Sixers’ Joel Embiid begins strength and conditioning program

BOSTON — Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid has begun his journey back to being on the basketball court. The question is whether the Sixers will be around long enough in their series against the Boston Celtics for him to get healthy.

Embiid — who underwent an emergency appendectomy almost two weeks ago — has begun a strength and conditioning program, the 76ers announced after Monday’s practice. He is still in Philadelphia, which all but eliminates him from Tuesday night’s Game 2. But the 76ers are hoping he can return at some point during the series. And that could very well depend on how competitive they prove to be.

They weren’t very competitive Sunday afternoon, falling 123-91 in Game 1. If nothing else, that result underscores how important Embiid is to the Sixers. With him, Philadelphia becomes a much better half-court team. Without him in Game 1, too much responsibility fell to Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, and the result was an inefficient offense. When Embiid is on the court, the Celtics don’t have personnel to handle him in isolation. And the extra attention Boston would have to pay him would open space for Embiid’s teammates to work.

Without Embiid, the Celtics were able to pay more attention defensively to Maxey and Paul George, and that suffocated Philadelphia’s offense during the competitive portion of the game. On Monday, the 76ers held an intense practice and film session. Particularly in the film session, mistakes were highlighted and players were shown in detail what went wrong on Sunday afternoon. Philadelphia knows that it’s an underdog in the series. But the Sixers expect to be competitive, and they were significantly disappointed with their output and effort in Game 1.

“Normally, we go over film in general on offense and defense and special teams,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “Not today. We were much more specific today.”

Embiid played in 38 games this season and averaged a touch over 26 points per game. Coming off almost two years of knee issues, Embiid proved he is still one of the most dominant offensive players in the league. Of course, he didn’t come close to playing in enough games to qualify for awards. But he played at an all-star level, and in pockets played at an All-NBA level. His absence now is frustrating because the hope was to preserve him enough in the regular season that he could be healthy and a full go for the playoffs. It’s clear the 76ers need him healthy if they are going to beat a formidable Boston team.