{"id":78197,"date":"2024-04-02T06:50:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T06:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/embiid-ready-to-drop-the-hammer-sixers-gear-up-for-playoff-push\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T06:50:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T06:50:07","slug":"embiid-ready-to-drop-the-hammer-sixers-gear-up-for-playoff-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/embiid-ready-to-drop-the-hammer-sixers-gear-up-for-playoff-push\/","title":{"rendered":"Embiid ready to drop the hammer: Sixers gear up for playoff push"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Sixers star Joel Embiid expected to return this week after knee injury.<\/li>\n<li>Embiid\u2019s return could shake up Eastern Conference playoff race.<\/li>\n<li>76ers currently 8th in the East, need 2 games to avoid Play-In Tournament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Joel Embiid, the star center for the Philadelphia 76ers, is on the verge of making a comeback and is anticipated to play this week, as reported by the Athletic on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Embiid, aged 30, has been sidelined since January 30 due to a left meniscus injury. The 76ers are scheduled to play against the Thunder on Tuesday, and Embiid\u2019s availability for that game is expected to be announced later today.<\/p>\n<p>The return of the 7-foot player is set to cause a significant reshuffling in the lower half of the NBA playoff standings in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n<p>As of Monday, Philadelphia was ranked eighth in the East, trailing the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers by two games, the Miami Heat for the No. 7 seed by a game-and-a-half, and leading the ninth-placed Chicago Bulls by four games.<\/p>\n<p>The teams seeded 7-10 participate in the Play-In Tournament to decide the last two playoff spots in each conference.<\/p>\n<p>At the time of Embiid\u2019s injury, the 76ers held a 29-17 record and were in fifth place in the East.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bolnews.com\/viral\/2024\/01\/who-is-anne-de-paula-all-about-joel-embiids-wife\/\">Embiid<\/a> out of action, Philadelphia\u2019s record fell to 11-18, pushing them into a Play-In position.<\/p>\n<p>The 76ers have seven games remaining and need to make up just two games to secure the sixth seed in the East and bypass the Play-In Tournament entirely.<\/p>\n<p>The most crucial remaining game on Philadelphia\u2019s schedule is their match against the Heat on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>This game in Miami could decide who hosts the 7\/8 game in the Play-In Tournament if both Philly and Miami fail to secure the sixth seed.<\/p>\n<p>The Sixers were trailing the Knicks for the No. 4 seed by four-and-a-half games and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 3 seed by five games. However, it\u2019s unlikely that Philadelphia has enough time to secure home-court advantage for a first-round playoff series, and there\u2019s no guarantee they\u2019d win enough games anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to his injury, Embiid was delivering another season worthy of MVP consideration.<\/p>\n<p>The seven-time All-Star was averaging 35.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game.<\/p>\n<p>The 76ers will require Embiid to perform at this level again to move out of the Play-In field and make a run in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"alsoread\">\n<h4 class=\"text-uppercase mb-10 mt-20 fs-18\">Also Read<\/h4>\n<div class=\"post-box sty22\">\n<div class=\"post-frame js-ratioHtP\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<h5 class=\"title\">Despite a thumb injury, Joel Embiid scores 21 points against the Raptors.<\/h5>\n<p>Despite a thumb injury, Joel Embiid played in the 76ers&#8217; Game 4&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bolnews.com\/sports\/2022\/04\/despite-a-thumb-injury-joel-embiid-scores-21-points-against-the-raptors\/\" class=\"post-link\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sixers star Joel Embiid expected to return this week after knee injury. Embiid\u2019s return could shake up Eastern Conference playoff race. 76ers currently 8th in the East, need 2 games to avoid Play-In Tournament. Joel Embiid, the star center for the Philadelphia 76ers, is on the verge of making a comeback and is anticipated to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bolnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/FotoJet-2024-04-02T103205.471.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}