Skip Bayless Went On TV And Said Joel Embiid Actually Has A Small Tear In His Knee So Who The Hell Knows What To Believe

Mitchell Leff. Getty Images.

I imagine two franchises and their fanbase are spending their day today all doing the same thing. We're all on Joel Embiid watch. The videos that got put out on the timeline didn't really give us much to go off us since Embiid mostly just stood around and shot

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Is this a good sign? Bad sign? Who the hell knows.

Then there's the Skip Bayless angle. Now, there may not be a greater "take this with a GIGANTIC grain of salt' guy than Skip Bayless. I cannot stress that enough. He's a talking head to says outrageous shit to go viral. Maybe he has sources, maybe he doesn't. But what we do know is he went on TV and certainly dropped a rather large injury nugget

Is this a HIPAA violation? I dunno, I'm not a lawyer. But this certainly is the first time we've heard the word "tear" when it came to this Embiid injury. There was word that it was worse than a Grade 1 sprain, but wasn't a Grade 2, so could the answer be that's because there's a small tear? 

If that is the truth, can you even risk playing Embiid at all? What if a small tear turns into a big tear and now he's lost for the playoffs and maybe beyond? If we see Embiid play tonight, does that mean he actually doesn't have a tear? Is this one of those things that's more pain management and he can't ruin things even more by playing, or is that still on the table? I was sort of leaning towards maybe Embiid sits in Game 1 to give him a few more days before Game 2 (and then a 3 day break), but that was with the idea of this being a sprain. 

I keep going back to how Doc sounded every time he was asked about this injury. He sounded devastated, said the MRI didn't give good news, but then the reporting was just a sprain. That didn't exactly add up at the time, and now if a tear is on the table it makes a little more sense.

All I know is this. With Embiid, without Embiid, the Celts cannot change how they approach this game or this series. The second you take your foot off the gas, bad things happen. If Embiid is out there, attack him. Put him in space and make him guard. Play fast. If he's not out there, change nothing. Play fast, make James Harden guard you in transition and play with a purpose offensively, don't just hunt matchups. Love and Trust your teammates and your process.

For what it's worth, Woj just went on TV and said this

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so maybe there is something to Skip's news?