Joel Embiid’s toughness, resiliency on display as Sixers force Game 6

It was one of the more impressive team wins over a quality opponent that the Sixers have had this year.

But even while acknowledging that, this was, without a shadow of a doubt, the Joel Embiid show.

In just his second game back after undergoing an emergency appendectomy on April 9th, through sheer force of will, Joel Embiid carried the Sixers down the stretch to an improbable win over a tough opponent in a very hostile environment, one that has caused this team, and Embiid specifically, fits in the past.

Embiid finished with 18 points on 7-10 shooting after intermission, playing in 19 of 22 second half minutes before the teams emptied the bench with the game out of hand. Embiid would finish the night with a game-high 33 points and eight assists on 12-23 shooting from the field.

“He was dominant, especially in the second half,” Tyrese Maxey said after the game. “I was proud of him tonight.

“He can be [Shaq]. Or he could be Dirk Nowitzki some days,” Maxey continued. “He’s just a strong individual. He’s skilled too, so that makes it tough.”

Embiid attempted to play more like Dirk than Shaq in the first half, missing all five of his 3-point attempts before intermission. The shot profile, which draws the ire of some Sixers fans from time to time, isn’t without its merit. Embiid’s presence on the perimeter, with his ability to draw his defender away from the rim to create open driving lanes, combined with his screen setting, can really free up Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and the Sixers’ perimeter scorers, and Embiid and Maxey have had their moments as a two-man tandem over the last two games in part because of Embiid’s unique skill set.

But as an individual scorer, Embiid started the game just 1-7 from the field. The Sixers were going to need their star big man to impose his will inside to get them back in the game in the second half.

And impose his will he did.

When Nikola Vucevic checked into the game barely more than two minutes into the third quarter because Neemias Queta picked up his fourth foul, Embiid immediately went to work inside, scoring three quick buckets in the paint in the next four minutes of play, immediately changing the tone of the game.

After seeing the ball go through the hoop, all of a sudden that hang-dribble foul line jumper started going in, too, and Embiid was officially cooking.

“Joel was dominant. He went to the post and he scored, and he scored, and he scored,” Tyrese Maxey joked after the game. “And then he kicked some out and we made some shots, and played a little pick-and-roll down the stretch of the game and got a couple buckets and we closed it out.”

After shooting 6-10 from the field for 13 points when defended by Nikola Vucevic in Game 4, Embiid was even more ruthless against the former Sixers big man last night, scoring 12 points on just six field goal attempts when matched up against Vucevic. So far in this series Embiid has 25 points on 11-16 shooting from the field when Vucevic is his primary defender.

Vuc has absolutely no chance of holding up against Embiid’s physicality. That much is clear.

That puts Boston in a bit of a bind, as they’ve been lightyears better on offense with Vucevic on the floor (123.0 points per 100 possessions) than they have been with Queta (just 110.6 points per 100 possessions), as Vucevic’s floor spacing, screen setting and passing have helped open up driving lanes galore for Boston’s perimeter scorers.

But the Embiid vs Vucevic matchup is easily the most exploitable 1-on-1 matchup, for either team, in this series. Boston’s only counter to that is to throw double teams Embiid’s way. The key from here on out is how well the Sixers punish those rotations.

“We gotta go through Jo in the post because now they’re starting to send people,” Nurse said after the game. “From here on out somebody should get an open look if we make the right decisions.”

Beyond just the overall skill level on display, Tuesday night’s game was yet another showcase of determination from the Sixers’ big man, who is still just 20 days removed from having an emergency appendectomy.

Embiid, who played virtually no live basketball in the weeks following his surgery, played 39 minutes in last night’s win, and got stronger as the game wore on, executing down the stretch in a tight game in an arena that has haunted him in the past.

“Give him a lot of credit, man. He worked really hard to get back through this procedure that he had, and played a lot of minutes,” Nurse said after the game.

The injuries that Embiid has been forced to play through during the playoffs is quite extensive, and well-documented. From fracturing his orbital bone in both 2018 and 2022, forcing him to wear a mask at the risk of damage to his vision, to tearing his meniscus in 2021, and tearing a ligament in his thumb in the 2022 playoffs, Embiid has rarely been healthy at this time of the season.

In fact, the only real playoff run that he was even close to 100% for was in the bubble back in 2020, when Ben Simmons missed the entire first round and the Sixers were helplessly overmatched.

“The one thing about me is I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff over my career. I don’t complain. I just want to give as much as I can, every single time I step on the floor,” Embiid said after last night’s win. “I just want to enjoy these moments, just being part of basketball team that’s trying to accomplish something.”

With the Sixers’ inability to put together a deep playoff run during his tenure in Philadelphia, combined with his injury history and the time that he has missed because of it, Embiid has become one of the most polarizing athletes in recent Philadelphia sports history, an MVP whose impact on the game, and, in some circles, his toughness, have been oft-questioned despite having developed into an MVP caliber player.

But over the last few playoff runs Embiid has put together a few performances of sheer grit, determination and toughness that warrant that narrative being questioned.

Embiid’s 2023 playoff series against the New York Knicks was the pinnacle of the perseverance that Embiid has shown throughout his career. Embiid put up averages of 33 points, 13 rebounds, and 5.7 assists on bum knee and a half-paralyzed face in the six games against the Knicks, just three weeks after returning from meniscus surgery.

“I was sitting next to him in the locker room,” teammate Nicolas Batum told ESPN. “I saw his knee. I have no idea how he could even walk.”

It was a moment of grit and determination that warranted being more than a footnote in his career, but because the stakes were not yet high enough, it did not resonate with NBA fans at large, or even those in the Philadelphia area.

This year looks to be much of the same, with Embiid returning to play just 17 days after an emergency appendectomy, earlier than most NBA players do.

“I pushed very hard to come back and try to help as much as I can . I’m glad we won today. I didn’t want to go home and think about it all summer of what could have been if I was healthy going into the playoffs,” Embiid said.

That performance — dropping 33 points and eight assists in a must-win game with the season on the line in just his second game back — was a wildly impressive display that should not be taken for granted.

And, much like the Knicks performance from two years ago, last night should prove to even his biggest critics that Embiid wants to be out there, even if his body more often than not betrays him.

It should be proof that you can believe in Embiid’s resiliency, even if not his reliability.

But by this point everybody already has a strongly formed narrative in their head about who Embiid is and who he isn’t, and a first-round series just isn’t high enough stakes to move many people off of their spot.

Which means the only solution left is to try to do the nearly impossible: come all the way back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Boston Celtics are 32-0 in franchise history when leading a playoff series three games to one. The Sixers 0-18 when in a 3-1 hole.

The numbers here are pretty self-explanatory. The odds are stacked heavily in Boston’s favor. But if the Sixers are able to string together a similar performance in Philadelphia for Game 6 on Thursday, they’ll have a chance to send the Celtics back to Boston staring history directly in the face.

“So, one more day, and one more game, to go out and try to make it back here [to Boston],” Embiid closed his press conference with. “That’s the mentality. I’m just thankful to be in a position where I get to play. I don’t know how long I have, so I just want to enjoy as much as possible.”