![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776581887_906_GettyImages-2242256972.jpg\")
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Nick Nurse needs to figure out rotation tweaks designed to stagger Joel Embiid and feature Tyrese Maxey & VJ Edgecombe.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 official injury report<\/a> for Game 1 of their first-round matchup with the Boston Celtics<\/a> features an expected \u2013 and impactful \u2013 absence.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Sixers star center Joel Embiid<\/a> has been ruled out of the first game of the series as he continues to recover from an emergency appendectomy that he underwent last week. At this point, no timeline for a potential return to game action for Embiid has been provided by the team.<\/p>\n Joel Embiid Officially Ruled Out for Game 1 Against Boston Celtics<\/p>\n Sixers head coach Nick Nurse knew that Embiid wouldn\u2019t be available for Game 1,but he didn\u2019t have much information on his status beyond that.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m preparing for Sunday\u2019s game, and I know he\u2019s not playing in that one,\u201d Nurse said<\/a> of Embiid on Friday. \u201cSo, that\u2019s all. We\u2019re just like zeroed in on trying to see can we go in there and get ready to battle and fight and execute as best we can?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then we\u2019ll start figuring\u2014anything that changes, you know, the series becomes a series. Anything that changes starts probably right in the middle of that game, and then we take it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n The second game of the series is set for Tuesday night, and it seems extremely unlikely that Embiid will be able to play in that one either. Game 3 is Friday night back in Philadelphia, and even that feels like pushing it. That would be about 15 days after the appendectomy, which isn\u2019t an especially long recovery time after having an organ removed.<\/p>\n Joel Embiid\u2019s Status Remains Uncertain for Rest of Series Against Celtics<\/p>\n For fans in Philadelphia, the best approach is probably to assume that Embiid won\u2019t be available at all for the series against Boston, and if he ultimately returns, it will be a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n When it comes to the guys inside the locker room for the Sixers, they\u2019re not waiving the white flag just because Embiid isn\u2019t available to start the series.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, we want big fella out there, wishing him a speedy recovery, but we played this team without him, and we\u2019ve kind of seen what it looks like,\u201d Forward Dominick Barlow said<\/a> of the Celtics. \u201cObviously, the intensity is going to be higher and going to be a different feel of the game, but we kind of have a reference point of what it looks like without him. I think we have a good strategy that we go with. I feel like everybody in the building is confident.\u201d<\/p>\n Filling in the hole left by Embiid will be a team effort for Philadelphia on both ends of the floor. More of the scoring burden will fall to the likes of Tyrese Maxey<\/a>, Paul George<\/a>, V.J. Edgecombe and Kelly Oubre Jr. while guys like Barlow, Andre Drummond and Adem Bona<\/a> will have to pick up the slack when it comes to paint protection and rebounding.<\/p>\n If the Sixers can get some solid contributions from down the roster, perhaps they\u2019ll be able to pull an upset and steal the first game of the series on the road without their former MVP.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Kaskey-Blomain<\/a> Michael Kaskey-Blomain is an experienced sports media member covering the NBA and NFL for Heavy. He has been in the industry for well over a decade with previous stops including the Philadelphia Inquirer and CBS Sports. Michael also serves as a Philadelphia 76ers reporter and insider for ESPN 97.3 and an NBA and NFL contributor for The Sporting News. More about Michael Kaskey-Blomain<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Sixers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Nick Nurse needs to figure out rotation tweaks designed to stagger Joel Embiid and feature Tyrese Maxey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,6,678,207,3817],"class_list":{"0":"post-713730","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\/116430076618809770","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713730","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=713730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}