Joel Embiid: out with a right ankle sprain against Detroit

Joel Embiid will not be in this evening’s lineup. According to Keith Pompey of The Inquirer, he will miss the team’s second game of the season tonight at 7:00 pm in Detroit. It’s unclear where he may have injured it. He made some tremendous impact plays in what was for him a violent third quarter last Wednesday in the team’s first game against Boston. He made some highlight reel blocks on Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter. He put Marcus Smart in the spin cycle and dunked it. But at times he did appear gingerly, like when he drew a foul on Enes Kanter and avoided landing on the right foot shortly before his evening was over. He also took a brutal elbow to the mouth which required sutures. And he dove on the court in traffic twice in about 3 seconds of game play, drawing pats on the back from his coach and cheers from the home crowd for his effort.

But did all of that diving and body-sacrifice come at a cost? I took a more in depth look at that question here.

For the Sixers, they’ll get the chance to ramp up their bigs who are here in large part for moments like these. Al Horford will likely see extended run and Kyle O’Quinn, who made a brief but successful appearance in Wednesday’s win over Boston, should see plenty of action as well. O’Quinn drilled a big three from top of the key and also made a tough finish in traffic to help the Sixers salt away their first victory.

Hopefully it’s nothing serious for Embiid and this is a mostly precautionary absence. As for Detroit, Andre Drummond has looked very sharp early this season. Philadelphia should have their hands full with him since the man who occupies real estate in Drummond’s mind will have the night off; although the Sixers won’t have to deal with Blake Griffin, who is out for at least the month of October with hamstring and knee issues. Griffin dropped 50 on them at Little Caesar’s a year ago.