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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
BOSTON — Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid, who was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player on Tuesday night, is — barring any setbacks — set to return from the sprained LCL in his right knee in Game 2 of Philadelphia’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Embiid participated in the team’s morning shootaround Wednesday and will need to come through that and his pregame workout without incident to return to the floor.
But the mood was far different Wednesday morning than it had been 48 hours earlier. Embiid was the first 76ers player to enter the arena bowl Wednesday — as opposed to being the last to do so ahead of the shootaround Monday before Philadelphia’s Game 1 victory.
The news of Embiid’s pending return was first reported by The Athletic.
He then got out on the court and got shots up for several minutes before the media’s 15-minute viewing period expired and the shootaround got underway.
Embiid is going to speak to the media after the shootaround at the NBA’s news conference for him winning this season’s MVP award, which he claimed by finishing ahead of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic — who had finished ahead of Embiid the past two seasons.
Embiid went through a full workout Tuesday, which sources said went well, but the determining factor for whether he would be available to play as early as Game 2 was how his knee responded the next day to the exertion.
“It’s just health-based,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday afternoon. “If he can play, he plays. If he can’t, he can’t.
“And if it’s 50-50, we would probably err on the other side [and not have him play], because we’ve done that all year.”
Now, if Embiid comes out of the shootaround and his standard pregame workout without incident, he’s expected to be back in the starting lineup for Philadelphia as it tries to take a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven series after James Harden‘s spectacular 45-point performance in Game 1 allowed the 76ers to stun the Celtics here at TD Garden without the league’s MVP.
Embiid suffered the injury April 20 when he landed awkwardly after contesting a shot by Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson in Game 3 of Philadelphia’s first-round sweep of Brooklyn.
The 76ers had hoped Embiid could be back as soon as Game 1 — especially after the Celtics lost Game 5 of their first-round series to the Atlanta Hawks here last week, meaning this series wouldn’t start until Monday.
But after Philadelphia managed to steal Game 1 without him, the 76ers will now try to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series with their superstar potentially returning to the floor.