The Philadelphia 76ers stumbled upon another major roadblock ahead of their Game 2 matinee against the New York Knicks in their Eastern Conference Semifinals series. Joel Embiid was held out for the contest as he was nursing hip and ankle injuries. He was receiving treatment in hopes of getting cleared to play, but he ultimately could not participate even during the team's shootaround due to nagging soreness in those areas.
If anything, Embiid had just paid the price for the NBA's unreasonable choices when it comes to plotting the schedule for the playoffs. As a lot of people have pointed out, it was unacceptable for the league to give the 76ers just a one-day break to process the turnaround coming off a Game 7 win in Boston to kicking off their semis affair against New York.
Now, the 76ers bear the brunt of whatever commercial reason the league was pursuing in making such a nonsensical approach to playoff scheduling. One way or another, this team got handed a punishment for making a historic comeback from being down 3-1 in the first round and finding a way to stay alive in the race when basically everyone already wrote them off.
The 76ers and Joel Embiid pay the price for the NBA's unreasonable playoff scheduling
Joel Embiid was just barely three weeks removed from his appendectomy procedure when he made his successful return to the court against Boston, so he was nowhere near fully healthy during the first round. In fact, the superstar big man got even more banged up in Game 7. It was in that game, where he probably hurt his hip and ankle, as he went to the locker room and got attended by the training staff on the bench all game long.
And for someone like Embiid, who has an extensive track record of injury, a one-day break is not going to be enough at the very least. Even just one or a couple more days would have made a world of difference to help him manage the soreness, but instead, he was cudgeled into having to suit up for Game 1 after just a single-day break.
Had the league exercised more prudence and fairness in coming up with the playoffs schedule, the 76ers would not have gotten screwed up this much. Instead, with all of their eyes set on what is commercially advantageous to them, the NBA has failed in its duty to protect its players. Joel Embiid is the best example of that reality.
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