PHILADELPHIA — What Joel Embiid initially thought was severe food poisoning during the Philadelphia 76ers’ Texas road trip earlier this month turned out to be something far more serious.
The Cameroon-born center became so severely ill that simple tasks like walking and using the restroom became extremely difficult, keeping him awake through the night. When Embiid finally informed team medical staff that his condition was beyond any typical stomach ailment, doctors ordered immediate hospital testing.
The diagnosis delivered yet another cruel blow to Embiid’s injury-plagued playoff history.
The dominant center, who has seen his postseason appearances repeatedly derailed by various injuries including sprains, broken bones, and even facial nerve damage, faced another devastating setback this April.
On April 9 in Houston, Embiid underwent emergency appendix removal surgery after developing acute appendicitis overnight, leaving the two-time NBA scoring leader sidelined with no clear return date.
Missing Philadelphia’s final regular season games and their play-in tournament appearance, he could only watch helplessly as the Sixers fell behind 2-1 to Boston in their opening playoff round.
“You probably go through a couple of days where you feel bad for yourself,” Embiid said late Sunday. “Then it’s right back to it. Are you going to give up or are you going to try and come back as early as possible?”
Making his dramatic return in Game 4 just over two weeks post-surgery, Embiid received a thunderous standing ovation from fans hoping he could provide the offensive firepower needed to challenge a Celtics squad that had demolished Philadelphia by 32 points in Game 1.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself as the 76ers suffered another 32-point defeat, losing 128-96 Sunday evening and falling into a 3-1 series deficit heading into Tuesday’s Game 5 in Boston.
Despite posting 26 points and 10 rebounds across 34 minutes in a courageous performance, Embiid’s heroic return couldn’t mask Philadelphia’s glaring weaknesses. The statistics told a brutal story: Boston connected on 24 three-point shots compared to Philadelphia’s nine, dominated the boards 51-30, and at one stretch held a commanding 13-0 advantage in second-chance scoring to build their 21-point cushion.
The Sixers have unfortunately mastered the art of lopsided defeats.
Despite featuring All-Star talents like Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George, Philadelphia made NBA history this season as the first franchise to lose three home contests by 40 or more points. Adding two 32-point playoff blowouts puts significant pressure on team president Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse if they cannot engineer a miraculous series comeback.
“I think those are going to kind of happen a couple of times a year,” Nurse said. “Listen, our kind of MO all year was to have a lot of things thrown at us, pick ourselves up and fight back. We’re just going to have to do it again.”
For Philadelphia to have any hope of reviving their championship aspirations, they desperately need aggressive play and consistent scoring from Maxey and promising rookie VJ Edgecombe. The team’s roster construction remains problematic, attempting to balance two young, athletic guards while simultaneously feeding an aging, injury-prone big man in the post.
Embiid certainly started strong, converting two free throws for Philadelphia’s opening points, thundering home a powerful two-handed dunk, and accounting for the team’s first eight points.
However, Maxey deferred too much to Embiid’s presence, attempting just three shots in the opening half before finishing with 22 points over 40 minutes.
“That can’t happen,” Maxey said of the slow start. “That’s on me. That’s just unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the game. It kind of happened that way. It wasn’t meant to happen that way.”
The shot distribution showed Maxey and Edgecombe combining for 23 attempts while Embiid took 21 shots.
“There’s a couple of times when he had opportunities to shoot the ball, but he’s got to take them,” Embiid said of Maxey. “You’ve got to want it.”
Embiid revealed he experienced unspecified post-surgical complications but remained determined “to do the best job possible with the conditions.” Limited to just 38 games this season due primarily to ongoing knee management, he hasn’t reached 40 regular season appearances since the 2022-23 campaign when he averaged a career-high 33.1 points and captured MVP recognition.
According to Embiid, he felt compelled to battle through this latest medical emergency to rescue Philadelphia’s season. It’s become a recurring theme in the City of Brotherly Love. While upsets remain possible, the Sixers’ ultimate fate appears as predictable as Embiid’s next injury — no championship since 1983, no conference finals appearance since 2001.
“I just told them again, way out of character,” Nurse said. “We played another, about as bad as we could play, game. That’s two in the series.”
A third poor performance will end another disappointing postseason run.
