Joel Embiid got benched and the 76ers got beat at the horn.
A season full of championship hopes has turned into a debacle for the 76ers. The latest blight came against Brooklyn on Saturday night when they lost their seventh straight game, this one on a buzzer-beating tip-in — and with Embiid on the bench.
A two-time NBA scoring champion, the oft-injured Embiid sat out the entire fourth quarter in the 105-103 loss after a rough three quarters. Embiid scored just 14 points in 31 minutes, missed all six 3-point attempts and was a bystander in the fourth when the 76ers rallied from 17 down to take the lead late, until they were finished off by Nic Claxton’s winner at the horn.
Embiid, who signed a three-year, $193 million contract extension in September, declined to comment.
Embiid has been hobbled by injuries all season and was slow to get up late in the third when he lost the ball and hit the court. Embiid said earlier this week that he needed to “fix the problem” in his left knee to return to his dominant All-Star form.
“The way I was playing a year ago is not the way I’m playing right now,” Embiid said Thursday after the 76ers lost to Boston. “I probably need to fix the problem, and then I’ll be back at that level. But it’s hard to have trust when you’re not yourself.”
He has played in just 19 of 56 games for the Sixers, who fell to 20-36 and are grasping at the fading shot of earning a berth in the NBA play-in tournament.
Coach Nick Nurse said he benched Embiid in the fourth simply because the lineup on the court — that included big man Guerschon Yabusele — was playing well in the quarter.
“They had a good feel for the game at that point,” Nurse said. “Just wanted to let them roll with it.”
Embiid played just 39 games last season due to a torn meniscus in his left knee. The 76ers announced in early February of that season that he had undergone surgery. Embiid came back in early April, was part of the 76ers’ playoff run and then won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team last summer.
Embiid acknowledged earlier this month that he didn’t have enough time to fully recover after undergoing surgery last year.
“He’s giving us what he can. He’s not himself, we all know that,” Nurse said. “He’s not certainly the guy we’re used to seeing play at a super-high level. I commend him for giving us what he can.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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