Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid’s health will stop NBA title chances
It’s becoming clear that the Philadelphia 76ers can only go so far in a playoff run if their main star isn’t 100 percent healthy.
There’s little doubt that the Philadelphia 76ers have one of the most star studded, starting five in the whole NBA. Yet despite this star power, if their main franchise big man, Joel Embiid, isn’t playing at the dominant level that he’s capable of playing at, then it’s near impossible for the Sixers to make a deep playoff run. The only way Embiid isn’t playing at his top game is if he isn’t healthy and that’s exactly what’s happened this postseason.
Even before this season began, Embiid has struggled with injuries for basically all of his career. He didn’t even play for two years after being drafted because of it and only played in 31 games his first year and has yet to play more than 64 games in any single season. Embiid’s health is fragile to say the least and it appears to be hurting the 76ers in this year’s playoffs.
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Ever since the All-Star break this season, Embiid has been struggling with his knee staying healthy and only played in 10 games after the break. In the first round of the playoffs, he was still struggling with the knee issues and actually missed game three of the series due to it. Despite Embiid missing that game, the 76ers still won the contest against the inferior Brooklyn Nets.
This was the second game in which the 76ers had back-to-back double-digit wins against the Nets in that series. The game three victory showed the 76ers didn’t need Embiid to defeat Brooklyn, especially with how well Boban Marjanovic was playing in that series.
The argument can be made that Embiid should have rested for the series against the Nets to make sure his knee had time to heal and that he had time to be fresh for the second round. It should be noted that head coach Brett Brown only played Embiid for around 24 minutes per game, yet still, that may have been too much.
Beside game three, where Embiid had a monster outing with 33 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, the Sixers center hasn’t looked like himself during this series against the Toronto Raptors. Before game one, Embiid’s knee still wasn’t 100 percent and Embiid shot 5-18 from the floor with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Sixers won game two despite Embiid having gastroenteritis and he finished that game with 12 points and six rebounds.
Before game four, Embiid had to get an IV in the early morning and told Brown he wasn’t sure if he could play. The Sixers center played and ended with 11 points and eight rebounds while shooting 2-7 from the floor in the loss. Embiid was dealing with an upper respiratory issue before game five as well. He played despite that issue and ended with 13 points, six rebounds and eight turnovers.
Surely some of these issues are just poor timing, but they could still cost the 76ers a shot at a NBA title, let alone an Eastern Conference title. This version of Embiid in the second round is a far cry from the one that Sixers fans saw in the regular season when he averaged 27.5 points and 13.6 rebounds. He was a regular season superstar, but hasn’t been healthy enough to be one during the playoffs and Philly doesn’t have a chance at a title without Embiid playing at his best.
Next. PLAYER GRADES: Raptors 125, Sixers 89. dark
The Philadelphia 76ers should look into managing Embiid’s health in future seasons by not having him play one of a back-to-back games and finding particular games to rest him in, so that he can be fresh and healthy for the postseason. Unless Embiid can get healthy quick, a shot at an NBA title seems unlikely this postseason. However, this postseason revealed that the Sixers need to have a load management plan for Embiid moving forward for the future regular season.