Gifted a long list of excuses, Joel Embiid refused to quit against the Knicks. Why? ‘I love to play.’

He lost his jumping ability.

He lacked mobility.

He struggled with conditioning.

He could barely see out of his left eye.

Handed multiple excuses to stop playing, Joel Embiid didn’t quit.

On Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the 76ers’ most important player continued his postseason trend of playing through injuries. But it wasn’t enough against the New York Knicks.

Embiid, who was hampered with a bum left knee and Bell’s palsy, paced the Sixers with 39 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 11.1 seconds left in the 118-115 Game 6 loss to the Knicks. That setback led to the Sixers being eliminated, 4-2, in the best-of-seven opening-round series.

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Embiid averaged 33 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.5 blocks, 4.2 turnovers, and 41.4 minutes in the series. Yet, he shot just 44.4 % — including making 33.3% of his three-pointers — while being impacted by his health. His production declined in fourth quarters to the point where some questioned whether it was worth even playing. But at the conclusion of the series, Embiid just shrugged it all off as just the cards he was dealt.

“I mean, never give up,” he said. “Gotta keep it going. I think I mentioned it a couple of days ago, can’t feel sorry for myself. As long as I can play and jump even a little bit, I can be on the floor. I feel like my presence is enough, even if I can’t jump and I can’t move the way I want to, if my body’s not responding the way it should be.

“But I love to play.”

Embiid’s love for the game is why he returned on April 2 with seven games remaining in the regular season after missing two months with a torn meniscus. Embiid tweaked his knee twice after his return. And if that wasn’t enough, he has been dealing with Bell’s palsy since the days leading up to the Sixers’ NBA Play-In Tournament victory over the Miami Heat on April 17.

Embiid knew he could have taken more time to heal his knee. And, at times, his vision was blurred during games and he experienced migraines because of complications from Bell’s palsy.

“I wanted to get the opportunity to be on this stage and be part of it and didn’t want to let him [Tyrese Maxey] down, and the whole team, too,” Embiid said. “That’s always been my mindset. I’ve always played through stuff. It’s never been an excuse, and it’s not an excuse, so, for me, for the most part, I was healthy.”

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Embiid’s best performance came during the 125-114 Game 3 victory on April 25. He finished with a career-playoff-high 50 points along with eight rebounds and four assists. The reigning MVP, however, struggled during the fourth quarter of Game 4. That’s when he was held to one point and shot 0-for-5 during the quarter.

Then in Game 5, Embiid had 19 points on 7-for-19 shooting along with 16 rebounds, 10 assists, four blocks, and nine turnovers. Four of those turnovers came in the fourth quarter.

But he had a great bounce-back game on Thursday.

“He certainly was going through a lot of stuff,” coach Nick Nurse said following Thursday’s game. “I thought he was absolutely tremendous tonight. But, you know, he had a lot of stuff going on, and I thought he fought through a lot of adversity.”