Joel Embiid shines with 20-point night after injury scare: ‘He was aggressive’
Embiid's efforts were praised on a night when he returned from injury to flush a couple of rare dunks amid a 20-point performance.
Midway through the first quarter on Thursday night, Sixers center Joel Embiid was lying on the ground with clear pain in his knee.
Raptors guard Ja’Kobe Walter, fighting through Embiid’s screen to get to Tyrese Maxey, had knocked into Embiid’s right knee. Embiid left the court limping, grabbing at the knee as he walked off with a trainer.
It looked like a potential nightmare scenario. The LeBron fan accounts were throwing in the towel on the season. Embiid said at the end of last season that he felt his knee injuries were finally behind him.
» READ MORE: Sixers overcome slow start, Joel Embiid’s injury scare in 123-112 win over Raptors
“I always tell him all the time, just please don’t fall,” VJ Edgecombe said.
Nick Nurse said after the Sixers’ 123-112 victory that he gets nervous every time he sees Embiid grab at his knee, and Thursday was no exception.
But Embiid, after a brief stint in the locker room, got right back out on the court, to thunderous applause.
“I’m kind of pessimistic at times, because, you never know what happened when someone’s just laying on the floor,” Edgecombe said. “... For him to go back and then come back out, it just shows his heart.”
Tyrese Maxey said he knew immediately that Embiid’s injury wasn’t going to be serious, and that Embiid, while on the ground, kept saying that he just got kneed.
Embiid ended the night with 20 points, four rebounds, and three assists. He told reporters at shootaround that he wanted to be “more aggressive” against Toronto.
“He was aggressive, man,” Maxey said. “He didn’t think. You know what I’m saying? I think he’s been thinking.”
He still didn’t find much luck from behind the arc, missing all three of his three-point attempts to add to his tough 4-for-36 start to the season. But Embiid did get two dunks — something he jokingly swore off earlier this year — and a block.
» READ MORE: In win over Raptors, Sixers flashed why their offseason roster revamp also applied to the bench
Nurse said Embiid’s movement, especially after that jolt of pain from the knee-on-knee bump, was the most promising sign from his night.
“He’s just moving better, and I’m not sure that was the case for a couple games here recently,” Nurse said. “It’s nice to see the movement spark come back.”
The Sixers don’t need Embiid to carry the team every night the way they once did. Even with LeBron James out for back sciatica management, Maxey and Edgecombe performed at an elite level against Toronto, and the Sixers maximized the depth on their bench with strong nights from Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
But they are still at their best with Embiid on the floor. He was a +11, the best mark of any starter. So far this season, Embiid and the Sixers have gotten lucky with injuries, with their full starting lineup playing in nine of 14 games, missing just the scheduled back-to-backs before James missed Thursday.
Even with the team’s load management plan, Embiid joked after the first leg of a back-to-back that he wanted to play the next one. He’s more motivated than ever to be on the court and deliver for the Sixers.
“[Embiid] was very, very motivated to play,” Nurse said. “It was hard to get him out for his scheduled rests tonight, which, it’s a good problem.”
Inquirer beat reporters Gina Mizell and Chris Hine go behind the scenes of covering LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and the Sixers’ star-studded roster, and debate what’s real and not real about the team’s hot start. Watch here.
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