NBA on TNT crew discusses Embiid's recovery and Previews 76ers vs Knicks

my right I have Candace Parker who is dripping with swag today drip drip and Jamal in the understated green which I really like it's understand it's quiet but it's loud it's poignant it has texture it's the pagy square for me I am left go Shaq takes a Sit which means we need to go to Madison Square Garden because we've reached the point of the Season where injuries can Define everything and teams are starting to get healthy for the playoffs so we're joined Now by Jared Greenberg Jared a lot of i

njury to comb through what news do you got for us well i' I've got good news and I've got uncertainty let's begin with the Sixers and Tyrese Maxi telling me just moments ago the fog has cleared and he is ready to play 48 minutes tonight if necessary as he makes his way back from the concussion where his team went 1 and three in his absence he said the worst part of the concussion over the last week was that fog the headaches and his equilibrium was truly off at times he felt woozy you also menti

oned left off the top OG anobi expected back in the starting lineup tonight after he had elbow surgery you'll see anobi tonight on the court wearing tape on that right shooting elbow couple of different coaches told me that he looked good in practice the last few days but they truly won't know how that elbow injury will affect his shot until he gets into live game action now to the unknowns let's begin with Julius Randall for the Knicks making his way back from a dislocated shoulder he is curren

tly taking part in light contact with p ads during Nick's practice but he still needs to do some significant strengthening to that shoulder and needs to get the confidence that the shoulder will not pop out again until he returns he will make his way with the Knicks out to their West Coast trip however it's uncertain there is no timeline of when he will be playing very similar situation for Joel embiid who's recovering from miniscus surgery there is immense amount of confidence within the organi

zation that embiid will be able to play before before the postseason starts but when he will play no idea at this point he is on the court doing some work but truly everybody that I SP to multiple people within the Sixers organization they just don't know where he is at in his timetable to make it back with that knee because he has to feel confident he has to feel ready and ultimately the doctors have to clear him let go Jared Greenberg thank you so much man as we try to figure out the future of

these two franchises uh let's start with the Sixers first because they've been on a bit of a slide 26 and8 when they had embiid 10 and 20 without embiid talks maybe they'll get him back before the playoffs I'm just curious Jamal what do you think about trying to get him back for the playoffs and is that a risk worth willing to take in your mind I would definitely prepare as if I'm going to be available for the playoffs but I wouldn't make that decision based on that like I've come back before f

rom like the end of a regular season trying to come back for the playoffs and you think your body's like oh I can do it but your mind is like I don't know I'm not sure when I get out there and you don't know the speed of the game it looks totally different when you're out there watching it and you're out there playing and then come back at that level right like the level you're used to of dominance can I still make this move will I still be all right I think he should prepare for but I'm not sur

e he should actually do it it all depends on where his body's at how long does that adjustment take well there's no preparation for playoff style basketball especially when you're injured like you can go play with Jamal and the guys at LA Fitness 25 Fitness can do tread don't don't down talk me and my LA Fitness guys I didn't I said you can go play positiv with your I get you can run on a treadmill but nothing you know simulates the the the the banging and you know the speed of the game when he

comes back they're going to treat him like the Joel and be that was playing so if he's not 100% it's up to him but the Sixers should be focusing on right now if our guy is going to come back we have to find a way to get homec court advantage for our guy right he's not going to be a full strength but when you're playing at home adrenaline games adrenaline games show up sometime like you know sometime when you're not 100% but when you looking you see your people and you see your fans you can do ex

traordinary things so right now Philly just needs to focus on on moving up and the Knicks need to focus on staying in the fourth yeah let's take a look at the standings just to Echo the point you're making Nicks right now are in fourth Sixers are in Sixth and they're only separated by one game a lot of movement can happen the Pacers are right there the heat are right there and then a little bit of a gas but it it it we kind of look at both teams Sixers and Knicks injuries were the reason that th

ey were freef falling when you look at the Knicks though more optimism as OG makes his return there's more optimism with guys coming off injury or potentially coming off injuries but you also have to think about the amount of minutes that the main guys have had to log if you look at Josh Hart he's averaging over 40 minutes yeah Jaylen Brunson 35 minutes you talk about Devan chenzo um you go down the line and so I just wonder if if they're going to be able to get to the Finish Line healthy becaus

e there's no doubt what noise they can make the Knicks can make in the playoff playoffs if healthy but you got to get your guys there and with them logging as many minutes up and down playoffs are different yep and it's more strenuous more games more traveling things like that it's just it's going to be tough and I think that's the thing is at the beginning of the year everybody harps on resting and all this stuff but you're seeing the benefit of maybe not resting games but playing limited minut

es that can benefit you in the postseason Josh Hart has played nine straight games of 40 or more minutes but he is not the focus of our CarMax one-on-one it is OG an anobi and what he has meant to this Knicks team throughout not just the after the trade deadline but what he could mean to the playoffs 12-2 with him 8-2 without him and the wi also I think was missing Julius Randall but the points a clear sign of his importance and then also what he does defend defensively whenever he guards someon

e they shoot 32% from three it it is not just inside the lane and you really can Spotlight that and OG is one of the best one-on-one Defenders and if you're talking about what the Knicks struggled with last year and the reason why they made the changes in the trades they made was because defensively they struggled they need a guy that can cover up mistakes right he goes in contests the shot and then is able to get back out and bl a shot in the corner I think there are things that he does that he

don't show up in the stat sheet that he's not going to get credit for but he impacts the game if you talk about the Knicks defensively in the month of January they were at they were number one in the league on the defensive end and a lot of that has to do with the health of an OG an anobi we know what he can do on the offensive end but him sniffing out plays just making plays that's what you call just playing basketball just having an eye and a nose for the ball and I think the Knicks are able

to play through him on the defensive end they're able to cover up one-on-one mismatches on the defensive end and I mean he's he's outstanding one-on-one he will defend you till the very last second which brings up someone that you want to Spotlight absolutely that was an unbelievable breakdown can can you can you can you break down this for me please please oh my gosh that's what we're doing this is yeah I'm sorry cace it had to go down I mean cannot believe break that down for us what happened

what were they thinking I was on FaceTime with Asia talking junk I know you were and then they you thought it was over I I did I was like your outfit your outfit is pied up look at this this is sickness this is March oh hold on there's another one that's oh you that's what we're for you oh it's definitely Mar looks similar oh it is definitely March that's my good that's Asia when I told her she was going to wear thank you Asia it was there was a bet oh yeah like I called her cuz we won so you th

ought you won you thought you won who doesn't go to you didn't win you thought you won you needed Oobi so then what do you owe her H I have to wear South Carolina stuff o we yeah when tough um to South Carolina we play a preseason game there so wow all right that's what we're doing get get all the cameras ready okay yeah no the the misery of March Jamal's just T he wanted to come for you donzel wanted to come for you uh you used to get upset at me all the time because I would overhype the Knicks

or the Sixers right as you looked at the standings and as there's a clear line between the Celtics the Bucks and and kind of everybody else I'm not going to put the Cavs up there what if they do get healthy could you we actually see for the next this postseason I see better movement for Philly because of in Beat the 70% in beat is still really good that's why I say Philly Maxi and the guys need to say I don't know how many games you got left but we need to we need to try to get home court advan

tage for a guys he's not going to be 100% but again 70% doing little things and it's all about matchups