Joel Embiid is OUT for Game 2 against the Knicks

Joel Embiid has been ruled out for Game 2 tonight against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden due to ankle and hip injuries. Just like that, the Sixers are heading into somewhat of a must-win game on the road without their best player for the first time since the early rounds of the Boston series.

Joel Embiid OUT tonight for Game 2

Just in: Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been ruled out for Game 2 tonight against the New York Knicks due to ankle and hip injuries, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/eJm0W04R3G

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 6, 2026

Tough break for a team that’s already down 1-0 after getting blown out by 39 in Game 1. The Sixers needed Joel Embiid to be on the floor tonight more than any game since he came back from surgery.

The Knicks are bigger, deeper, and more physical than the Celtics. Towns, Robinson, Bridges, Brunson, all of them play with a physicality that the Sixers need Embiid to match. Without him, the Sixers are undersized at every position and the Knicks are going to attack the paint relentlessly knowing there’s nobody back there to protect the rim.

We’ve been here before.

The Sixers played the first three games of the Boston series without Joel Embiid and went 1-2. They won Game 2 at TD Garden behind a historic 30-point, 10-rebound performance from VJ Edgecombe. Maxey dropped 29 that night. The Sixers proved they can win on the road against a top seed without Embiid when the guards go off together.

That’s the formula tonight.

Maxey and Edgecombe have to carry the scoring load. George has to be the steady veteran presence. The defense has to be significantly better than the mess they put on the floor in Game 1. If the Sixers can slow Brunson down even slightly and get the Knicks’ role players back to normal shooting percentages instead of the 63 percent from the field nonsense they put up Monday night, there’s a path to stealing this game.

Nobody said this was going to be easy. The Sixers have been underdogs the entire postseason. They’ve been counted out over and over again and keep finding ways to survive. Embiid being out tonight is a setback but it’s not a death sentence. This team won an elimination game in Boston without him. They can win a Game 2 in New York without him.

Get to South Philly tied 1-1. That’s the mission. It happened during the Boston series. There’s no reason to believe it can’t happen again tonight.

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