The Philadelphia 76ers are back to waiting on star big man Joel Embiid when they thought he might be ready for his debut against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif.
The 76ers, who are off to a 1-5 start without their former MVP, lost 118-116 to the host Phoenix Suns on Monday as Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points and Guerschon Yabusele added 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists off the bench. Philadelphia lost its third consecutive game as it began a three-game trip into the Western Conference.
Embiid reportedly was in consideration to make his season debut against the Clippers after dealing with an ongoing left knee injury. Now he must serve a three-game suspension, which was handed out by the NBA on Tuesday in the wake of an altercation Saturday with a newspaper columnist, who wrote a piece that referenced Embiid’s son and late brother.
If the Sixers upgrade Embiid to available for Wednesday’s game, the three-game suspension would begin, with a target of Nov. 12 at home against the New York Knicks for his season debut.
Paul George did make his debut for the Sixers on Monday and scored 15 points in 32 minutes on 4-of-14 shooting from the floor after dealing with his own knee issue. He missed a game-tying jumper from 23 feet with 3.1 seconds remaining.
George, a Los Angeles-area native, is now set to face the team he departed after five seasons. George averaged 23.0 points in 263 regular-season games as a member of the Clippers.
“I was able to go out there and compete, free of any thoughts of my body not holding up,” George told the media after Monday’s game. “I felt completely fine. That was a positive in it. But all around, it was definitely a rusty game.”
The Clippers know all about missing star performers. Not only did George depart as a free agent in the offseason, Kawhi Leonard has been unable to play because of a chronic knee issue and remains out indefinitely.
After losing their first three home games, the Clippers finally won in their new $2 billion arena, the Intuit Dome, when they rallied for a 113-104 victory Monday over the San Antonio Spurs.
“I thought this (place) was cursed at first,” Clippers veteran James Harden said after the first home win was complete.
Los Angeles trailed by 26 points at the end of the first quarter then chipped away until taking a 93-91 lead with 7:25 remaining on a 3-pointer from Norman Powell, who finished with a team-high 23 points.
Amir Coffey added 21 points for the Clippers, with 19 of those coming in the second half when he was 5 of 5 from 3-point range. Harden finished with 17 points and eight assists after not making his first basket from the floor until the closing seconds of the first half.
“It was good for us to get this monkey off our back, you know, to complete a game, to play well the last three quarters, and I’m just happy for our guys,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said.
Harden made three more 3-pointers on Tuesday and has 2,958 in his career, moving him 15 away from matching Ray Allen, who is second on the all-time list. Stephen Curry leads with 3,762.
