{"id":716730,"date":"2026-04-23T20:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716730\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:00:21","slug":"nick-nurse-hopeful-as-joel-embiid-returns-to-practice-before-celtics-76ers-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716730\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Nurse ‘Hopeful’ As Joel Embiid Returns To Practice Before Celtics-76ers Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Celtics<\/a> and Philadelphia 76ers will play a pivotal Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series<\/a> on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Sixers star center Joel Embiid missed the first two contests following his recent appendectomy<\/a>\u00a0but returned to practice on Thursday for the first time since the procedure on April 9.<\/p>\n

“The Sixers say Joel Embiid participated in parts of today\u2019s practice,” Phillyvoice.com Sixers beat writer Adam Aaronson posted on Bluesky. “Nick Nurse says the Sixers didn\u2019t do a ton on the court today, just went through a few things. Compared it to a walkthrough. Did not elaborate as to what Joel Embiid\u2019s participation included.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nick Nurse says the Sixers didn\u2019t do a ton on the court today, just went through a few things. Compared it to a walkthrough. Did not elaborate as to what Joel Embiid\u2019s participation included.<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Adam Aaronson (@adamaaronson.bsky.social<\/a>) April 23, 2026 at 1:06 PM<\/a><\/p>\n

“Nick Nurse said we could know more about Embiid’s status\/progress later today, and described mood as ‘hopeful’: ‘He wants to play, and we want him to play. I don\u2019t know how close we are to that at this point, but I think there\u2019s some progress being made and let\u2019s hope it keeps going that way,'” The Philadelphia Inquirer Sixers beat reporter Gina Mizell wrote on Bluesky.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nick Nurse said we could know more about Embiid’s status\/progress later today, and described mood as “hopeful”: “He wants to play, and we want him to play. I don\u2019t know how close we are to that at this point, but I think there\u2019s some progress being made and let\u2019s hope it keeps going that way.”<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gina Mizell (@ginamizell.bsky.social<\/a>) April 23, 2026 at 1:34 PM<\/a><\/p>\n

The Celtics had a franchise-record setting<\/a> 32-point win in Game 1 on Sunday but the 76ers bounced back with a 111-97 victory in Game 2 at TD Garden.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia star rookie guard VJ Edgecombe said Thursday that Embiid’s situation<\/a> could’ve been “a lot worse.”<\/p>\n

“VJ Edgecombe says it\u2019s ‘great to see him around’ when asked about Joel Embiid. ‘I\u2019m just glad that he\u2019s okay. It could have been a lot worse,'” Aaronson posted on Bluesky. “Edgecombe doesn\u2019t ask Embiid when he\u2019s coming back because everyone else already is. He just asks Embiid how he & his family are doing.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

VJ Edgecombe says it\u2019s \u201cgreat to see him around\u201d when asked about Joel Embiid. \u201cI\u2019m just glad that he\u2019s okay. It could have been a lot worse.\u201d Edgecombe doesn\u2019t ask Embiid when he\u2019s coming back because everyone else already is. He just asks Embiid how he & his family are doing.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Adam Aaronson (@adamaaronson.bsky.social<\/a>) April 23, 2026 at 1:24 PM<\/a><\/p>\n

Game 3 is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. ET on Friday<\/a> in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

More NBA: Derrick White Becomes Second-Straight Celtics Player To Win This Major NBA Award<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers will play a pivotal Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,6,678,207,3817],"class_list":{"0":"post-716730","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\/116455802422606488","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716730","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=716730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}