The Philadelphia 76ers could not have asked for a better start to the season, especially after coming back from nearly 30 points down in just their second game. So far, this team has lived up to the hype surrounding it and silenced its doubters.
All five starters are already playing well together, and the team is nowhere near reaching its full potential. Philadelphia played the first game of its back-to-back on Saturday. Before the games this weekend, center Joel Embiid admitted he was only going to play in one of them.
“I’m not playing both games. I’m playing in 1 of them,” Embiid said.
Perhaps knowing that he would only play in one game influenced his decision to go nuclear against the Milwaukee Bucks, recording a triple-double to help lead the 76ers to victory. After the game, Embiid made it clear that he wanted to play against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night.
“I actually want to play tomorrow, so can you guys put pressure on them?,” Embiid asked the media.
Nothing too serious came of his comments, but there was still some hope that Embiid could play in back-to-back games. However, on Sunday afternoon, Philadelphia announced that Embiid would be out against the Pistons.
“A day after Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid asked reporters to campaign for him to play in Sunday's game against Detroit -- the second of the Sixers' first back-to-back this season -- the 76ers ruled out Embiid for Sunday night's game against the Detroit Pistons with right foot plantar fasciitis management,” ESPN’s Kris Rhim wrote.
With Embiid sidelined, LeBron James is expected to play a significant portion of the game at center for the 76ers. James sitting out on Saturday was likely influenced by the possibility that Embiid would be unavailable on Sunday.
Philadelphia would have been extremely undersized if both James and Embiid had been unavailable on Sunday. For now, the 76ers aren't budging on Embiid playing in back-to-back games, no matter how much he asks.
