Joel Embiid played great in the Philadelphia 76ers' win over the Chicago Bulls. It was hopefully the beginning of a long stretch of play.
Embiid is far from out of the woods with his troublesome left knee but he looked more spry in the Sixers' 108-100 win, their fourth victory in five games and his first game back from a seven-game absence. He recorded game-highs of 31 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four assists and two blocks. Despite his six assists and 0-5 shooting from deep, he more or less looked like his old self. It felt like such a dominant performance was a ways away because of the knee injury he's been managing all season.
After the win in Chicago, Embiid told ESPN's Tim Bontemps that dealing with this lingering injury has been “depressing” for him.
“Just trying to figure it out. There's no injury. Just between the swelling…we've got to get it figured out. That's it,” Embiid said to ESPN. “I've been saying it for the last few months. It's been extremely depressing. It's something that hasn't been figured out, and it's been extremely annoying, because I would love to play every single game.”
Joel Embiid continuing to work through knee issues
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Embiid hasn’t been shy about discussing the mental anguish that his current knee issues have presented him with. He has had to not only regain strength in his knee but confidence. His performance against the Bulls suggests that he's making progress. After taking it relatively easy in a five-minute shift in the first quarter, he got back to posting up and hunting for jumpers at the nail, showing his ability to play forcefully.
Embiid has played in only five of the Sixers' first 21 games. He's started to look more like himself in his last two games but his knee troubles don’t seem like a thing of the past yet. If he can’t totally shed them, Embiid will have to do the best he can to manage it on the fly. The Sixers, in turn, need to capture the momentum they have and keep it going to make his on-court responsibilities easier.