Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers got a lot of heat after their their Game 5 loss in Miami. The Sixers were run out of the arena in the 120-85 loss and looked like a team ready to roll over.

That set off the national media to go at Joel Embiid for his rather lethargic play. Charles Barkley claimed that the Sixers center was “distracted” after losing out on the Most Valuable Player award Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Stephen A. Smith called the Sixers' Game 5 display one of the “most awful performances” he's ever seen.

While the opinions of guys like Charles Barkley and Stephen A. Smith aren't always widely regarded as gospel among NBA circles, they do help contribute to the larger narrative surrounding Joel Embiid and the Sixers – one that casual fans or ill-informed internet trolls may latch onto.

But if there's one person that should be absolved from blame for this series, it's Joel Embiid. The big man said it best after the Game 5 loss.

Via John Clark:

“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

Yes, Joel Embiid hasn't looked like himself ever since he's returned from injury in their series against the Heat. While his numbers haven't necessarily been bad, it's clear that his aggressiveness just isn't the same. He's taken just 12, 13, and 12 shots in the three games he's been back and has averaged a relatively pedestrian 19.7 points per game in those contests.

To the naked eye, it's easy to fault him for just not playing up to his normal standards like some of the critics lambasting him on social media and television.

But the fact that he has every excuse to sit out games, with not just a fractured orbital bone in his face that made it hard for him to even use his cellphone, but also a torn ligament in his thumb, and yet still opts to try and play should be enough to Sixers fans everywhere.

After the debacle that was the Ben Simmons trade saga and seeing him allegedly skirt trying to play through an injury for the Brooklyn Nets, watching their current franchise star tough it out, despite being far from 100% is all you could really ask for.

If there were a time to use the phrase “adding insult to injury”, this is it for Joel Embiid. He's playing with a handicap and with intangible barbs being hurled towards him at the same time and yet he's still out there, risking both further injury and giving his critics more ammo if he plays poorly.

And yet he doesn't care, because winning and getting to the next round means that much to him. He's worked too hard and been through too much to let outside forces, or even his own ailing body bother him. Joel Embiid deserves nothing but praise.