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Tim bontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid will have an MRI after hyperextending his left knee in Friday night’s 127-101 win over the Washington Wizards, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Embiid was in the middle of the last dominant performance of his MVP-caliber season, scoring 23 points on an 8-for-11 shot to come along with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 20 minutes, when he caught a pass from Tobias. Harris and stole for a dunk to give Philadelphia an 80-60 lead with 6:20 left in the third quarter.
But as Embiid came back to the ground after the dunk, his entire body weight landed on that left leg – causing it to hyperextend, knocking him down to the ground and causing him to twist in a ton of pain.
After lying in bed for a few minutes, Embiid finally got up and left on his own – albeit with a fairly pronounced lameness – as he made his way straight back to the visitor’s locker rooms inside Washington’s Capital One Arena. .
Embiid is expected to undergo an MRI once the team returns to Philadelphia, sources said.
Embiid had an equally frightening situation last month when he hyperextended his right knee in an awkward fall against the Portland Trail Blazers after blocking an Enes Kanter layup. In that game, Embiid came back a few minutes later and dominated, scoring 31 points in the first half in a game that Philadelphia ultimately lost.
Philadelphia recovered Embiid on Friday night after he and Ben Simmons missed Thursday’s Chicago win over the Bulls – as well as Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta – due to a hairstylist’s contact tracing that the two stars visited before heading to Atlanta.
Simmons was absent on Friday, but was scheduled to return – assuming he had not tested positive for COVID-19 before that – for Sunday’s game in Philadelphia against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Sixers will remain atop the Eastern Conference with a win on Friday night, edging a full game ahead of the second-placed Brooklyn Nets.
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