The Philadelphia 76ers have dropped four games in a row following a 119-107 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, but they have bigger problems at the moment.
Joel Embiid made his return to the floor after missing two games due to left knee soreness. He was a late scratch in the loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday and then was ruled out ahead of time in the loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. He was listed as questionable against the Warriors before deciding to give it a go after warm ups.
Embiid did not look well. At all. It appeared the injury was really bothering him. He was very limited on the floor and it was hard to watch. He finished with 14 points on 5-for-18 shooting with seven rebounds and eight turnovers.
It appeared Embiid was forcing himself to play so he could qualify for the MVP award. The new player participation policy states that a player must play in 65 games in order to qualify for awards at the end of the season. He has already missed 12 games due to injury and he received a lot of criticism for missing the contest in Denver.
After the loss, his teammates told reporters about the threshold: