Sixers coach Nick Nurse reacts to oblique injury to Joel Embiid

BOSTON -- The Philadelphia 76ers will take on the Boston Celtics on Sunday night for the first of three guaranteed games without Joel Embiid. The Sixers announced the big fella would miss the next three games following being diagnosed with a right oblique strain in Thursday's win over the Miami Heat.

Embiid will be re-evaluated after the Sixers take on the Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, and Utah Jazz. They will then take on the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road following those three contests.

The Sixers have been relying on Embiid a ton on the offensive end of the floor. He's averaging 26.6 points on 49.5% shooting from the floor as he has had a helluva year on that end of the floor. Coach Nick Nurse pregame in Boston singled out that area as to where the Sixers miss Embiid the most.

"I think, for sure, it’s scoring, offensive threat," Nurse explained. "I think there’s times for sure that you can just give him the ball through stretches of the game and keep the scoreboard moving, right? Then, I think that there’s other times it takes us a little while to try to get back to the way we need to play without him and reacting to that, but I think it’s certainly scoring."

It isn't just the scoring on the offensive end for Embiid, either. He is a guy who constantly makes the right decisions on that end as he has improved as a playmaker. As Nurse mentioned, the Sixers will need to find that consistent way of playing without him over the next three games at least as Philadelphia looks to keep its guaranteed playoff spot.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers coach Nick Nurse reacts to oblique injury to Joel Embiid