{"id":602445,"date":"2026-04-23T22:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602445\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:38:08","slug":"joel-embiid-participates-in-parts-of-practice-listed-as-doubtful-for-game-3-of-celtics-series-2-weeks-after-appendectomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602445\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Embiid participates in parts of practice, listed as ‘doubtful’ for Game 3 of Celtics series 2 weeks after appendectomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> are \u201chopeful\u201d star center Joel Embiid<\/a> will be able to return for their first-round series against the Boston Celtics<\/a> less than a month removed from his emergency appendectomy<\/a>. Embiid, who began a strength and conditioning program earlier this week, took a big step toward making that timely comeback, participating in parts of the Sixers\u2019 Thursday practice.<\/p>\n

On Thursday evening, the team listed him as \u201cdoubtful\u201d for Game 3<\/a>, which will be played Friday night in Philadelphia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Sixers knotted the series up 1-1 on Tuesday with a 111-97 win in Boston,<\/a> bouncing back from a humiliating, 32-point defeat in the opener<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After being diagnosed with appendicitis, Embiid underwent surgery on April 9. Exactly two weeks later, head coach Nick Nurse was asked Thursday about what kind of feedback he\u2019s been receiving from the team\u2019s medical staff about the one-time NBA MVP\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s not so,\u201d Nurse said hours before Embiid\u2019s Game 3 status was announced, via PHLY Sports<\/a>. \u201cI think there’s work being done, and I think he’s got to do it and do more and get some reactions to it and this and that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to know a lot more probably by the end of today where he is because I think, again, it’s kind of like the work increases a little bit, and then we got to see how he comes out of that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurse added: \u201cBut we obviously are really hopeful, and I think he’s really hopeful. He wants to play, and we want him to play. I don’t know how close we are to that at this point, but I think there’s some progress being made. Let’s hope it keeps going that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurse explained that the Sixers didn\u2019t do a whole lot on the court during Thursday\u2019s practice, which he noted included extensive film review and consideration of defensive and offensive adjustments.<\/p>\n

He likened the practice to a walkthrough, albeit one that was a bit more involved.<\/p>\n

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Regardless, for the first time since his procedure, Embiid returned to team basketball activity.<\/p>\n

Embiid, 32, appeared in fewer than 40 regular-season games for the third campaign in a row. The seven-time All-Star missed 13 games with an oblique strain in March<\/a>. Embiid also missed five consecutive games in February with a sore right knee and shin issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After playing in just 19 games last season because of lingering left-knee issues that ultimately resulted in him going under the knife in April 2025<\/a>, Embiid found himself sidelined again for a significant stretch early this season, this time due to a right knee injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and VJ Edgecombe<\/a> starred in TD Garden on Tuesday. That backcourt duo is dangerous, but the Sixers are more threatening to the Celtics with Embiid on the floor as well<\/a>. Thursday\u2019s update inspired some optimism in Philly that the veteran big man will rejoin the lineup at some point in a series the Sixers have already extended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia 76ers are \u201chopeful\u201d star center Joel Embiid will be able to return for their first-round series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2242,5555,355,113152,2085,2113,99,7639,2119],"class_list":["post-602445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-joel-embiid","tag-nba","tag-nick-nurse","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-sports","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-vj-edgecombe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}