Joel Embiid has a strange trend of falling off in the post-season and several former 76ers staff members believe they know the reason why. In a chat with Yahoo’s Jake Ficher this weekend, they spoke out about Embiid’s consistent playoff struggles and how a lack of recovery time between the rounds has been too punishing for his body.
“Several coaching staffers who previously worked with Embiid in Philadelphia told Yahoo Sports the shorter recovery windows in those middle rounds have played a legitimate role in Embiid’s struggles to advance beyond the second round.”
Embiid, 30, has never advanced past the second round despite being one of the best regular-season performers in NBA history. His game in the playoffs compared to the regular season has traditionally been a major downgrade, going from 27.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists from October-April down to just 24.7 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 56 playoff games so far.
Injuries aside, Joel Embiid is not himself in the playoffs and it seems people from within the team at least partly blame the rigorous playoff schedule. With practically no downtime at all between the first, second, and third rounds, Embiid does not have an opportunity to recover from going full strength over a full playoff series. and it could be why his game sees such a drastic drop-off in the Conference semi-finals.
Unfortunately for Embiid, the playoff calendar is unlikely to change anytime soon and he must decide if he wants to play through it or try and preserve his body in hopes of better luck in the future. As for this season and the battles to come, he has no choice but to play on and that’s what he’s trying to do even amid Bells Palsy and fresh off a meniscus injury that cost him most of the regular-season.
Joel Embiid Is Beating The Odds
After missing his first two seasons due to foot surgery, the red flags were there from the beginning for the Cameroonian big man. It’s the reason he fell to third in the 2014 draft and the only reason that the 76ers were able to pick him up at all that year.
But after averaging 20.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in his debut season, Philadelphia knew they had acquired a special kind of talent. By the 2017-18 campaign, he was a bona fide All-Star and it didn’t take him long from there to cement his place as one the best bigs in basketball.
Despite his rise to superstardom, however, his career has been hijacked by injuries and it’s limited his achievements on the court. For the 76ers, it’s hijacked their title hopes and it seems every season it’s the same old story with this team.
But even in the face of all that history, and an undeniably fragile body, Joel isn’t giving up or feeling sorry for himself. He’s fully locked in on the mission at hand and he’s proving it on the court after scoring 50 in Game 3. The only question now is if Embiid’s dominance can be sustained past the first round, or if the brutal playoff schedule will once again hold him back.
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