In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup between Philadelphia 76ers & The Washington Wizards, the 76ers had a chance to eliminate the Wizards with a win as they were up 3-0 in the series going into the game.
Unfortunately, that was not how things went down and the Wizards were able to steal a 122 - 114 win behind big performances by Bradley Beal who scored 27 points, and an even bigger performance by Mr. Triple Double himself Russell Westbrook who lived up to the name and dropped a monster 19 point, 14 assists, And 21 rebound triple-double! This was Westbrook's second triple-double of the series and second in a row.
Although the win for the Wizards is big for them, The biggest topic coming out of the game was the 76ers losing their star center big man Joel Embiid.
Early in the game little past the halfway mark of the 1st quarter, Embiid attempted to drive to the basket very hard and aggressively to try and get a big posterizer on Wizards center Robin Lopez. When Embiid went up into the air he was met by Lopez who got a clean block on Embiid. On the way down, we saw Embiid take a digger and land right on his pelvic region.
**Video Below**
Shortly after the fall, Embiid did his best to remain in the game, but it was not long after that we saw him walk to the back into the locker room and ultimately ruled out of the remainder of the game a little later.
After watching it happen, It was originally thought to be a hip/pelvic injury with the way he fell but turned out that it was his knee that was actually where the injury occurred. Very weird.
At this moment in time, there is no clear understanding of how much damage he took with this injury but this is not the first and more than likely won't be the last time he has knee issues. With the big man standing at 7ft tall and just over 280lbs it is almost a given to acquire knee issues with how hard he plays on any given night. I would never want something like this to happen to star players as that's why we watch as fans, to watch star players be great regardless if they are on your favorite team or not, but the nature of the human body is what it is.
And more so when it comes to the big men of the league.
As of this morning on June 2nd, the only report is that they got an MRI done to get the more detailed results but did not evaluate any further and it was stated that he is set to undergo further evaluation leading up to game 5 but is listed as doubtful.
Game 5 is tonight and the fact that they are being very secretive about the injury only 2 days after it occurred could, unfortunately, mean something bad for the big man out of Cameroon and might mean he could sit out more time than they hope.
With Embiid most likely out tonight, the 76ers will need to heavily rely on Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris to have a big night with the home-field advantage. All while trying to contain the two-headed monster of Westbrook & Beal. Let's see how this plays out.
Hope you guys enjoy the game tonight and hope you guys enjoyed this read.
-Sani