After a long summer of rehab and working his way back from yet another knee surgery, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid took the floor on Wednesday and played in his first regular-season game since Feb. 22. Of course, he played in the preseason finale to get back at it, but this was his first real game.
It was a pretty tough performance, as he finished with just four points on 1-for-9 shooting while pulling down six rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes. He was a minus-16 in a game the Sixers won 117-116 over the Boston Celtics on the road.
It was very unEmbiid-like out on the floor. He was unable to get much going against Boston’s Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman Sr., or Chris Boucher. Of course, the Cs sent their usual waves of defenders towards him, but Embiid just didn’t look like himself in the opener.
“I’m good,” Embiid said after the win. “It’s gonna take a while. Obviously, being on a minutes restriction and playing shorter stints, it’s hard to kind of get in the rhythm, but I got to figure it out. That’s the way they have it set up. It’s annoying, but if I want to play, I don’t really have a choice, and I want to be out there as much as possible.”
With that being said, despite his struggles, his mere presence makes life easier for everybody else out on the floor. The Celtics had to send so many double teams his way and make him give up the basketball in an effort to slow him down. He didn’t have any turnovers. He just missed shots as he began to work his way back into the swing of things.
“It goes beyond until I get myself going,” Embiid added. “Like, there’s so much more I can do using whatever my gravity is to get these guys open, my knowledge. There’s still so much I can contribute other than scoring. So just using myself as a decoy to allow all these guys to just do whatever we have to do to win.”
Embiid is correct in that sense. Due to the attention he attracts, the defense has to react, and that opens up so many different avenues for others to step in and score. That is what he is leaning on at the moment as he continues to battle through all of the adversity he has had to battle through when considering the injury and the rehab he’s had to face. This was just another step in the right direction.
“I was happy that we won,” he finished. “Happy that I was on the court. It’s been a long time. Long rehab. Tough one. I still got a long way to go. I’m not close to where I want to be, obviously, but, you know, this is a good first step. Just being on the court, seeing myself on the court. That’s a good thing.”
The Sixers will have two days off before playing host to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday in their home opener.
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