Embiid, George and Sixers injury updates ahead of Pistons game originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
CAMDEN, NJ — As they head to Detroit, the Sixers know they’ll stay away from at least two of the four players who missed the team’s overtime loss Wednesday to the Rockets.
Joel Embiid (left knee injury management/personal reasons) will miss his fourth straight game. Kyle Lowry will miss his fifth straight game with a right hip strain.
“The swelling has gone down a little bit,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said of Embiid’s troublesome knee after his team’s practice Friday. “Still pain there.” That’s about all I can say.
Paul George, out since suffering a left knee contusion Nov. 20 in Memphis, participated fully in practice. He said Tuesday that he was aiming to return “in the next week” and seems to be on the right track. The Sixers have officially listed George as questionable for their Saturday night game against the Pistons.
“We had a lot of contact and played as well, so that was good to see,” Nurse said. “He looked pretty good there.”
Caleb Martin was also upgraded to questionable after being sidelined against Houston due to upper back soreness. He partially participated in Friday’s practice.
Until the Rockets game, Martin had suffered notable physical discomfort several times early in the season, most notably with his right shoulder. After playing 13 minutes and shooting 1 of 8 from the floor, the Sixers ended Martin’s night in their resounding defeat against the Clippers.
“I try to go as far as I can, and sometimes to the point of making a mistake,” Martin said. “I kind of knew that day that it probably wasn’t the right thing to do for my body. But we have some guys that are banged up and if I can go there, I’m going to try to go there. And sometimes it’s a foul, and it won’t best benefit me or the team when I do that. That’s always how I’ve been. …You learn from it.
Does Martin expect to be available against the Pistons?
“The plan is always to try to play,” he said. “Obviously I have to take it day by day. I had a good day today. I definitely feel better. … I know a few times people have suggested I not play and then I do. I’ll take it day by day for now. It’ll be up in the air, but if I can go, I’ll go.
Regardless of who is on the court, the Sixers will once again have a significant advantage at rest against Detroit. The 8-12 Pistons are scheduled to play the first game of a back-to-back Friday night in Indiana.
The 3-14 Sixers are coming off one of their best performances, albeit in a losing effort. Even if Martin returns, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Nurse stick with a starting frontcourt of Guerschon Yabusele and Andre Drummond. Yabusele was excellent in a 22-point outing against the Rockets and Drummond had a good night as a rebounder and defender.
“I was really happy with it,” the nurse said. “I think it’s been a huge step forward for me from four or five days ago, when I was like, ‘Oh my God, it doesn’t look like they can work.’ Organizationally, I think we’ve cleaned that up a lot for them. Even with very small queues at times everything was fine.
“I think by tweaking things a little more on the offensive side, we can find some advantages there. If they go really small on us and we stay really big like that, I think there’s some upside, as long as we can drop back and get into the half-court defense with them.
“I think Guerschon is pretty good in switch. Drummond is pretty good patrolling there, protecting the rims and protecting the paint. … They’re trying to address the disparities and go from small to big … but I think they’ve handled it well. A lot better than I thought maybe, so that’s encouraging.
