Joel Embiid was everything in Game 3: Maddening, marvelous, savior of a series

Sometimes it feels like the Sixers should be narrated by the guy in the prescription drug commercials who reads the list of side effects while happy music plays and a middle-aged couple shops for antiques on their way to fly-fishing lessons with the grandkids.

In clinical trials, those participating in Sixers basketball experienced rare but serious side effects including frequent rookie-year foot injuries, cartilage damage to both knees and all 10 fingers, COVID-19, recurrent bouts of the flu and other illnesses of unknown specificity and origin, food poisoning, random loss of bodily functions, including but not limited to the ability to shoot. Call your doctor if you are or are planning to be in contact with a sesame seed bagel.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid sets playoff high with 50 points to propel Sixers to Game 3 win over Knicks

So, yeah, on a night when Joel Embiid scored 50 points in record fashion while carrying the Sixers to an emphatic and potentially series-turning victory, it only made sense that the first question asked of him involved his case of Bell’s palsy.

“I got a beautiful face,” Embiid said from behind the sunglasses he has frequently sported since developing the mild facial paralysis, which, per Google, generally resolves on its own. “I don’t like that my mouth is moving the other way.”

The big guy knows better than anybody that, sometimes, all you can do is laugh. But let’s not let it diminish the full extent of what he accomplished in the Sixers’ 125-114 win over the Knicks in Game 3 on Thursday. He was everything his team needed, everything his critics contend he isn’t. Aggressive but in control. Unorthodox but in the smoothest possible way. More than anything, a winner, in a game that essentially gave the Sixers new life in the series.

He was all of this despite playing on one healthy leg, and with one healthy eye.

Embiid’s 50 points were the most by any player in playoff history who attempted fewer than 20 shots from the field. He hit 5-of-7 three-pointers after entering the game 4-of-17 from the series. He hit 19-of-21 shots from the foul line after missing four critical ones in Game 2.

He had plenty of help. Cam Payne gave the Sixers the bench electricity they lacked. Kelly Oubre Jr. was aggressive early and finished with 15 points.

But this was Embiid’s game. It was his night, all the more impressive because of the way it started.

Statistically speaking, the first half was not a bad one for Embiid, who entered the locker room with 21 points. But he spent much of those two quarters as the lesser version of himself. Frustrated with the officiating, channeling it sub optimally. He was reviewed for a flagrant foul after attempting a swim move that left Isaiah Hartenstein doubled over on the court. The video cleared him of anything more serious than an offensive foul. Which is good. Because he picked up a flagrant a short time later, grabbing at Mitchell Robinson as the Knicks center when up for a layup. Late in the second quarter, he picked up his third foul with a drive that left him little chance of not being called with a charge.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid battling mild case of Bell’s palsy on left side of his face: ‘I’m not going to quit’

With three fouls, Embiid was forced to spend the rest of the half playing tentative defense. The Sixers entered the locker room trailing by three points. They looked out of sync, off-kilter, every man for himself. The only thing standing between them and a serious deficit was a clutch off-the-bench performance by Payne.

It was one of those stretches where Embiid’s critics find most of their fodder. The adjectives they sometimes use: halfhearted, out-of-control, preoccupied to the detriment of both himself and his team. They are silly words to define him by. The Sixers are a borderline lottery team without him, a borderline championship one with him. They have looked like both this season. Rare is the player with that singular of an impact.

The dynamic is a curious one. In a lot of cities, Embiid would be known only by the balance of his account. He is an MVP, a perennial All-Star, one of the top two players at his position, one of the top two or three in his franchise’s history, one of the top five or 10 in the game, a member of the most exclusive caste of basketball players on the planet, the ones who make a team an instant force to be reckoned with, if not a contender then one that is at least expected to win 50-plus games, regardless of the players who happen to surround him.

Yet the criticism is not completely unfounded. Stretches like the first half of Game 3 are their foundation.

The flagrant foul on Robinson was a classic case of Embiid allowing circumstances to dictate reaction, which is the opposite way that great ones usually do it. Had it been any more flagrant — or had Robinson fallen — Embiid could have been ejected. If that had happened, the second half never does. The Sixers are down 3-0. That becomes his legacy.

“Obviously Mitchell Robinson was jumping,” Embiid said. “I was trying to make sure he doesn’t land on me, because obviously we know the history that I have with [Jonathan] Kuminga landing on my knee. So I kind of had some flashbacks. It’s unfortunate. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. It’s just, in those situations, I’ve got to protect myself because I’ve been in way too many situations where I’m always the recipient — the bad end of it.”

You consider Embiid’s present physical state, and his past experiences, and you can at least understand.

As it turned out, the second half did happen. He scored 29 of his game-high 50 points, sparking the Sixers to a double-digit lead and making sure that it remained there.

The final line: 50 points, eight rebounds, four assists, 13-of-19 shooting from the field.

Most important was the scoreboard: 125-114 Sixers, suddenly one game away from evening the series.

With most players, you have to take the bad with the good. With Embiid, you take the bad with the great.

Over the long haul, the trade-off is a resounding net positive for the Sixers.

It most certainly was in Game 3.