In the midst of getting into a groove in the final games of the season, Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid suffered a painful injury, fracturing his orbital bone after incidental contact with rookie Markelle Fultz, who had just come back from a lengthy absence.
Embiid missed the team's last eight games of the regular season, which the Sixers won confidently, along with their first postseason game in six seasons — pushing the streak to 17 straight wins.
But things complicated when Philly dropped its first game in a month, losing by 10 to the Miami Heat in Game 2, riling up the fighting spirit of the Cameroonian.
“It was hard, but it wasn't as painful because I knew we were winning,” Embiid said of his injury after scoring 23 points in the Sixers' 128-108 win over the Heat, according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. “But when we lost, I was like, ‘No. It's time to come back.'”
Embiid's comeback was indeed triumphant, putting the finishing touches with a bank shot over James Johnson and then a wing 3-pointer against him as well in the ensuing play, coasting to a Game 3 win to take a 2-1 series lead.
Encouraged by the result, the Sixers big man has high expectations for this young team — by far the youngest in the playoffs with an average of 25.8 years of age.
“Our goal is to go to the Finals so we actually have a pretty good chance,” Embiid told TNT. “We have the talent.”
Embiid has embraced the challenge head-on, literally — given the risk to come back with such a fragile part of the body in danger of suffering more damage against a physical team like the Heat.
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