friday, as coach Nick Nurse told reporters postgame (via PHLY’s Derek Bodner) that the big man will be out when they host the Miami Heat on Wednesday, as it is the second night of a back-to-back.
Embiid had been sidelined since Jan. 4. Initially, he was out of the lineup due to a sprained left foot, but as he was working his way back from that injury, the team announced on Jan. 17 that he had “experienced an increase in swelling in his left knee.”
The Sixers went 5-10 during that absence and are 20-29 after beating Dallas, but they have been playing better lately. They’d won four straight games before a 137-134 loss against the Denver Nuggets last Friday and a 118-110 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
About 60% of the way through the season, Philadelphia’s Big Three of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George have logged only 192 minutes together. The trio has appeared in 10 games together, but, since George was injured in the first of them and Embiid was ejected from one and left another with an injury, it has only actually finished seven games. The Sixers went 6-1 in those games, including a 118-114 win against the defending-champion Celtics on Christmas Day. (George has missed their last five games with a finger injury.)
How will the 76ers approach the trade deadline?
Given the team’s disappointing record and Embiid’s injury issues and other teams’ reported interest in their role players, Philadelphia is a fascinating team to monitor as Thursday’s trade deadline approaches. It appears, though, that Daryl Morey’s front office still wants to salvage this season.
Ideally, Embiid’s triple-double against the Mavericks will be the start of something and the Sixers will be able to move up several spots in the standings. At the moment, they are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, three games behind the eighth-place Orlando Magic.
The trade that Philadelphia made on Tuesday might help. The departing Caleb Martin, a solid role player who joined the team on a bargain of a contract last summer but hasn’t played since Jan. 12 due to a hip injury, does not have the same kind of shooting gravity as the newly acquired Quentin Grimes, a plug-and-play wing who seems like an ideal fit next to Embiid, Maxey and George.
The Sixers are not done, either. Forward KJ Martin was listed as “not with team” on Tuesday, and PHLY’s Kyle Neubeck reported that this was because of a pending trade, adding that he was spotted leaving the arena less than 45 minutes before tip.
Philadelphia is considering multiple trades and is expected to finalize one of them on Wednesday, according to The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer. PHLY reported that the deal will likely give the team increased financial flexibility. After the first trade, the Sixers are under the first apron and $6.5 million over the luxury tax. The next one could theoretically get the Sixers out of the tax entirely and set up another move.
Now more than at any other point in what has mostly been a cursed season, Philadelphia is alive with possibility. Maxey, who finished with 33 points on 13-for-22 shooting, four rebounds, 13 assists and two steals in 40 minutes against the Mavs, has been playing out of his mind lately. Numerous Sixers role players, from veteran Eric Gordon (before he missed their last two games with knee soreness, anyway) to rookie Justin Edwards, have been thriving, too. Grimes is a good get, and in the next couple of days we will find out whether the front office has more tricks up its sleeve.
More important than all of that, though, is that it appears that Embiid has come back stronger than the last time we saw him. Let’s see how he holds up.
