A long list of injuries plague the Sixers in the last week of seeding games

On Sunday night against the Trailblazers, we saw this lineup out on the court: Alec Burks, Matisse Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz, Glenn Robinson III and Norvel Pelle. Oh how far we’ve come over the last few weeks. 

In the first quarter of that game, we watched arguably a top 3 bubble player Joel Embiid grimace after his left foot landed awkwardly against the basket. Embiid limped around before Brett Brown called a timeout and took him out of the game. He would not return.

Now, Joel Embiid is out for Tuesday’s game against the Suns. He’ll be undergoing treatment and evaluation with no timetable for a return. Josh Richardson, who scored 34 points against Portland, will rest Tuesday. Tobias Harris is questionable with right ankle soreness. Al Horford is questionable with left knee soreness. Ben Simmons underwent successful surgery back in Philadelphia to clean up his left knee. He will begin a rehab assignment immediately and will be “reevaluated in two weeks”. Mike Scott, who missed the Sixers’ first three seeding games with right knee soreness, said he’s feeling well now, but still had to have his knee drained after the game Sunday night.

The final three games are as followed: 

• Suns (Tuesday, 4:30pm)
• Raptors (Wednesday, 6:30pm)
• Rockets (Friday, 6:30pm)

The Sixers need to use these next 3 games to give players like Matisse Thybulle, Alec Burks, Shake Milton, and GRIII as an opportunity to get better playing in real games against NBA talent. Matisse Thybulle said at the Sixers’ practice on Monday that he appreciates the opportunities he gets to take on tough defensive assignments. With no Simmons or Richardson next to him against the Suns, he’ll have a big challenge ahead against Booker.

Devin Booker and the Suns will enter the late afternoon game 6-0 and still fighting for the last playoff spot in the West. It certainly looks like the Suns, who have been guided by Booker’s performance in the bubble (30.3 points and 6 assists per game with 50.4 percent shooting) can move one game closer to their playoff goal.

The road ahead is undeniably going to be a rocky road to travel for the Sixers. Since the NBA restart, I’ve been adamant that these seeding games shouldn’t hold too much weight, and they shouldn’t. We’re going to the playoffs no matter how beat up our roster is. With 3 seeding games left, the Sixers main focus should be to get as healthy as possible before their 1st round matchup, which will most likely be against the Boston Celtics.

Until then, Sixers fans should try not to kill each other on social media and for the love of god, just ignore morons like Kendrick Perkins and Jalen Rose who have actually suggested (for the millionth time) that the Sixers should part ways with either Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid at the end of the season.