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Tim BontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid will have an MRI after injuring his left knee in Friday night’s 127-101 win over the Washington Wizards, coach Doc Rivers said after the game.
Embiid hyperextended the knee after coming down off a dunk in the third quarter, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Embiid was in the midst of the latest dominant performance of his MVP-caliber season, scoring 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 20 minutes, when he caught a pass from Tobias Harris and flew in for a dunk to give Philadelphia an 80-60 lead with 6 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
But as Embiid went to the ground after the dunk, his full body weight landed on the left leg — sending him falling to the ground in tremendous pain.
After staying down for a few minutes, Embiid eventually got to his feet and walked off under his own power — though with a fairly pronounced limp — as he went straight back to the visitors’ locker room inside Washington’s Capital One Arena.
Rivers said Embiid was in “in pretty good spirits” after the game. He’ll undergo the MRI when the team flies back to Philadelphia.
Embiid had a similarly scary situation last month when he hyperextended his right knee in an awkward fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking an Enes Kanter layup. In that game, Embiid returned a few minutes later and dominated, scoring 31 first-half points in a matchup Philadelphia eventually lost.
Philadelphia got Embiid back Friday night after both he and Ben Simmons missed Thursday’s win in Chicago over the Bulls — as well as Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta — because of contact tracing stemming from a barber both stars visited before heading to Atlanta.
Simmons remained out Friday but was expected to return — assuming he doesn’t have a positive test for COVID-19 before then — for Sunday’s game in Philadelphia against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Sixers remained atop the Eastern Conference with Friday’s win, moving a full game ahead of the second-place Brooklyn Nets.
