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Joel Embiid and the Sixers Deserve Their Damn Flowers
By Sean Barnard
Published:
Sometimes we forget what sports are really about.
In an era of ring chasing, hot takes, and social media narratives, we lose sight of what should really matter about players and teams.
The Boston Celtics have dominated the Philadelphia 76ers across this era. The Sixers had not beaten the Celtics in the postseason since 1982. There have been 302 playoff series that have slipped to a 3-1 in NBA history and 95.4% of the teams to take this series lead have finished the job. Just 14 teams have managed to crawl out of this postseason hole, with Saturday night’s result included. It had never been done in 76ers franchise history. There also has not been a 7 seed to defeat a 2 seed in the Eastern Conference in the opening round of the playoffs since 2003.
But this all changed over the weekend, and almost entirely because of Joel Embiid.
Oddsmakers, NBA media pundits, and even the local fanbase didn’t give the Sixers a chance in this series. The Celtics opened as -900 favorites to win this matchup, and Boston was the odds-on favorite to win the Eastern Conference when the playoffs opened.
After largely overachieving this season relative to expectations, the news that Embiid was forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy roughly a week before the end of the regular season felt like the death blow to a year that held some promise. “It’s always something” is a phrase oftentimes uttered regarding Embiid’s availability, and the injuries that have plagued him are largely the first thing brought up when discussing the former MVP as a player.
But what should be the story is the way Embiid continues to battle through these issues. It’s true that he has missed plenty of time due to injuries and struggled to stay healthy for extended stretches in his career. It is also true that the Sixers star has played through more pain than just about any athlete in modern sports and remained effective beyond what fully healthy players can dream of. This is a trait that should be embraced by Philadelphia fans at a rate it has never seemed to fully take with Embiid.
This should change after this previous postseason series.
Embiid officially made his return to the floor 17 days post-surgery. This is a timeline that would keep some of us with far less physically demanding jobs off our feet for longer. The seven-time All-Star averaged 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists across his four games played. The Sixers went 3-1 during that stretch to complete the unlikely series comeback:
Beyond just the raw numbers, it was Embiid being a basketball chess piece that the Celtics had no response for that truly decided the series. Front-court defense was near the top of Boston’s weaknesses all year, and there was no answer on their roster for Embiid’s skill set. This forced the Celtics into the difficult predicament of weighing their options of hoping their rag-tag group of big men could limit the damage enough, or if the best pathway to success was to throw multiple bodies at the Sixers’ star and force others to beat him.
On the wider scale of his career, this is where things have gotten a bit ugly for Embiid. He had never averaged fewer than 3.2 turnovers per game over a playoff run, and his turnovers per game increased in six of his seven postseason runs. But this was not the case this year. Embiid averaged just 2.0 turnovers per game across this series, and posted a monstrous 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio across the series. To put this in perspective, this would have ranked sixth in the entire NBA across the regular season among players playing 25+ minutes per game.
Embiid masterfully diagnosed the defensive looks the Celtics were throwing his direction, and made the right decisions for when to attack and when to defer. Across just four games, Embiid tallied an NBA-best 32 post-ups and accounted for a stellar 1.13 points per possession while being arguably even more dangerous as a passer:
To the rest of the Sixers’ credit, they delivered on the opportunities when they were called upon. Tyrese Maxey’s chemistry with the big man is clear, and the fellow All-Star has done an excellent job of taking on the responsibility to run the offense when Embiid has needed a break. It’s not normal for a rookie to be able to play a Game 7 on the road and shoot 5-for-11 from beyond the three-point arc while making a strong defensive impact the way V.J. Edgecombe just did. Paul George knocked down a ridiculous 55.0% of his three-point looks in this series, looking like the clear Tobias Harris upgrade he was signed to be.
But it all starts with Embiid. He should not be viewed through a “what-if” lens based on what he has accomplished in the league. Let’s not forget that there was once legitimate pessimism that this guy would never even be able to step foot on the floor in the NBA. He missed the entirety of his first two seasons due to injuries and there is a world where he ends up more on the Greg Oden trajectory.
Instead, Embiid has found a way to maximize his talent while dealing with greater obstacles than any player should. He is a seven-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA team member, three-time All-Defensive team member, a two-time scoring champion, and a former MVP. Beyond the injury hurdles that have been thrown his way, he has survived organizational dysfunction beyond what any player should be tasked with. There have been three different head coaches, six different general managers, several co-stars, and 200+ teammates to have come and gone. But Joel Embiid has always remained the constant.
This is not to say that some of the frustrations with Embiid are not legitimate. There are fair gripes about his maturity through the years, and the injury issues will always make winning with him a difficult needle to thread. Even while writing this, there is fear that whatever injury he sustained during Game 7 could be something that ends up derailing this playoff run. He is officially listed as probable for Game 1 against the Knicks with what is being called a right hip contusion. But it also should mean something to the entire fan base to watch the superstar hardly be able to walk up and down the floor and still laying out for loose balls in an effort to secure the result:
This is the kind of “Philly toughness” that should be praised in the same way it’s discussed with players like Allen Iverson. It may not come off as relatable for a 7-foot-2 monster as it did for the guy who was oftentimes the smallest man on the floor. But the same principle applies.
What does not apply to the Iverson comparison is that Embiid is still the best player on every NBA floor that he walks on when he is close to physically right. Both have MVPs next to their name and pulled their weight as the face of the franchise in a way that deserves praise. But the level of two-way impact that Embiid possesses makes life easier on his teammates and more cohesive for team success. His defense is not the level it once was, as his body has broken down over the years. But even this version of Embiid is capable of flipping the switch and changing an opponent’s entire offensive approach.
The lack of postseason success has always been a glaring hole in Embiid’s resume. He is an all-time talent that is missing a signature moment. Embiid is currently first in NBA history in points per 36 minutes at 31.24. This is 2.89 higher than Michael Jordan. Embiid is also fourth in NBA history in career points per game, 42nd in career rebounds per game, 53rd in blocks per game, 25th in true shooting percentage, second in Player Efficiency Rating, 14th in win shares per 48 minutes, 10th in box plus/minus, 54th in offensive rating, and 68th in defensive box plus /minus.
There is no player in the league who would benefit more from a deep playoff run to rewrite their legacy than Joel Embiid on both a national and local level. He already should be looked at as a future Hall of Famer, but a championship ring on his finger would truly place him in the conversation for basketball immortality. On a local level, Embiid already has a case for being on the Mount Rushmore of top Sixers talent. Some more postseason moments would cement this.
But this opening round victory over the Celtics certainly counted as one of these moments. Of course, there will be pushback that this was just an opening round series and that the organizational sights should be set higher than just being one of the eight best teams remaining. But it was more than this. This was Embiid turning a page on his past postseason demons and shining as the best player on the floor at whatever percentage of health he is at. There are plenty of NBA legends who have overcome as significant a postseason hole or odds that were on the table coming into this series, and Embiid fully turned the series upon his return.
He is The Process personified, and his story is not done being told just yet.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.