Philadelphia-after placing a triple double of 29 points in its first game in a month, the 76ers star, Joel Embiid.
“You just have to try to find the positive aspects, but it is difficult,” Embiid said after a 118-16 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. “Then, trying to administer it, try to find a solution, and keeps happening.
“So, I hope this time is forever. I feel pretty good, but it can be unpredictable … I really haven’t had time to recover, so until I have that time, it could be so. So I just have to move on , do the right things, take care and wait for the best. “
Embiid’s return on Tuesday arrived exactly one month after his last game, when he had 28 points in 29 minutes in a 29 -point victory in Brooklyn over the Nets on January 4. He sat 15 consecutive games due to a combination of a feet sprain and knee swelling.
Embiid had gradually working towards a return during the past week, working before each of the previous games at the 76ers house against the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics.
But until Tuesday, it had never been included as nothing more. Then, he was updated to questionable for Tuesday’s game, and after going through a tutorial prior to the game in the sand, he was officially listed as available to play.
“Obviously, he played many minutes, a triple double, and I thought he made some key plays when we needed it,” said the 76ers coach Nick Nurse. “Some of the stretching looked a little clumsy, but I think we could take it out and recover it in the critical moments of the game and made some good plays.”
On Tuesday he also scored the first time that Embiid had played at the Wells Fargo Center since he was expelled in the second quarter of Philadelphia’s victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on December 23, and it was only his fifth game at home This season.
With Paul George even for an injury, Philadelphia has seen his Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey trio start and finish a game only seven times this season. In those games, the 76ers are 6-1, which show the possibilities of this group if it can be healthy.
“We are there,” said Embiid, who also had 11 rebounds and 10 assists. “We have to be healthy and consistent for a long period of time. We have to enter. I feel that while we stay healthy, I think we have the potential to achieve what our goal is. It is difficult with the position we are inside, but I have always believed that we can win no matter what.
“But the only thing I will say is that I am proud of all those guys. They have been fighting during the last two weeks. Many of us, mainly I have been out. I don’t want to be in that situation.
As difficult as the season has been, with the 76ers now in 20-29 and a game of the Chicago Bulls for the tenth and last place in the game image of the East Conference, they are also only four losses of the sixth and guaranteed playoffs end in the east.
“I think you just have to take one game at the same time,” said Maxey. “At the end of the day, if we can get to those situations, we know that we can give ourselves a chance. We have talent, we have the training, we have the discipline and we have the experience to do so. Now, it is just about building, improving every day, And we will see where it takes us. “
It remains to be seen who will be on the court on Wednesday, when the Miami Heat arrives for the second of a consecutive set for both teams. Embiid will not play, they said the 76ers, after their first action in a month, although Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry, George and Andre Drummond could return. Quentin Grimes, just out of the Mavericks on Tuesday afternoon, could also be available to play.
But all eyes will focus on Embiid’s knee and how he responds after the rigors of a complete game for the first time in several weeks.
“I think there is no one to blame,” Embiid said about his problems in progress this season. “I think we are all doing the right things. As I said, we cannot control some of those things. It’s not to blame anyone. No matter how good you take care of yourself. Sometimes you steal someone’s foot and ticks your ankle and ticks you foot. “
