It’s been a rough few days for Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Not only is the big man still dealing with a serious head injury that caused him to miss two games but he also just suffered a devastating 120-85 loss to the Miami Heat and stands on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs.
To make matters even worse, he is also still aching because of a hand injury that will need surgery after the season is over.
Oh, and he lost the race for MVP this week too.
“This is a lose lose situation for me. If I don’t play, I’ll probably get called soft. If I play and I play bad, they’ll probably come up with a bunch of stuff like, he’s just not good enough”
-Joel Embiid says he is just pushing through and it’s all about pain tolerance pic.twitter.com/fqrjOdiWis
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) May 11, 2022
It’s all getting to Embiid and he let his feelings known on Tuesday night following the huge loss to the Heat.
Embiid is trying to play through the pain and the injuries but he knows that no matter what happens, he is in a bad situation.
“This is a lose-lose situation for me,” Embiid told the press after the game.
“If I don’t play, I’ll probably get called soft. If I play and I play bad, they’ll probably come up with a bunch of stuff like, he’s just not good enough.”
Embiid feels like the cards are stacked against him no matter what.
Is he wrong?
Injured Embiid
Embiid really did play the best basketball of his career this year.
He stepped up in nearly every aspect of his game and, more importantly, became the team leader that Philadelphia has needed.
He may have lost the MVP race to Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets but there is no doubt that Embiid is an absolute beast on the floor.
His goal all year long was to get his team to the Finals.
He’s gotten them closer than ever before but it might not be enough.
Embiid is facing a tough reality: unless you win it all, you’re always going to receive flack.
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