Joel Embiid looked a little rusty in a Game 4 loss to the Celtics last weekend after missing three weeks following an emergency appendectomy near the end of the regular season. In Game 5 he knocked the rust off and in turned knocked around Boston and in the process helped stave off elimination.
Embiid played more than 38 minutes in Game 5, a number he only bested six times in 38 regular season appearances this season. In those nearly 39 minutes he scored 33 points, which he’d only done eight times this season. He also dished out eight assists, which he’d only done three times this season. The 76ers won, 113-97, to force a Game 6 in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Embiid went 0-for-5 from three, but was pretty much unstoppable whenever he stepped inside the arc and shot 12-of-18 from two to go along with nine free throws in 10 attempts from the line. After the game he said, “I feel pretty good about my chances going one-on-one against anybody in this league and I don’t think that I can be stopped.”
While his numbers proved that’s true in Game 5, he was also reflective about what it means to just be out on the floor.
“The one thing about me is I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff over my career,” Embiid said during his press conference. “I don’t complain. I just want to give as much as I can every single time I step on the floor. I know a lot of people might have takes of, you know, that I might be lazy or whatever, but every single time I’m on the floor I want to play as hard as possible. I wanna do whatever it takes to win a basketball game, whether its on offense, on defense. I just wanna play basketball whether I’m good physical, mentally shape or whatever. I just wanna enjoy this moment, just being part of a basketball team that’s trying to accomplish something and that’s to win every single game.”
The 76ers went 24-14 when Embiid played during the regular season and now they’re 1-1 with him in the lineup against a Celtics team that won the fourth most games in the league during the regular season.
“I pushed very hard to come back to try to help as much as I can,” Embiid continued. “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 so one more day. And one more game to go out and try to make it back here. That’s the mentality. I’m just thankful that I’m in a position where I get to play. I don’t know how long I have, I can do this so I just want to enjoy as much as possible.”
Embiid was drafted No. 3 in the ’14 NBA draft. He didn’t make his NBA debut until the ’16-’17 season and only played 31 games as a 22-year old rookie. In 10 seasons he’s never played 70 games, but the last few years have been especially trying and he’s only played in 96 games over the last three years.
When the Sixers host the Celtics in Game 6, it will be Embiid’s 62nd career playoff game. At 32-years old, it is unclear to observers how many more games he has left and he seems very aware of that.
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