PHILADELPHIA — After the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 102-100 at Xfinity Mobile Arena Tuesday night, Philadelphia announced that Joel Embiid is day-to-day with right knee soreness and that Paul George‘s recovery from offseason knee surgery will be updated later this week.
The updates came after both players met with doctors earlier Tuesday, with Embiid getting imaging done on his right knee after saying he had soreness in it, and George having a scheduled check-up in his recovery from surgery that took place back in July.
After the game, the team announced that George is continuing to strengthen his left quadricep in the wake of the surgery and that he’s in the “final stage” of his return to play plan. Then, 76ers coach Nick Nurse said during his postgame presser that there is no structural issues with Embiid’s knee after he was looked at and that he will be day-to-day to come back.
Before Tuesday’s game, Nurse said there was “no expectations” — good or bad — that Embiid would miss extended time after he was a late addition to the injury report with the right knee soreness Tuesday afternoon.
“No expectation at all,” Nurse said, when asked if there was a belief Embiid will sit out at least a couple of games. “He just reported a little soreness in his right knee. He’s had some imaging on that this afternoon, and the doctors are here tonight to go over that with him.”
Embiid, who played just 19 games last season because of ongoing issues with his left knee dating back to the 2023-24 season, is averaging 19.7 points in 23.3 minutes per game across the six games he’s played in so far this season. The first four games he sat out this season before Tuesday, however, were all scheduled absences — including three games as part of back-to-back sets, something that is expected to continue throughout the season.
Nurse said before the game that there wasn’t anything specific that came up with regard to Embiid’s knee as far as what was causing the soreness and that the team was waiting to see the imaging and what the doctors say about it.
Philadelphia is in the midst of a slow stretch of its schedule, with only one game — Friday in Detroit — in a five-day span, as the next time the 76ers play after that coming Monday back in South Philly against George’s former team, the LA Clippers.
After Tuesday’s win, the 76ers are now 7-4 on the season after it took them until Dec. 8 last season to reach that many wins. The win also marked Philadelphia’s ninth clutch-time game — meaning a five-point game within the final five minutes — out of 11 total this season, with the 76ers now being 6-3 in those games.
The nine clutch games are the most of any team in the NBA this season, while the six wins are tied for the most alongside the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons, both of whom are 6-1 in the clutch this season.
