SAN FRANCISCO — Joel Embiid didn’t communicate.
Not together with his phrases, anyway.
The Philadelphia 76ers massive man who had been ridiculed for 3 days after his newest disappearance, and whose MVP protection is in such early peril due to the league’s 65-game rule that’s placing a lot stress on his delicate scenario, didn’t must say something after he’d left the Chase Middle ground in such ache late Tuesday night time on account of an obvious knee harm.
As was the case on Saturday afternoon, when his late scratch in opposition to the Denver Nuggets sparked a refrain of criticism about his perceived lack of willingness to tackle a fellow nice in Nikola Jokić, the terrible optics had been sufficient.
Solely this time, in stark distinction to that Mile Excessive Metropolis mishap, Embiid had abruptly develop into a sympathetic determine. And if anybody was scared, as he’d been accused of being in some high-profile media circles, it was the Sixers crew (29-17) that now finds itself fifth within the Japanese Convention standings after dropping 119-107 to Golden State.
It spoke volumes that Sixers coach Nick Nurse was inordinately gradual to attend his postgame information convention, or that his responses to questions concerning the left knee harm suffered with 4 minutes, 4 seconds remaining of their fourth straight loss appeared so rehearsed. It’s by no means a superb signal when a crew’s high entrance workplace govt, on this case, the Sixers’ Daryl Morey, is making the rounds within the again hallways of the customer’s area in pursuit of perspective from the crew’s medical employees. The entire Sixers events who matter most had been clearly involved.
As for Embiid, he opted in opposition to talking to reporters afterward whereas prioritizing an ice tub that lasted lengthy into the night time. And with good purpose.
The MRI outcomes will decide how frightened these Sixers have to be as they forge forward on this title-contending mission. For Embiid’s résumé, he can miss solely 5 extra video games earlier than being dominated ineligible for the sort of postseason awards which have formed the legacies of greats for therefore lengthy. That’s the micro of all of it. The Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga fell on Embiid’s left knee late within the recreation, and his night time stuffed with laborious motion mercifully ended with Warriors followers wishing him effectively on the way in which out with cheers and even a couple of mini-standing ovations.
However the macro, and the factor that ought to encourage followers and reporters alike to assume twice about how we focus on this huge man who’s such a basketball treasure when his physique permits him to be, is that Embiid could be very clearly combating by way of the identical type of bodily illnesses which have dogged him for a lot of his 10-year profession.
As one Sixers supply indicated late Tuesday night time, he has been coping with soreness in that very same left knee all season. And whereas Nurse indicated that the harm that pressured his late exit was someway totally different from the one which had been dogging him of late, the Embiid theme remained unchanged: He was battered and bruised earlier than February even arrived, and his potential to be at his finest from right here on out is abruptly in severe query once more.
Did all of us overlook that the reigning MVP missed his first two full seasons with foot accidents, or that he has hit the hallowed 65-game mark solely twice within the seven seasons wherein he has performed? There are shades of Yao Ming right here, with the expertise so transcendent however that nagging sense of bodily doom and gloom all the time ready across the proverbial nook.
Embiid has already achieved way over the 7-foot-6, 310-pound former Houston Rockets massive man was in a position to in his nine-year profession that was minimize brief by accidents, however the unwelcome parallels are there. Beginning with the dimensions.
You might see it lengthy earlier than he was harm in opposition to the Warriors. Embiid, who missed Philadelphia’s recreation at Portland on Monday night time, seemed like a participant who pushed himself to play in opposition to Golden State as a result of the entire basketball world was screaming in his ear. There are folks throughout the Sixers who’re satisfied that he performed solely due to all of the scrutiny.
He was terrible by his lofty requirements, ending with 14 factors, seven rebounds and two assists whereas lacking 13 of 18 photographs and settling for jumpers on all however one try. Embiid has all the time lumbered up and down the ground, however this was a degree of tentativeness and instability not usually seen from him. And to listen to Sixers guard Kelly Oubre focus on Embiid’s ill-fated night afterward was to be reminded that gravity has by no means been his pal. Whereas Embiid is listed at 7 ft and 280 kilos, it’s extensively believed that these measurements fall wanting his precise dimension.
