Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid anticipates playing more minutes against the Toronto Raptors despite the fact that he’s still fighting tendinitis in his left knee.
Embiid averaged 24.8 minutes per game in the first round series against the Brooklyn Nets, sitting out Game 3. The Sixers needed five games to finish off that series, but Embiid is anticipating a tougher task against Toronto, and is ready to fight through the pain and play more minutes.
“It’s still not there. It’s still trying to get better,” Embiid said Saturday, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “But that’s an issue that’s going to be there at least all playoffs until I actually get some real time to get some rest and work on myself.
“But, we did a good job managing it. Obviously I only averaged about 24 minutes last series, so this one I’m definitely going to need way more than that.”
Embiid still averaged 24.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks in the four games he played against Brooklyn. He’s excited to match up in a friendly rivalry against a fellow countryman, and he’s talking like someone who plans to play closer to 30 minutes per game. Everything depends on how well that troublesome knee responds to the workload, however.
