\u201cHe\u2019s our guy,\u201d rookie guard VJ Edgecombe said. \u201cThis is bigger than basketball. My mother called me and explained to me what appendicitis is. It\u2019s a scary thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Embiid\u2019s timeline became clearer as the day and evening progressed. The 76ers listed him as out early on Thursday, a designation that drew ire from Philadelphia fans because of the importance of the evening\u2019s matchup. The Sixers cleared that up by the afternoon, disclosing exactly what the illness was. But by gametime and beyond, it became clear how much of an emergency Embiid\u2019s appendicitis was.<\/p>\n
By the time he was taken for medical attention, he had abdominal pain so severe that he couldn\u2019t stand up straight. His symptoms also included a headache. And it was sudden. He participated fully in Philadelphia\u2019s team practice on Wednesday. There wasn\u2019t anything amiss as late as Wednesday night. He wasn\u2019t on Philadelphia\u2019s injury report Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked good in practice,\u201d Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. \u201cHe was flying up and down the floor. He participated in all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At his best this season, Embiid has been one of the most potent scorers in the league, averaging almost 27 points through 38 games. The goal for much of the season has been singular: get him and the rest of the roster to the playoffs healthy and in one piece. Then see where everything stands.<\/p>\n
But Embiid\u2019s surgery changes everything. He is almost certainly out for the remainder of the regular season, which includes Friday\u2019s game against the Pacers and Sunday night\u2019s finale against the Milwaukee Bucks. Because the average time for an appendectomy is 10-14 days without any physical activity of any kind, Embiid will almost certainly be out if the 76ers land in the Play-In, which will be next week.<\/p>\n
At the very best, it seems that the Sixers shouldn\u2019t expect Embiid back unless they make the playoffs and win a round. And after the loss to Houston, it would take a major effort for Philadelphia to make the postseason and beat either the Detroit Pistons or the Boston Celtics in the first round. Still, a roster that\u2019s seen so many ups and downs this season remains confident it can make noise when it counts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho the hell wants to go home?\u201d 76ers center Andre Drummond said. \u201cThe goal is to try and win a championship, regardless of whether Joel Embiid plays or not. We still have 14 other guys here who are more than capable of helping us win basketball games. It is what it is, and it\u2019s out of our control and out of Joel\u2019s control. But our focus doesn\u2019t change, and our standards don\u2019t change in what we are trying to do here.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28696808-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The road has gotten harder for VJ Edgecombe and the Sixers. (Erik Williams \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Nobody can deny, however, that the road just got harder.<\/p>\n
There is still a chance for the 76ers to get the sixth spot. That would require them to win two games and for the Toronto Raptors to lose their two remaining games. If that happens, the Sixers hold the tiebreaker over Toronto and would jump them. The problem with that is the Raptors face the Brooklyn Nets in one of those two games. Let\u2019s just say the Nets would lack motivation to win that game.<\/p>\n
To finish seventh, the Sixers would have to win two games, and they would need the Orlando Magic to lose one of their two remaining games against the Chicago Bulls or Boston Celtics. On paper, it seems like a good bet the Magic lose to Boston, particularly in Boston. However, if the Celtics win one more game, they would be locked into the No. 2 seed. That likely means most of their rotation would sit on Sunday night, making the Magic a clear favorite.<\/p>\n
The chance to slip to the No. 9 seed is also there for the Sixers. But they control their fate. If Philadelphia wins its remaining two games, the lowest it can slip is No. 8. What\u2019s concerning is that Philly waltzed through three quarters against the Rockets, and the consequence became a 20-point deficit. Yes, the 76ers made a spirited rally in the fourth. But if they are going to survive without Embiid, they are going to have to do so by playing harder than their opponent. They are going to have to defend much better than they did on Thursday night. They are going to have to play with a higher level of energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons we made the comeback,\u201d Edgecombe said. \u201cWe just played harder, to be honest with you. We started kind of flying around and forcing turnovers. We played in transition and got some easy baskets.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the 76ers will miss the most without Embiid. His offense, his ability to create easy points for himself and others and his ability to draw gravity. It\u2019s a bad time for Tyrese Maxey to not have Embiid, because the finger he injured against the Atlanta Hawks last month is nowhere near fully healed. And although Maxey won\u2019t publicly admit it, it\u2019s affecting his play. Paul George has been terrific for the most part in his return. But as Amen Thompson proved, an elite wing defender can give George problems at this stage of his career.<\/p>\n
Edgecombe is electric and has such a bright future. But he\u2019s still a rookie, and it\u2019s unfair to ask him to carry the burden of these high-stakes games. Embiid was always the one for the Sixers. Through the injuries and the ambiguity, he\u2019s the one whom most opposing defenses had no answer for. And now, the 76ers will head into the most important games of their season without him.<\/p>\n
If Embiid is to wear a Philadelphia uniform again this season, others will have to make it happen.<\/p>\n
And for the others, that is indeed a tall task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 Almost individually, the Philadelphia 76ers filed out of their Toyota Center locker room on Thursday night.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,6,678,207,3817],"class_list":{"0":"post-707380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","13":"tag-philadelphia76ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116380353328995142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}