The Philadelphia 76ers are still waiting for star player Joel Embiid to return, even though they had hoped he might be ready to play against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif.
The 76ers, who have struggled to a 1-5 start without their former MVP, lost 118-116 to the Phoenix Suns on Monday. Tyrese Maxey led the way with 32 points, and Guerschon Yabusele added 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists off the bench. This was Philadelphia’s third straight loss as they began a three-game road trip through the Western Conference.
Embiid had been expected to return for this game after dealing with a left knee injury. However, the NBA gave him a three-game suspension on Tuesday for an incident on Saturday with a newspaper columnist, who had written about Embiid’s son and late brother.
If the 76ers choose to have Embiid play on Wednesday, the suspension will start, and his target return date is November 12 at home against the New York Knicks.
Paul George did make his debut for the 76ers on Monday, scoring 15 points in 32 minutes, though he struggled with his shot, making just 4 of 14 attempts. George had been dealing with his own knee issue and missed a potential game-tying shot from 23 feet with 3.1 seconds left.
George, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, is now set to play against the team he left after five seasons. He averaged 23.0 points in 263 regular-season games with the Clippers.
“I was able to go out there and compete, free of any thoughts of my body not holding up,” George said after the game. “I felt completely fine. That was a positive in it. But all around, it was definitely a rusty game.”
The Clippers are no strangers to missing star players. In addition to losing George in the offseason, Kawhi Leonard has been out indefinitely due to a long-term knee problem.
After losing their first three home games, the Clippers finally won in their new $2 billion arena, the Intuit Dome, when they made a comeback to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-104 on Monday.
“I thought this (place) was cursed at first,” Clippers veteran James Harden said after the win.
Los Angeles was down by 26 points at the end of the first quarter but slowly worked their way back, taking a 93-91 lead with 7:25 remaining thanks to a 3-pointer by Norman Powell, who finished with 23 points.
Amir Coffey added 21 points, 19 of them in the second half, hitting all five of his 3-point attempts. Harden contributed 17 points and eight assists, though he didn’t score his first basket from the floor until the final seconds of the first half.
“It was good for us to get this monkey off our back, you know, to complete a game, to play well the last three quarters, and I’m just happy for our guys,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said.
Harden also made three more 3-pointers on Tuesday, bringing his career total to 2,958, just 15 shy of tying Ray Allen for second place on the all-time list. Stephen Curry leads with 3,762.
