Sixers Injury Report and Starting Lineup vs. Knicks: What to Expect in Game 2

For most of Joel Embiid's NBA career, injuries have been a built-in excuse to explain why he still has yet to guide the Sixers past the second round of the playoffs. When he underwent a surprise appendectomy in the final week of the regular season, history appeared likely to repeat itself again this year.

Embiid returned ahead of Game 4 of the Sixers' first-round series against the Boston Celtics and helped rally them to a historic comeback. But he's still nowhere near 100%, particularly after he took a shot to the abdomen from New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges in the Sixers' blowout Game 1 loss in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Embiid is probable for Game 2 against the Knicks, except instead of being listed with an abdomen, knee or hip injury, he's listed with a right ankle sprain. Tyrese Maxey is also listed on the injury report due to the tendon injury in his right pinky finger, but he's listed as "available," so there are no concerns about him missing Game 2.

Knicks forward Jeremy Sochan, who was initially listed as questionable for Game 1 because of a hamstring injury before getting upgraded to available, is not listed on the injury report. In fact, the Knicks have no injuries to report at all.

The Sixers won't announce their starters until 30 minutes before tipoff Wednesday, although there's no reason to expect them to deviate from their normal starting five of Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr., Paul George and Embiid. The Knicks are also bound to stick with their normal starting five of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns after thumping the Sixers by 39 points in Game 1.

The big question hanging over this series heading into Game 2: Was the Knicks' Game 1 annihilation of the Sixers a harbinger or an aberration?

Can the Sixers get back into this series?

Fatigue doomed the Sixers in Game 1. They had less than a 48-hour turnaround between their hard-fought Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics and Game 1 against the Knicks.

They've now had time to go over film from their Game 1 blowout—at least from the first half—and come up with adjustments. It's unclear whether allowing Embiid to wear body armor to protect his midsection is one of them.

The good news is that the Sixers got spanked in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Celtics, only to come back and steal Game 2 on the road. One blowout victory isn't necessarily indicative of how the series will go, particularly considering how well the Knicks shot on Monday night.

Granted, the Knicks' offense has been on fire ever since they fell into a 2-1 series hole against the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. With their 39-point rout of the Sixers on Monday, they became the first team in NBA history to win three straight playoff games by at least 25 points.

The Sixers did get Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson into early foul trouble in Game 1, and not even that was enough to stave off their annihilation. As the series goes on, Towns, Robinson and the rest of the Knicks figure to grow more accustomed to Embiid's foul-baiting tactics, so the Sixers can't rely on trips to the charity stripe to bail them out.

If fatigue is still a factor heading into Game 2, head coach Nick Nurse might need to dig a bit deeper into his bench than he typically prefers in the playoffs. It might be worth dusting off Dominick Barlow, Trendon Watford or Adem Bona to see if they can buy the Sixers' starters a few minutes of rest.

Asking the starters to play 40-plus high-intensity minutes against the physical Knicks defense is all but begging them to run out of steam.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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