The Philadelphia 76ers are going to need Joel Embiid to return from injury to defeat the New York Knicks, as they sit in a two-game hole as they return home for Game 3. Embiid missed Game 2 due to an right ankle sprain and right hip soreness, and is currently questionable on the injury report after initially being labeled as probable. Despite the downgrade, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse is holding out hope that he'll be ready, according to SNY Knicks via X, formerly Twitter.
“Nick Nurse says that Joel Embiid will ‘give it a shot' and was a participant at shootaround. Nurse says Embiid is ‘getting better all the time',” the account reported.
Nick Nurse says that Joel Embiid will "give it a shot" and was a participant at shootaround.
Nurse says Embiid is "getting better all the time" pic.twitter.com/Ym9CUqhOv1
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 8, 2026
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The 76ers were without Embiid for the first three games of their first-round series against the Boston Celtics before he returned in Game 4 and helped them win Games 5-7 to defeat their rivals. The belief was that if the star center could continue playing that way and remain healthy, the 76ers would have a chance to knock off the Knicks as well.
Embiid had just 14 points in 25 minutes in Game 1, showing that his biggest problem going forward would be his availability. It has been a tragic story of Embiid's health decline, and the 76ers are accepting that it'll always be this way for their center.
Nurse's team kept it close in Game 2, with the Knicks winning 108-102. They held the 76ers to 12 points in the fourth quarter to open the lead to eight points, after leading by only one point after the third quarter. With their struggles to score in the fourth, missing Embiid proved even worse than Philadelphia expected.
The Philadelphia 76ers are going to need Joel Embiid to return from injury to defeat the New York Knicks, as they sit in a two-game hole as they return home for Game 3. Embiid missed Game 2 due to an right ankle sprain and right hip soreness, and is currently questionable on the injury report after initially being labeled as probable.