Returning after 4 days of being out due to injury, Joel Embiid reappeared in the match against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at noon on January 31 Vietnam time.
However, the return of last season’s MVP title holder and currently leading this season’s MVP race did not end completely. He had to leave the match midway through the fourth quarter after being hit on the knee by a Warriors player.
The situation leading to Joel Embiid’s injury was quite unlucky. He was double-teamed by Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green, resulting in him losing control of the ball.
In an attempt to recover the ball, Embiid got into a dispute with Kuminga and the striker fell on his left knee, the exact area where he was in pain and had to stop playing for many days.
Joel immediately hugged his knee and appeared extremely painful. After a few minutes to regain his breath and mental stability, Embiid stood up and limped back to the locker room.
As mentioned above, Kuminga fell in the exact position where Joel Embiid was injured earlier. Initially, the Philadelphia 76ers striker was not sure about his ability to play but was finally given the green light right before tip-off.
“The medical team agreed to let him play. Joel himself also contributed to this decision and said he felt fine”, head coach Nick Nurse shared after the match.
Talking about the connection between the old injury and what Embiid just encountered, Mr. Nurse said that there is no connection but just two unfortunate events that happened.
“ What happened today was an accident and it was not related to the problem Joel had before. He will have an MRI scan and we will have to wait “, the 76ers coach added.
Although Joel Embiid himself confirmed that he was healthy enough to play, the experts and commentators from TNT who watched directly did not feel the same way.
Throughout the match, Embiid rarely attacked explosively near the basket like he usually does, instead using medium or long throws to limit contact. As a result, Joel’s FG rate was not high with only 5-18 FG, scoring 14 points.
Even during the match, Embiid slightly rolled his ankle and lost the ball. In another situation in defense, it was also seen that Joel seemed to have re-injured himself and was limping. But after both plays, the big man 76ers did not leave the field.
“ I asked Embiid if there was a problem. He said that the feeling of moving and finishing was not good because he hadn’t played for 5 days and had nothing to do with his physical condition , “coach Nick Nurse added.
Suppressing pain while playing is something that should not be done with a player prone to injury like Joel Embiid.
However, this season, Embiid has more motivation to play because he needs to play at least 65 matches in the Regular Season (each match is at least 20 minutes) to meet the standards to compete for year-end awards.
From now until the end of the Regular Season, Joel is only allowed to rest for a maximum of 5 more matches. If this number is exceeded, Embiid will not be able to make the All-NBA representative team and lose the opportunity to compete for the MVP title.
It is unclear whether Joel Embiid’s efforts to suppress playing pain have anything to do with the 65-game goal. Coach Nick Nurse said more about this as follows:
“I can’t speak for him, but we still follow the process of checking player health like other matches. From the beginning of the season until now, nothing has changed. If he passes the requirements of the medical team, he will be able to play.”
The Philadelphia 76ers will have a day off before traveling to the Utah Jazz’s field on Friday morning, February 2.
