Joel Embiid had a fascinating Game 5, dominating the game without his usual unstoppable scoring prowess. It was almost as if he deferred the No. 1 option duties to first-time All-Star and newly-crowned Most Improved Player, Tyrese Maxey.
Embiid isn’t right health-wise. We know that. Whatever is going on with his surgically repaired left knee isn’t great.
He missed two months of game action this season, and has apparently re-tweaked that wheel a bunch of times over the last few weeks upon return. He is clearly laboring, and I don’t even know if I’d say he looks 50 percent as mobile or athletic as he did back in, let’s say mid-December.