PHILADELPHIA – For the second game in a row, the Philadelphia 76ers took a loss as Joel Embiid sat out due to a non-Covid illness. This time, they lost a nail-biter to the New York Knicks after leading by as much as 12 points in the fourth quarter. The Sixers are now 4-6 on the season as they try to overcome life without James Harden for a month and get Embiid back on the court.

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers explained that not playing Embiid ended up being the decision because of how he looked in pregame shootarounds.

“I was 50/50 watching him in shootaround. I thought he was really struggling,” Rivers said after the Sixers' loss. “He went through like 25 percent of shootaround this morning. You can see, wasn’t feeling great: showed up, went out on the floor, got shots and just felt bad. The way we look at it, we have the next two days off with practice and now we can ramp him up and get him back. Obviously, we want to win the game and putting him on the floor would obviously help us but we gotta also think of the long game as well.”

Embiid, who has missed the Sixers' last three games, warmed up for the contest against the Knicks. After previously staying away from the team when he first hit the injury report with the illness, he went through his typical warm-up routine of working on his midrange shot. He was officially scratched from the lineup 15 minutes before tipoff.

Doc Rivers not forcing Joel Embiid to play through an illness in the 10th game of the season makes sense, as the Sixers need him for the playoffs and later in the season. Still, his presence leaves the Sixers very vulnerable. They're taking a losing streak into a matchup with the Phoenix Suns while Harden is also out with a foot injury. Embiid is not certain to play vs. Phoenix but he is still making progress.