As the Philadelphia 76ers closed out the first half of action against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night (November 10), the Sixers had an injury scare in the final seconds.
The team’s star center Joel Embiid went up for a layup in transition, which he missed. As the big man landed, his right foot slipped, which caused him to lose his footing and crash to the ground. On his way down, his left foot planted, which caused him to tweak his ankle.
Embiid rolled over in pain for a moment. While he did get up and ran back to the other end of the floor to get on defense, he was clearly hobbled. The second quarter ended just seconds after. Embiid limped back to the locker room for halftime.
The good news is that Embiid returned to start the second half. Right away, the big man broke his shooting slump by nailing a three.
Joel Embiid’s Struggles vs Boston Celtics
The Sixers rolled out Embiid for 17 minutes during the first half.
The star center struggled with his shooting, missing all six of his shots from the field. Two of his attempts came from beyond the arc.
Fortunately, Embiid didn’t go scoreless in the first half. He managed to get to the charity stripe for 11 free throws. Embiid produced nine points from the free-throw line.
Along with his scoring, Embiid came down with five rebounds. He turned the ball over twice.
It might be early November, but the Tuesday night matchup between the Sixers and the Celtics is high-stakes, considering it’s the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
Embiid’s shooting struggles contributed to an overall bad first half for Philly. The Celtics led the Sixers 61-51 through the first two quarters of action.