“(You’ve acquired folks) pressuring him to power being nice when he’s 300 kilos (and) 7 foot 5?” Oubre mentioned whereas exaggerating Embiid’s top. “Like, c’mon bro. … I believe this yr, folks will actually perceive that his entire profession he’s been having to ensure his physique’s proper. That is like NASCAR, proper? If their vehicles ain’t working, and their mechanics ain’t actually in a position to get the job accomplished earlier than the race, then what can they do? They will’t race.
“That is our our bodies. Our physique is our automobile and we have now to deal with it with respect. He’s 350 kilos, bro. So you realize, I’m praying for him for a speedy restoration, so he can are available in and provides himself the very best likelihood. However on the finish of the day, that’s not essential. His physique and his profession (are) most essential.”
So perhaps all of us ought to have dug a bit deeper right here earlier than destroying him for his absence in Denver. Yours really included.
There was the proof that was largely ignored from the Thursday night time recreation in opposition to Indiana when Embiid went down halfway by way of the second quarter and appeared to hurt that same left knee that may be his undoing in Denver. Nonetheless, he performed by way of it in opposition to the Pacers and completed with 31 factors, seven rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes.
Quick ahead two nights, and it was completely honest to surprise why Embiid wasn’t on the harm report heading into the Nuggets recreation (and make no mistake, the league has been investigating that very matter). However the criticism concerning his absence went a lot additional than that.
Embiid was deemed a coward in some circles, somebody who would quite get booed (which he was) than tackle Jokić in his constructing. By no means thoughts that he had simply bested Jokić in Philadelphia less than two weeks before.
But, whereas it’s true that Embiid hasn’t performed in Denver since 2019, and that he has now missed six of their eight conferences within the Mile Excessive Metropolis whereas Jokić has performed each time, the context issues an important deal right here. A fast recap for the sake of equity to Embiid.
His first two Denver absences (Dec. 30, 2017, and Jan. 26, 2019) got here throughout a time when relaxation was a fair larger a part of his rehabilitation program. And whereas they had been essentially the most suspect of the six, that Embiid was nonetheless within the early days of placing collectively a sustained NBA run whereas making an attempt to remain wholesome was certainly no small issue. But the three that preceded Saturday’s absence — with all of them coming after the final Jokić-Embiid showdown on Nov. 8, 2019 — had been totally different sufficient that they deserve analyzing.
- March 30, 2021: Embiid had been out since March 12 with a bone bruise on his left knee, and he wouldn’t return till April 3 (two video games later in opposition to Minnesota). This one is indisputably legit.
- Nov. 18, 2021: Embiid missed his sixth straight recreation after coming into the NBA’s COVID-19 well being and security protocols. He was out from Nov. 6-27. Additionally legit.
- March 27, 2023: Embiid sits out with a sore proper calf. He would play the sport earlier than and the sport after. This one, it’s protected to say, will be up for debate.
None of which is to say that the historical past of Embiid not taking part in in Denver isn’t unusual. Nevertheless it’s one factor to surprise aloud why the development has emerged, and fairly one other to assault the aggressive character of a participant who’s already worthy of being deemed an all-time nice. These scorching takes look chilly in additional methods than one now.
Ditto for the untimely endorsements of the league’s 65-game rule. Whereas followers, homeowners, tv companions and league officers have each proper to need to repair the league’s load administration dilemma, the early returns listed below are sufficient to make you surprise if it’d have to be revisited on account of unintended penalties. Is it a superb factor that the reigning MVP is on the verge of exiting that dialog earlier than we’ve reached the All-Star break?
“I didn’t join that (65-game rule),” Sixers backup middle Paul Reed mentioned of the rule that was agreed on as a part of the league’s collective bargaining settlement that was ratified final April and runs by way of the 2029-30 season. “I don’t bear in mind signing no paperwork, you’re feeling me? I suppose the (gamers’) union OK’d it. They most likely didn’t have a alternative although, to be trustworthy. Yeah, it’s powerful. It provides plenty of stress to the gamers. We had been simply speaking about that. Lots of stress — particularly dudes like (Embiid who’re) making an attempt to get MVP once more.”
Embiid getting wholesome is the one precedence that issues now.
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(Picture: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Photographs)
