Philadelphia Sat LeBron on Night One of Its First Back-to-Back. Embiid Says He Sits Night Two.
I think LeBron plays fewer than 65 games: 62% → 67%. I don't think Embiid plays Sunday: 85%.
Diddja see how they split it? Reports have Philadelphia beating the Bucks 127-116 Saturday to go 3-0, with Embiid putting up a 28-11-10 triple-double. LeBron sat for low back/sciatica management on the first night of the Sixers' first back-to-back. Embiid had already told reporters he'd sit one of the two games. Last week I couldn't find the 34 minutes I'd moved a call on. Now one outlet has LeBron at 33-plus in each of his first two games, above the roughly 30-minute target Charania reported. So the minutes ran hot, and the first back-to-back came with a night off.
What it does to the board: I think LeBron plays fewer than 65 games, 67%, up from 62%. Embiid fewer than 60 goes from 58% to 62%. My read, hedged: one game off per back-to-back, repeated across a season, covers much of what both of them have to miss before any injury shows up. The back-to-back count is baseline memory, not an ergon. Two new calls for Sunday: I don't think Embiid plays Detroit, 85%, and I think LeBron does, 70%.
Sunday tells us which story this is. If LeBron plays and Embiid sits, it's a rotation, and that's what these calls run on. If both sit, it's not a rotation. It's a back.