An emergency appendectomy.
Just 10 days before the start of the playoffs.
If you had to guess which player it happened to, you’d say “Joel Embiid” before someone even asked. Just another bizarre and unfortunate moment for a player whose career has been derailed by them.
But for one night, there was no talk of bad luck. No concerns over how the Sixers can integrate such a unique player. No questions about what will happen this offseason.
In one of the guttiest postseason performances in Philly sports
history, Embiid kept the Sixers’ season alive with a dominant 33-point effort in a 113-97 win over the Celtics in Boston Tuesday night. With the Game 5 victory, the Sixers have forced Game 6 at Xfinity Mobile Arena Thursday.
Embiid returning to the court at all is nothing short of incredible. He was able to play in Game 4, just 17 days after his surgery. No NBA player has ever come back that early from an appendectomy — let alone returned in the middle of an intense playoff series.
After the Sixers were crushed in Game 4, Embiid revealed more details about his most recent ordeal. He felt stomach pains playing against the San Antonio Spurs back on April 6, something he thought might’ve been a stomach bug or food poisoning. The pain only got more intense when the team arrived in Houston for a big matchup against the Rockets. After pushing through the pain at practice that Thursday, it was becoming more intense.
Embiid was unable to sleep that night. When it got to be 4 or 5 a.m. Friday morning, he knew something wasn’t right. He couldn’t go to the bathroom or even walk on his own. That’s when he was taken to the hospital and the surgery was performed.
It wasn’t smooth sailing post-surgery, either. Embiid said he dealt with complications, though he chose to keep the details of those private. Before appearing in Game 4, Embiid was only able to get up and down the floor in practice one time. He then went out and scored 26 points in 34 minutes, looking like the only Sixer putting forth serious effort.
Game 5 started off a bit rocky. The Sixers’ gameplan coming in was to jack up as many threes as possible — a sound strategy against Boston and one that worked to perfection in Game 2. But Embiid was ice cold from deep, missing all three threes he attempted and his first five shots overall. He was better in quarter No. 2, but missed two more threes.
In the third, he made a concerted effort to get into the post. Joe Mazzulla chose not to send help for his big men, allowing Nikola Vucevic and Neemias Queta to take on Embiid 1-on-1. It made sense for Mazzulla to force Embiid to prove he could operate down low.
And he did.
Repeatedly.
It got to a point where it was almost head-scratching for Mazzulla to continue leaving his bigs on an island. When Boston finally tilted the defense Embiid’s way, the Sixers’ offense really opened up. A 10-point third from Embiid whittled a seven-point halftime deficit down to one.
Embiid even had another scare, briefly exiting the game and heading to the locker room after knocking knees with Jaylen Brown. Luckily, Embiid quickly returned to the bench and the game.
In the fourth, as Embiid continued to see multiple bodies in the post, he made the right plays, finding Tyrese Maxey, Quentin Grimes and the Sixers’ other perimeter players for open looks. Embiid finished the night with eight assists to three turnovers.
After many questioned his defense and his ability to move throughout the regular season, he turned in a terrific performance on that end in the fourth, as the Sixers held the Celtics to a paltry 11 points in the period.
Not bad for a guy who’s barely played basketball over the last month.
Say whatever you want about Embiid, just don’t ever question his toughness and desire to play basketball ever again.
“One thing about me,” Embiid told reporters in Boston, “I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff over my career. I don’t complain. I just want to give as much as I can every single time I step on the floor. I know a lot of people might have takes that I might be lazy or whatever, but every single time I’m on the floor, I want to play as hard as possible. I want to do whatever it takes to win a basketball game. …
“I just want to enjoy these moments just being a part of a basketball team that’s trying to accomplish something.”
Torn meniscus (multiple times).
Sprained LCL.
Torn thumb ligaments.
Gastroenteritis.
Broken face (also multiple times).
Add appendicitis to the list of weird, unlucky ailments Joel Embiid has overcome to cement himself as a legend in this city.
Enjoy him while he’s here and capable of nights like this, Sixers fans.
“I didn’t want to go home and think about all summer what could have been if I was healthy going into the playoffs,” Embiid said. “So, one more day and one more game to go out and try to make it back [to Boston for Game 7]. That’s the mentality. I’m just thankful I’m in a position where I get to play. I don’t know how long I have, [how long] I can do this, so I just want to enjoy it as much as possible.”
