Joel Embiid sat out the Philadelphia 76ers' 131-115 win over the Brooklyn Nets with left knee tendinitis. It is the same injury which caused him to miss 14 out of the last 24 games to close out the season.
"It's tough. That's what tendinitis is all about. And some days you got your days, and some other days is different. So, even in the games that I play, I just try to go out there and try to play for these guys...It is becoming better slowly but surely. We just have to be smart about how we handle it every single day. But I'm sure these guys won't let me get on the court if there's a chance of something bad happening. So I just got to trust the process," said Embiid.
Greg Monroe started for Embiid and finished with 9 points and 13 rebounds. The win puts the Sixers up 2-1 in the series.
Tobias Harris added that playing without Embiid forced his teammates to step up.
"Towards the end of the regular season we really didn't play that well without Joel. So, for us, it was kind of hearing that he wasn't playing, a little added motivation I think for us as a group of, 'Hey, we got our best player down, we all got to pay it up and step it up and stick to the game plan and be even more focused.'"