Joel Embiid took the postgame podium of their Game 2 loss against the Boston Celtics and went on to admit that he is all geared up to play despite what was assumed to be an early return he made on Wednesday night from his LCL sprain in right knee.Β
ββI feel pretty good,β Embiid said in postgame. βIβm okay. It felt pretty good to go up and down a little bit and it feels pretty good. β¦ Thereβs no excuses. Iβm out here, so Iβm good to play. We just got to be better as a team
After the Sixers have taken the Game 1 win last Monday even without him, many have thought he may likely to still sit down and take that ample time to recover in preparation for the pivotal Game 3 on Friday.
But the night after he was proclaimed as the leagueβs MVP for this 2022-23 recipient, he went on to play against the Cβs. As such, he struggled from the floor and performed rusty with that 14-point output in an inconsistent 4-of-9 shooting to go with three boards, albeit tremendous defensively with those five blocks which he tallied in the first-half alone.
βThe way we saw it, with what I have, Iβm not gonna be β what I have is supposed to be out four-to-six weeks or something like that. So Iβm not gonna be 100 percent for that whole time or Iβm not gonna be fully healed for that whole time. I felt pretty good to play and I feel like I can help the team defensively and offensively,β said Embiid.Β
βObviously, offensively, I wasnβt as aggressive. I was just trying to let the game come to me and then defensively, just protecting the rim and I think I did a fine job when it comes to that.β
For Embiid, he opted to play for that chance by the Sixers to gain a commanding 2-0 series deficit against the Celtics even on the road. Though it turned out that Boston managed to respond and he played poorly, the reigning MVP got no such regrets of suiting up for his team when the opportunity was already in front for them.
βI just felt like being up 1-0 and having a chance to go up 2-0 against this type of team, I knew they were going to come at us,β Embiid explained. βI expected it, but you never know anything can happen so I just felt like it probably would have been the same result as far as how Iβm feeling if I wouldβve come back in Game 3. Probably rusty and not myself, but I feel like just got this out of the way.β
With the past two games already in the books, the superstar center is now focusing on Game 3 to…
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