Philadelphia star Joel Embiid suffered a right orbital fracture and mild concussion in Thursday night’s series-clinching Game 6 victory over Toronto. He will be out indefinitely, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Embiid appeared to suffer the injury with four minutes left in the contest with the Sixers leading by 27. There’s risk to playing star players with such a significant lead late in the game, and it appears Doc Rivers and Philadelphia will learn their lesson the hard way as they move forward in the playoffs without their star player.
Embiid is in the middle of a playoff run with the 76ers after an MVP-caliber season. He has been banged up during the early part of this playoff run as he has already been playing through a torn ligament in his thumb, which will reportedly require surgery after the season.
Now, with Embiid on the shelf until further notice, the 76ers will need to rely heavily on star guard James Harden, whose play has been up-and-down throughout the postseason thus far. He will need to carry a significant portion of the scoring burden for as long as Embiid is out of the lineup.
Game 1 between the 76ers and the Heat is slated for Monday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
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