Joel Embiid begins another season restart: ‘You can’t put your head down and whine about it’

As 76ers public-address announcer Matt Cord rolled through Sunday’s starting lineup, an in-arena camera caught Joel Embiid jogging down the hallway that connects the locker room to the tunnel. He then met his huddled teammates, who bounced and threw their arms in the air while engulfing the former MVP.

Embiid was back — again — from a nine-game absence because of an issue in his right knee. He described his first half as successful and his second half as “a little rough,” while totaling 18 points, four rebounds, and two assists in a season-high 30 minutes in a double-overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Before training camp, Embiid said he was prepared to face unpredictable health flare-ups that would force personal restarts throughout the season. He stressed the need to navigate them methodically and with positivity.

» READ MORE: Sixers mailbag: Does it make sense to try to trade Paul George before the trade deadline?

So how would he evaluate his ability to put that mentality into practice?

“It was OK,” Embiid said at his locker after the game. “Obviously, like I said, it’s going to happen, so you can’t put your head down and whine about it. Keep working hard and trying to get back at it as close as possible.

“What can we do? The only thing you can do is keep doing the right things, focusing on the right things, and go from there.”

Sunday’s return meant the 10-9 Sixers’ max-contract players Embiid, Tyrese Maxey (44 points, nine assists, seven rebounds), and Paul George (16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, five steals) — plus third overall draft pick VJ Edgecombe (seven points, two assists, two steals) — played together for the first time. And though Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) and Trendon Watford (thigh) remain out, it was the closest the Sixers have gotten to a “normal” top of the rotation — at least in the first half, before minutes restrictions became a factor.

That it took until Game 19 to achieve this was unfortunate for Embiid, who said he was “actually getting back to myself” just before reporting soreness in his right knee the morning of a Nov. 11 home game against the Boston Celtics.

His day-to-day status turned into nearly three weeks, including recent toggles between questionable to play and out. Embiid said Sunday that uncertainty was due to how his knee responded to on-court sessions.

He was initially ruled out for Sunday’s game on the NBA’s official injury report, before getting upgraded to questionable in the afternoon. He stepped onto the court for his pregame warmup about 45 minutes before tipoff, then was officially announced as in the starting lineup.

» READ MORE: Sixers takeaways: Joel Embiid’s motivated play, Tyrese Maxey’s missed free throws and more in loss to Hawks

On the Sixers’ first possession, Embiid took his defender off the dribble to get to his spot for an elbow jumper. He hit a baseline fadeaway in the second period, then two more textbook mid-range shots. At halftime, he had 11 points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting in 13 minutes.

Coach Nick Nurse said he was pleased with how Embiid created offense and open space for teammates in a variety of ways. He set pin-down screens, or began possessions in the corner while George and Dominick Barlow ran pick-and-rolls in the middle of the floor. He executed dribble handoffs with Quentin Grimes. And though he could lean on his exceptional two-man chemistry with Maxey when the game got tight down the stretch, Embiid reiterated his desire to contribute to the Sixers’ faster-paced, passer-friendly offense.

“I can make nine of those 10 shots [off the short roll] every single time,” Embiid said. “It’s easy to get there. But I think it’s also better when everybody else is involved and we play together.”

Added Maxey: “It’s different, because he’s still really good. We’ve still got to get him the ball. We’ve also got to run our stuff. … We haven’t really practiced with that group [with George and Edgecombe], so it’s kind of hard. But that’s no excuse. I think we did a good enough job to win the game.”

When Maxey’s heroic game-tying three-pointer forced overtime, Embiid said he “fought hard” to play in the extra frame. He missed both shot attempts during that stretch but helped Barlow protect the rim on a Jalen Johnson miss with 5.3 seconds to go.

Embiid then “wasn’t allowed” to stretch his minutes restriction further to play in the second overtime. It was an obvious absence because of the “simple” package of plays the Sixers can run through the big man even while he is limited physically. Nurse noted that smaller players attempted to set screens for Maxey, but they “couldn’t hardly get up there because of the physicality” of the Hawks.

“I still felt like there’s something I could have done,” Embiid said, “just being on the floor.”

» READ MORE: The Sixers’ season has 2024-25 vibes with Joel Embiid and Paul George missing substantial time

Embiid said he will not judge his progress on his shot-making but by how he moves laterally and jumps. Though a hesitancy (or inability) to get airborne for rebounds was obvious, Embiid said Sunday’s effective first half was a “good step” on which to build.

And the need for another personal restart is no surprise to Embiid.

“If anybody thinks that I don’t want to play every game, that’s their problem,” he said. “But I think, this year, I’ve shown that I would do anything just to play one game of basketball. … You’ve just got to trust what you’re doing, and in God, and be OK with the fact that whatever happens, happens.

“If I have something [that] happened to me like it happened, what can I do? Just go out and rehab, and come back as soon as possible. That’s the mindset.”